Just spent three weeks in Umbria and Tuscany. The small town of Bevagna was quite a pleasant surprise. It is a beautiful little town, not overrun with tourists.

A fabulous place to stay is L'Orto degli Angeli. This mansion has been converted to a hotel, but retains a very comfortable atmosphere. Rooms have been very carefully and thoughtfully redone. Excellent restaurant here -- they are expanding it, and should be spectacular when opened in a few months.

Another excellent restaurant in town is Antiche Serre. Small and family run. If your Italian is up to it, the chef (the owner's wife) will give you the full recipe.

If in Umbria don't miss either one.

(Would have left an entry in Rants and Raves, but I don't see either listed.)

Thanks for reminding me---I do concur.

In Bavagna don;t forget their wonderful Teatro. They have a local music society that does revitals and then big sunday luncheons at a local restaurant. We were lucky enough to meet the theatre director and talk our way into the 4 hours lunch with was about 24 peop;e, italian, french, german and british. Best day of a 3 week trip was bavagna

Wow -- sounds great. We missed it, but then we weren't there on a Sunday. We'll certainly keep it in mind for a return visit.
Thanks!

pleasant village but a little non descript in comparison to some others nearby. I guess we were spoilt by staying nearby at Montefalco and had visited Spello and Trevi before hitting the highspots of Bevagna. However after staying in small Tuscan towns also we were of the opinion you make each place your "own" dependant on experiences.We were lucky to have individual meetings and personalised spontaneous events that made our stay unique...... so beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

We also enjoyed Bevagna, especially the theatre and the bath mosaics. We were also fortunate to see a ceramic piece in an enoteca that we really liked, got the name and number of the artist and spent a morning with her in her studio and home that she and her husband are renovating right outside Bevagna. She is Brazilian, married to an Italian and didn't speak much English, my Italian is extremely limited, and we ended up conversing in French! We have wonderful memories of Bevagna and Umbria, and our Bevagnan ceramic piece is a beautiful reminder.

I was in nearby Spello from 6/20 to 6/23. Bevagna was one of the cities I was considering staying in, but decided against it, feeling that it would be too hot being down in the valley and Italian air conditioning being hit-or-miss (the A/C in my Spello hotel was there in body but not in spirit...definitely a "miss&quot. How hot was Bevagna? At the time I was there, highs were in the upper 20's Celsius, with cool nights except for the night of the 22nd.

It was hot, but after a day of tramping around Assisi in the heat, the evenings in Bevagna were delightful. I think you may have left just before the 30 degree heat set in.

Also, and most important, the hotel had excellent A/C, so there was never any problems sleeping, (like we experienced in other hotels during the same time)