julies

We have done quite a bit or reading and research on the Umbria area and just yesterday when I saw a fabulous price purchased tickets roundtrip to Rome from the US. We will be in Italy (we've been before maybe 4 times) the first three weeks of October Our trip goal is more oriented to visiting atmospheric and scenic places rather than just trying to see all the churches, museums, and artwork. We want some of that too, but we are not intent on doing a check off list of major tourist things.

Our first plan in Italy is to do a week-long cycling trip out of Assisi. We know we will need a couple days to recover from jetlag, so we want to spend our first three nights in a generally interesting place we can get to by train from Rome. Three nights really means two full days since our flight from the US doesn't arrive in Rome until 11:00 am and we'd need to get somewhere by train that day, so the day is shot.. Would we be okay going directly to Assisi and just staying in the town itself? Or, is this too much time for people who are happy just walking around and doing low key things? I am a tad worried because I have read quite a bit about tacky tourist shops and how jam-packed with people parts of Assisi can be. I had also thought perhaps of spending these three nights in Perugia and then eliminating that possibility from our cycling trip. Or, does someone have a better idea of a place fairly logistically reasonable and easily accessible by public transportation to go for a couple days before starting our cycling trip?

Now questions about the cycling trip itself (I haven't booked it yet and can customize it). This is set up as a relatively easy trip (we are retirees) that is supposed to give us time to both cycle in the countryside and see the places we will be spending the night. If we want we can extend a night in any of the locales, so I want to know if any of them deserve an extra night.

**From Assisi we have a short ride to lodging in Casco dell'Acqua visiting Spello and Foligno on the way.
**From Casco dell'Acqua we have a short cycle to Spoleto where we spend the night.
**From Spoleto we cycle to Bevagna with an option to visit Montefalco if we can tackle the climb to get there.
**From Bevagna we cycle to Torgiano where we have two nights. On our down day there we can visit Perugia by train.
**From Torgiano we have a short cycle back to Assisi.

Is there anywhere you'd add a night, or is the time about right?

Then, we will need to figure out to do with our last ten days. We are looking at coastal areas and are vacillating between Liguria and Amalfi. We want to do some outdoorsy and scenic things like walking, but we also want to visit the major city of each area--Genoa for Liguria or Naples for Amalfi. Cinque Terra is a possibility for Liguria too. If we do the more southerly area around Naples, we'd visit Pompeii and other historic places.

We are open to either renting a car or using public transportation depending on which is the best solution for the area we choose. And, we prefer slow travel with bases rather than moving around all of the time. We know (hope) we will be back to Italy so aren't looking to have a jam-packed, non-stop sightseeing trip where we try to fit everything in. Any suggestions taking into account the time of year and logistics which might be a good solution for us? We've spent time in Rome before, so I think we will just probably end up in a Rome airport hotel for our last night.

Thanks for the help.

HappyTrvlr

Extra night in Spello would be nice.

sundriedtopepo

We stayed in both Perugia and Spoleto, and found both of them interesting and atmospheric, with lots of things to see, and good food, I might add, especially October, those porcini mushrooms!...

I think at that time of year, I would choose the Amalfi coast. Naples is fascinating, and weather may be better farther south.

sundriedtopepo

Julies, here is the link to my trip report, which you may enjoy for the descriptions. The only photo link that still works is for Spoleto. I should get busy and put my photos on flickr.

sundriedtopepo

oops the link

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...l-ascolana.cfm

massimop

After about Oct 10, Liguria can be subject to quite terrible rainstorms, so I suggest going to the Amalf insteadi.

October 4 is the feast day of St Francis, the national patron saint of Italy, when the Pope & Italy's heads of state visit the town of Assisi, along with thousands of pilgrims -- so you either think that's fantastic or want to flee. You cannot be a casual daytripper into the town the day of the observances (and probably the day before as well), so keep that in mind as you plan.

I was in Umbria in the 1st week of October, near Assisi, and the area in general was not overcrowded, although I did no go to all the popular towns.

Upon arrival, I would simply go to Orvieto. If you can, take a day trip by bus to Perugia to see the town & the fabulous museum of Umbrian art, which will be especially wonderful after you've seen the frescoes in the duomo of Orvieto.

tuscanlifeedit

I feel that Assisi gets a bad rap. There are many tourist shops but the town is beautiful, a walk to the Rocca is wonderful, the Basilica is amazing, Santa Chiara is great, and the Eremo di San Francesco is indescribably moving and evocative.

I've been to Assisi a few times and would gladly go back. There are also nice shops (artisinal goods and move) as well as souvenir shops. Good food.

For the second half of your trip, considering the time of year, I would go south.

Leely2

I also think Assisi gets a bad rap, but sounds like julies and her husband aren't that into art/churches. Views from Assisi are beautiful and it is big enough to have some good restaurants.

Spello is cute. We stayed there for four/five days summer before this one. However, I found Spoleto and Bevagna both more interesting, and with an extra day would devote it to Spoleto. I'm not a cyclist though, so not sure what makes sense from an "our legs are tired" standpoint.

I'd choose Amalfi and Naples, given the rest of the itinerary and time of travel.

Sounds like a fun trip.

julies

Thanks for all of the very helpful advice. Don't get me wrong. We will definitely visit the churches, and we (more so I) definitely appreciate art. It is more that we do not want a trip that is solely focused on those types of activities, because we like to mix things up. I now have suggestions from you for just going straight to Assisi and also for visiting Orvieto first. I will need to do some in-depth investigating of those logistics.

I appreciate this useful advice so I will have more info when I further work with the cycling outfitter to customize out trip. And, massimop, the outfitter has already told me that Oct. 4 would be a no-go as far as lodging because of the feast day.

I've got a pile of library books on the Amalfi coast and will start looking at those for ideas.

sundried--Great detailed trip report! I'm curious since you hit several areas we also contemplated for this trip--Umbria, Puglia and the Veneto. I also read all of the raving by various people regarding both Venice and Sicily. We love Venice and have thought about returning there for a couple weeks next time (last time was just a week). And two falls ago we had a glorious three week trip to Sicily. Can you please tell me how you'd rank these five areas as far as overall appeal?

Other than my plane tickets we have nothing at all booked and could easily switch things around and even choose completely different locales if we want. And, speaking of plane tickets, I need to crow about how incredibly lucky I was that I decided to check out tickets (again) yesterday. Tickets to Rome from MSP where we live in the US had been running perhaps $1200 to $1400 for this time frame. Yesterday I hit one of those unannounced sales and got them for $610, unfortunately on United but that is okay for the price.

Dayle

Julies,

I spent an impromptu night in Assisi because my lodging in Gubbio had unceasing church bells! I talking about every 15 minutes ALL night long

So. I found Asssi beautiful but very crowded with tourist and religious pilgrims. The streets were overloaded with shops selling religious tat and what seemed to me more legitimate items. Many beautiful churches and lovely side streets, but two half days were plenty for me.

I think what you are looking for is Orvieto. Plenty to see and enjoy for two days and a wide variety. Fabulous Estrucan Museum, interesting underground tour, archeological excavation, modern shops, ceramics, excellent art galleries, lovely streets for strolling, incredible views, easy access and parking. First and foremost the incredible duomo, inside and out! Did I say excellent restaurants? If you run out of things to do,take a bus to Civita di Bagnoreggio. An Enchanted little town without cars and fantastic scenery!

eastenderusvi

I loved Bevagna!! We stayed at http://www.cortedevasari.com/- wonderful B&B with a wonderful host. There is a bicycle trail that goes right through town. When we took (driving)day trips to Perugia and Spoleto, we were glad to get back out of the madness of the big cities to our little village with great food and wine.

sundriedtopepo

"Can you please tell me how you'd rank these five areas as far as overall appeal?"

Of course Venice is part of the Veneto region, so really 4 areas...but that question is a bit like trying to answer which one of your children do you love the most, lol.

I love each area, but for different reasons. So I will try to highlight what appeals in each.

If you spent 3 weeks in Sicily, you will know how special Sicily is, and how varied. It is probably my favorite area of Italy for that reason.

Venice of course, is a classic beauty, despite being overrun by all her admirers. I also really loved Padova, with the Scrovegni Chapel, Vicenza, for the Palladian architecture, and Verona. We mostly took the train around the area, and I remember it being quite flat and uninteresting, as far as the landscape goes.

Ravenna, though not quite in the Veneto, has very impressive mosaics, and is a nice little town too.

Umbria has magnificent art and churches, (Assisi Spoleto and Perugia) beautiful rolling hills, hilltowns, good, reasonably priced food and wine. Porcini mushrooms IMO are almost better than truffles, but both are good reasons to go to Umbria.

We found the side roads in Umbria much more scenic than the highway, just as in Tuscany.

What I loved about Puglia: It's an area where it seems you step back in time. It feels rural, with the agricultural aspect, the villages are all white buildings, there are some gorgeous seascapes, the seafood is amazing, the lamb is amazing, the cucina povera, literally poor cooking, is pretty amazing too.

https://www.thethinkingtraveller.com...n-recipes.aspx

The culture here is different, perhaps more like Greece. The area has always suffered from a poor economy compared to the north, so it's a bit more rustic. I like that aspect, though.

I would think that Puglia might be a little flatter for riding than Umbria, but that would depend on the actual routing of both.

I hope this helps; anyone else can feel free to add to my observations.

julies

sundried--

Now we will definitely have to plan a return trip (or two) to Italy just so we can visit all of the places you describe because they all sound absolutely fascinating. Of your list, we've visited Venice (but not the Veneto), Ravenna (loved it!), and Sicily. I liked them all and consider them all places we'd return to. Now both Umbria and Puglia await us for trips. Since we are more in the slow travel mode, these will definitely need to be separate trips. And, I think sometime we'll return to Venice and add in the Veneto (probably not by bicycle).

Our current thought about the start of this trip have changed, and we are not thinking of switching dates around and visiting Liguria at the start of our trip and then taking the Umbria cycling trip towards the end. And, we are thinking of adding a night in Spoleto so we'd have two nights there and 1.5 days.

Thank you so much.

sundriedtopepo

Julies I think your Liguria plan is splendid and congrats on finding a 5 night stretch sans cruise ships!

julies

Can people tell me how long to think about spending in Spello to walk around and get a general feel for the place? I don't even know if there are really any special sights or if it is really just a cute town to walk through and take some photos. And, of course, I know we will end up with the usual dilemma of being in a place that is totally shut down for the long lunch hour. Thanks.

HappyTrvlr

I wouldn't describe Spello as cute, rather lovely. It is a real town. We stayed there two weeks and enjoyed the town and surrounding areas. explore all the flower filled pedestrian streets and areas. Walk and explore. You can see Assisi across the valley. It is hard to say "how long".

julies

Walk and explore definitely sounds like us. This is really helping me because we are trying to customize our cycling trip and we have a choice of routes with a shorter day riding fewer kilometers and staying closer to our start in Assisi or riding more kilometers to get to a further away place. Obviously the more we ride the less time we would have to explore Spello. Thanks.

Dayle

Julies,

I really loved Spello. Hiking up to the top of town, seeing the views of Assisi, wine in the garden of the bar/gellateria, their small museum was actually quite good and their church beautiful as most are.....

Its a place I would definitely recommend at least a long lunch in addition to wandering and the sights I mentioned.

I had dinner at Palazzo Boci's restaurant, Il Mulino and it was excellent. Another dinner at La cantina was OK, but not great. This was back in 2005, so if dining you might want to check current reviews.

Im looking forwad to a return visit on my next trip.