Umbria, Italy: 7 Places on a 42 km Slow Travel Route
A 42.4 km slow-travel route through Umbria, Italy's lesser-known region, connecting medieval hilltop towns and valleys east of Tuscany. This route showcases the slower pace of central Italian life through historic architecture, local traditions, and regional agriculture.
- Mode
- Places
- Start
- Bevagna & Montefalco
- End
- Bevagna
- Stops
- 7
- Video author
- travmap
- Updated
Stops on this route
- Bevagna & Montefalco — Medieval hilltop towns renowned for preserved Roman mosaics, Renaissance art, and production of Sagrantino wine in central Italy's verdant countryside.
- Umbria keeps its own time
- Assisi — Sacred hilltop town in pale pink stone, birthplace of Saint Francis and home to a basilica decorated with Giotto's revolutionary frescoes that changed European art.
- Basilica of Saint Francis — Iconic basilica housing fourteenth-century frescoes by Giotto that marked the moment painting learned to depict human emotion and feeling.
- Monte Subasio — Mountain forming the backdrop to Assisi, its slopes descending into the quieter Valle Umbra and surrounded by medieval villages.
- Spello — Honey-colored medieval village on Monte Subasio's lower slopes, famous for its annual Infiorate festival where entire streets are carpeted with millions of hand-laid flower petals.
- Bevagna — Medieval town in Valle Umbra featuring the near-perfect Piazza Silvestri ensemble of Romanesque churches, Gothic fountains, and ancient Roman theater foundations.
Useful for your trip
- Timing
- Visit Spello during quiet months to experience the town at its own gentle rhythm with fewer crowds, or time your visit for Corpus Domini feast in mid-June to witness the Infiorate flower festival.
- Timing
- Visit Trevi in late autumn (November) to witness the olive harvest when the whole landscape is at work with mills operating and freshly pressed oil available.
- Timing
- Plan a visit to Bevagna during the Mercato delle Gaite (once yearly) to see craftsmen recreate medieval trades like candle-making, paper-making, and silk-spinning.
- Timing
- Visit Spoleto in summer for the Festival dei Due Mondi (founded 1958) which brings opera, dance, and theater to ancient squares for several weeks.
- Timing
- Visit Gubbio in spring to witness the Corsa dei Ceri, an ancient race where teams carry towering wooden pillars through the streets.
- Transport
- Use the cable car (birdcage) at Gubbio to ascend Monte Ingino—locals call it the birdcage, an open metal cage that lifts visitors one by one up the steep slope.
- Tip
- Walk across the Ponte delle Torri (Bridge of Towers) in Spoleto—it spans 80 meters high and over 200 meters long across a deep green gorge on ten stone arches.
- Tip
- Descend into the Rocca Paolina underground streets in Perugia to explore a buried medieval neighborhood with whole houses and arched lanes preserved from the 16th century.
- Food
- In Montefalco, enjoy local Sagrantino wine, a dark and powerful red grape that grows almost nowhere else on Earth and is aged for years before serving.
- Food
- Visit Norcia for its famous black truffles hidden in the forests and refined cured meat traditions—fine butcher shops across Italy are still called norcinerie after this town.
- Tip
- Start your Umbria journey in Assisi, but don't linger only there—the crowds are significant and the real discoveries await beyond in the quieter valleys.
- Tip
- Explore the Etruscan gate at Perugia's edge—massive stones set in place over 2,000 years ago, one of the oldest doorways in Europe.
Video on this route
Umbria: Italy's Most Overlooked Region | 4K Slow Travel Documentary