For many years Italian Encounters organised and managed tours of all descriptions for our guests. Although we no longer provide this service we do have a huge wealth of knowledge about the local area and so to help our guests enjoy their time in this magical part of Italy we have created this page with details about some of the sights and experiences in the local area. There will not be time to experience all these in just one short visit, so do stay longer or come back again!
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Hannibal. By huge popular demand the one specialised tour we are still able to provide is the dramatic account of Hannibal’s “Bloody Battle of Lago Trasimeno”. Discover how Hannibal almost changed the course of history by exploring the site of this bloody battle with the Roman legions of the consul Flaminius. Learn why on earth he didn't march with his victorious Carthaginian army straight to Rome and indeed, what did happen to all those elephants. There is no walking on this tour and it is done in some style with liquid refreshment to compliment the high drama of the battle! Further details on request. |
" ……. David's dramatic account of Hannibal's battle was one of the most inspiring tales I have ever listened to. " JD ~ New York
“ …………… we were enthralled by the story of the battle which David told us about. Italian Encounters organised the most brilliant holiday for us and this was definitely the highlight of a fantastic time in Italy. “ MJ ~ Sydney
Meals and Cooking Instruction. As an alternative to visiting restaurants and if you want to learn some of the culinary secrets and delights of authentic Italian cooking then Italian Encounters can introduce you to a choice of chefs that will provide a memorable treat on your Italian holiday with us. We can provide chefs that will captivate you with their hands on cooking demonstrations and instruction. Alternatively, or as well as cooking classes, our chefs will come and cook for you in your own holiday home so you can really indulge yourself with carefree meals. Please just ask and we will provide details. |
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The Renaissance
The term Renaissance has become a vague and a controversial word. Scholars have tried to belittle its originality, have attempted to isolate it and demonstrate its overwhelming debt to former ages and moreover, confine it merely to the realm of art. However, not even the most prejudiced historian can ignore the astonishing vigour and originality of the fifteenth century as regards the whole spectrum of sculpture, architecture and painting. In it most basic sense The Renaissance stands for a blossoming of European art and scholarship from around the late 1300s to the late 1500s.
The immediate area around the properties that Italian Encounters look after abound in some of the finest examples of this amazing era: and this is without having to travel to Firenze!. No list here could ever attempt to provide more than a tiny snap shot of what awaits you. We hope the following examples of some of our favourite works of art in the local area will inspire even those without any cultural interest or aspirations!
Artists
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Piero della Francesca. Piero had an amazing impact on Renaissance painting and his best works are all within one day's exploration. The Legend of the True Cross, Madonna del Parto, Madonna della Misericordia, The Resurrection, The Flagellation, The Polyptych of Saint Anthony are all here to see. Travel along some of Piero's trail from Arezzo to Monterchi, to Sansepolcro, to Urbino, to Perugia and be prepared to be amazed. |
Pietro di Cristofor Vanucci, known as Perugino. You will find examples of Perugino’s work everywhere and indeed many others will be claimed as his or by one of his followers. Visit the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria for the finest collection and the Collegio del Cambio in Perugia. For another lovely example visit Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello. |
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Raphael. Despite being born locally in Urbino, there are few examples of his work nearby. However, the Mute Woman in the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino is worth a visit, not least because a trip to Urbino is a lovely anyway. Perhaps the most poignant example is at San Severo in Perugia where you can see his first independent work which he completed at the age of 23, while below on the same wall are frescoes by Perugino. There is a certain pathos in these works as Perugino completed this work a year after Raphael’s death and after he had seen his own fame surpassed by that of his former pupil. |
Luca Signorelli. Born in Cortona where there are some great examples of his work in the Museo Diocesano. Our favourite is in the church of San Niccolo where a magnificent standard of the Deposition will be revealed if you can find and then persuade the custodian to show you! |
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Local Towns
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Assisi. Wander here in the footsteps of Saint Francis. The big hitter is obviously the Basilica di San Francesco, but try and find the Oratorio di San Francesco Piccolino where Francis was born which is more representative of his own life style. Go and look at St Clare who lies in state in the crypt of Santa Chiara ~ she has recently had a make over! Drive/walk up Monte Subasio and visit the Eremo della Carceri which is a fine example of a current monastery |
Gubbio. A really great Umbrian/Roman town with a mass of things, other than just frescoes, to see. Take the cable car to the top of Monte Ingino and visit the Basilica di Sant’Ubaldo. Whilst here discover how Saint Ubaldo lost three of his fingers! Come in May and experience the Corsa dei Ceri that makes the Palio at Siena look like a tea party. Come in May as well and watch the Palio della Balestra ~ the crossbow archery competition. Make sure you see the Eugubine Marbles, the mummified remains of local saints in the Duomo, the Botte dei Canonici ~ the largest wine barrel ever made, the Porte delle Morte (doors of death), the skeletal remains of the wolf that shook hands with Saint Francis (yes Francis came here as well) and finally ensure you obtain a “patente a matto” ~ a licence of madness from having walked around the Fontanna del Matti. There are in fact some superb frescoes and stained glass windows in the church of San Francesco as well!
Perugia. It was inevitable that, as the neighbouring and rival town of Gubbio laid claim to having been founded by Noah's grandson, so Perugia had to better that. We find therefore that some medieval chroniclers have recorded that Noah himself pitched his tents on Perugia's mountains! Perugia is a great city.
Here are some highlights:
Montepulciano. According to legend the town was founded by Lars Poresenna, the mythical king of the Etruscans. In fact it was more likely to have been founded by Republican Rome, from which its first name, Monte Publiciano, originates. After a turbulent medieval history the town is now renowned & wealthy today because of its famed Vino Nobile. Here are some highlights: |
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Pienza. Pienza was conceived as a Utopian New Town by Pope Pius II on the site of the village of Corsignano where he was born in 1405. The city which Pius had intended to spread across the whole hillside never grew much beyond the main street and its population scarcely exceeded that of a village. Today, with a population of 2500, it still has the air of emptiness and a grand folly! Here are some highlights:
Arezzo. Arretium was one of the more important of the 12 cities of the Etruscan Confederation. On 11 June 1289 the town’s army was defeated by the Florentine Guelph army at the battle of Campaldino (about 45 kms north of Arezzo ~ a huge and dramatic battle with some 2400 mounted knights & 18,000 foot soldiers). It has been Piero della Francesca who has given Arezzo its greatest monument ~ The Legend of the True Cross ~ and the main reason that you will probably have for visiting the town in the first place.
Cortona. According to legend Cortona was founded by Dardanus, later to establish the city of Troy and to give his name to the Dardanelles. The probable mythical story is that Dardanus was fighting against a neighbouring tribe when he lost his helmet (corythos) on the hill and the town that emerged here got its original name of Corito. Cortona is steeped in Franciscan memories. Saint Margaret of Cortona, who has been called the Mary Magdalene of the Franciscans, and Brother Elias, who has been called it’s Judas, both lived here. Here are some highlights:
Lucignano. A delightful medieval village laid out in an elliptical form of four concentric circles with four picturesque piazze in the centre ~ it will literally run you round in circles! Here are some highlights:
Montone. Founded in the 9th century, its strategic position high over the Tiber valley made it a prize fought over by Perugia, Citta di Castello and Gubbio. This delightful hilltop town was the birthplace of Andrea Braccio Fortebraccio (1368-1424), the famous condottorie whose fame spread far and wide in this part of Italy. Here are some highlights:
Sansepolcro.According to legend Sansepolcro was named in honour of the relics that were brought back from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem by two pilgrims named Arcano & Egidio. The Buitoni family began their pasta business here and although Buitoni pasta is bought the world over today the town is renowned for more than anything else as the birthplace of the painter Piero della Francesca. Here are some highlights:
Spello. Originally Umbrian, Spello came into its own under the Romans, when as Hispellum, it served as a retirement home for Augustus’s pensioned off legionaries and an important staging post on the Via Flaminia. Its later career followed the typical path of many Umbrian cities ~ hammered and racked by internal rivalries and pestered by other cities, in this case usually Assisi, until eventually it was dragged into near oblivion by the Church! Modern Spello is renowned for its olives which are celebrated in February after the harvest with processions, dancing, eating and drinking. Also in June an amazing festival of flowers (Ifiorate di Spello) when the streets are decked with intricately designed carpets of flowers ~ get there early if you want to see them at their best. Here are some highlights:
Spoleto. Even before the Romans founded this town as the colony of Spoletium in BC 241 it was already an important Umbrian settlement. The town claimed to have thwarted a siege from Hannibal after the Carthaginian’s victory at Lago Trasimeno, but you will need to take my tour of this bloody battle to hear a more rational account! More recently the Festival dei Due Mondi has brought it renewed prosperity and international renown. Here are some highlights:
Todi. The town is one of the region’s oldest settlements and legend has it that it was founded on the spot where an eagle dropped a cloth taken from the table of an Umbrian family ~ hence an eagle with a cloth in its claws has long been the town’s insignia. The birthplace of Jacapone dei Benedetti (1228-1306) perhaps the most famous of medieval Franciscan poets, though his eccentricity initially caused the Franciscans to reject him! Here are some highlights:
Trevi. An infrequently visited small hill top town perched on a pyramid of a hill encircled with a mass of olive trees. This place will enchant you with its narrow cobbled lanes and undiscovered art gallery. Originally of Roman foundation it became part of the Duchy of Spoleto and has remained in a time warp for years! No connection with the Trevi Fountain in Rome, only that both appeared at the junction of three roads ~ tre vie!
Urbino. During the second half of the C15 Urbino was one of the most prestigious courts in the whole of Europe. The ruler who established this status was Federico da Montefeltro who employed some of the greatest artists and architects to build and decorate his palace in the town. It was judged to be the most beautiful palace in all Italy and from contemporary accounts of the C15 it was obviously an extraordinary and civilised place, a measured and urbane society. Here are some highlights:
Anghiari. Known in Roman times as Castrum Angulare. It is the site of a decisive battle on 29th June 1440 between the Florentine forces led by Francesco Sforza and the army of Milan led by Filippo Maria Visconti. The battle was the subject of a fresco by Leonardo da Vinci for the Palazzo Vecchio in Firenze. This was subsequently lost and has thereby gained a reputation as the most famous lost fresco of the Renaissance! Although it is a really delightful hilltop town, it is now largely renowned for its restoration of antique furniture. Here are some highlights:
Bevagna. An Umbrian and then an Etruscan settlement it became Mevania under the Romans as a staging post on the Via Flaminia (built in 220 BC) Its decline dates from when the building of a new spur to the Via Flaminia five centuries later which was routed through Terni and Spoleto rather than Bevagna. A bishop, San Vicenzo, arrived as early as the C3 but was soon martyred ~ the usual lot for bishops at that particular time! The town has remembered him by turning his church into a cinema! After the Roman era it was sacked by just about everybody ~ Barbarossa, Frederick II, Foligno's Trinci family and inevitably by Perugia's Baglioni. Today it has scarcely spread beyond its medieval walls and remains miraculously unscarred by urban blight. Here are some highlights:
Citta di Castello. Totila and his Goths knocked it in flat before the early Christian bishops rebuilt it into a fortress town and gave it the nickname of Castrum Felicitas (Castle of Happiness). The town’s downfall arrived in the form of Cesare Borgia, (son of the Pope Alexander VI) who on New Years Eve in 1502 invited Vitellozzo II Vitelli (the head of the Vitelli family) to a banquet and had him strangled before absorbing the town into the Papal domains! Until the reunification of Italy in 1860 the town guarded the frontier between the Papal States and Tuscany. Although heavily bombed during the 2nd World War, Citta di Castello has recovered well and today the Tifernati, as the locals are still known, make their living from textiles, printing, tobacco and furniture making. A really pleasant town whose great advantage is that it is one of the very few local towns meriting a visit that is not built on top of a hill ~ so all walking is on the level! Here are some highlights:
Musical Festivals
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One of the many delights of a holiday here is the occurrence of musical festivals and concerts of every description. Many have free admission and are provided by the local commune for the benefit of their citizens ~ if only other countries would follow this fine example of musical education. Many of the festivals are well known with good publicity; others you will stumble upon purely by chance as there will be no publicity at all. Indeed why should there be as they are not primarily for your benefit and the locals will know about then anyway! |
Umbria Jazz Festival. Now regarded as one of the world's premier jazz festivals this increasingly popular festival takes place during July in Perugia and surrounding towns and villages. Recent artists have included Tony Bennett and Phil Collins. Some of our guests come to stay for two weeks especially for this festival. www.umbriajazzcom
Festival delle Nazioni. Chamber music held in August/September in and around Citta di Castello. As with many of these festivals some of the locations for the concerts are held in stunning buildings and locations. www.festivalnazioni.com
Cortona Festival. A mixture of film, concerts, opera and dance throughout the summer. The open air opera (normally in August) is a delight. www.tuscanfestival.com www.cortonaweb.net
Preggio Festival. This tiny hilltop village in the Niccone valley has a musical festival, normally during the first two weeks of August, which often includes the Oxford Singers and more recently open air opera. Publicity usually fairly scarce, but well worth seeking out.
Wine Tasting. You are spoilt for places to taste and buy and nearly every town will have its own Enoteca where you can taste the local wine as well. The main wine making centres of Montepulciano and Montefalco both have numerous cantinas where you can taste and buy and we particularly recommend these two towns as they are also fascinating places to visit anyway. More locally, the Gritti family recently sold their famous hotel in Venice and have bought most of the eastern end of the Niccone valley! Moreover they have recently planted a vast new vineyard and within a few years we shall be living in a DOCG wine area! As part of their new venture you can taste and buy at their cantina. The Wine Museum. In 1974 a wine museum was opened in Torgiano by the Lungarotti family and is really worth a visit. All aspects of viticulture, ancient and modern are covered with displays laid out in the old Baglioni Palace. Open daily from 0900- 1200 and 1500-1900 with a small admission charge. There is an excellent Enoteca next door and of course the gourmet restaurant of Le Tre Vaselle nearby. They have recently opened a museum dedicated to olive oil as well. |
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Olive Oil. There is as much mystery and intrigue in the making, and tasting of olive oil as there is for wine. Wherever there is a vineyard you will probably find an olive grove close by, so many of the wine centres you visit will allow you to experience this other gold liquid at the same time. For a great insight into the mechanics of how the oil is extracted visit the Antico Frantoio Ravagni situated between Anghiari and Caprese Michelangelo.www.frantoioravagni.itwww.tuscanyoilmill.com |
Spello, a lovely old Roman town in its own right, is a great place for tasting olive oil. Visit any number of the Bottega in the town for a sample of their locally produced oil and other local products
Ceramics The local area abounds with potteries producing outstanding examples of Italian ceramics and majolica. Visit Deruta to see the skill of true craftsmen at work and where you can shop until you drop! Ubaldo Grazia’s workshops are one of the finest in Deruta and his family have been involved in the craft since the 1500s. A tour with Ubaldo of his fabbrica will entrance you and is highly recommended. www.ubaldograzia.com They ship everything everywhere! |
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Gardens. Italian gardens are works of art and a delight to behold. The nearest garden to most of our properties is at La Foce, near Chianciano near Montepulciano. There is a fascinating story attached to the creation of the garden. Open on Wednesday afternoons for conducted tours. www.lafoce.com |
Lago Trasimeno
According to some legends the lake is named after Trasimene, the son of an Etruscan king. He became infatuated by a nymph called Agilla who enticed him into the lake where he drowned! This perilous danger should not prevent you from enjoying all that the lake has to offer today!
The Bloody Battle of Lago Trasimeno. The name of the lake is indelibly linked with the battle that took place on the morning of the 24th June 217 BC between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and the Roman legions of Gaius Flaminius. The bloody battle that ensued, which saw almost the whole of the Roman army being slaughtered, meant that there was nothing to prevent Hannibal marching straight to Rome. The outcome of the 2nd Punic War and the whole of European history, was poised to take a very different course To find out what did occur you will need to take my battlefield tour!!
The Islands. A ferry trip across to the islands of Maggiore and Polvese from Passignano, Tuoro or San Feliciano will give a nautical flavour to your holiday in the country! Isola Polvese has great swimming on beaches that only the locals know about. On Isola Maggiore you will find the continuing story of St Francis and there is a castle with an fascinating recent history
| Alpacas. In the Niccone valley there is a delightful farm where you can meet these enchanting animals and also choose from a selection of garments that have been created from their wool. www.alpaca.it |  |
After Hannibal
When you have experienced the dramatic tour of Hannibal’s battlefield; when you have exhausted all that Florence has to offer and when your neck, stiff from gazing at the Giotto frescos in Assisi, has recovered, you may like to explore some other less well publicised places. There is no accounting for people's taste, so I offer no excuse for this collection of the more unusual sights to see!
The Mummies of Ferentillo. Ferentillo lies to the north east of Terni and house an extraordinary collection of mummies! Grotesquely propped up in the crypt of San Stefano these bizarre figures have been preserved by the dry sandy soil and desiccating exposure to the winds from the south facing windows. They include two French prisoners hung during the Napoleonic wars, a hapless Chinese couple from the last century who came to Italy for their honeymoon but died of cholera and a pile of cheerfully leering skulls !
Tempietto del Clitunno. Just to the south of Trevi lies the Tempietto del Clitunno. This area, at the source of the river Teverone, was sacred in Roman times to the river god Clitumnus and was renowned for the big snow white oxen raised here, not to pull ploughs, but rather to serve as sacrifices in the temple! The Roman villas and temples that once stood here are long gone, but little bits of them are re-assembled in a mysterious little building called the Tempietto. The little track that runs below the temple was the original Via Flaminia. The entrance is around the side, leading to the portico and then to the tiny sanctuary decorated with Byzantine frescoes. A little further south still is the Fonti del Clitunno, not only a sacred place in pagan times, but now one of those secret beauty spots of Italy which both Virgil & Bryon wrote about. A score of underground springs rise here and have created a landscape of lagoons & islands with weeping willows and poplars.
A Rustic Museum. If its raining and you want to learn something about rural Italian life in former times you may care to visit the museum of Centro delle Tradizione Populari, located at Garavelle just south of Citta di Castello. It contains a collection of almost every imaginable implement and tool that a working farm needed to survive. Alongside this museum in the family palace of the Cappellittis is a vast collection of model trains! The last earl of the Cappellittis had a passion for trains and spent his entire life building model trains which are now on show to aspiring train spotters!
The Marmore Waterfalls. The 160 metre waterfall at Marmore is one of Europe's tallest and most photographed ~ when it's running! It is in fact an artificial creation made by Curius Denatus in 217 BC to divert the water from the River Velino to the River Nera and thereby drain the marshes around the town of Rieti. The best spot to see the waterfall is from the official viewing spot in Marmore itself or from the ss209. When the water is in full flow it really quite an impressive sight, particularly when illuminated at night. However, the falls are used to drive hydroelectric turbines and when this is happening there is little more than a mere trickle to see! So, you need to choose the timing of your visit carefully!Grotta di Monte Cucco. And now for something entirely different! This cave is the fifth deepest in the world and the single deepest in Italy at 922 metres deep. One descends to the Grotta by a 30 metre long iron ladder and the cave extends for about 20 Kms! In fact the chambers which are normally accessible are those on a level with the main entrance and run for about 50 metres. Even if you do not visit the Grotta itself a trip to the summit of Monte Cucco, the highest point in Umbria at 1556 metres is exciting in its own right.
Bagno Vignoni. Close to Pienza and Montepulciano this little hamlet is clustered around a central square with an arcaded Renaissance piscina andprovides one of Tuscany's more memorable sights. Built by the Medici, who like St Catherine of Siena took the sulphur cure here, the hot springs still bubble away in the bath. Although you cannot currently bathe in these old baths you can take a swim in the sulphur pool at the nearby Posta Marcucci hotel or if you are more adventurous in the sulphur springs where they emerge from the hillside.
Carsulae. This pile of Roman stones 15 kms north of Terni is known as the Pompeii of central Italy and was praised for its beauty by none other than Pliny the Younger! The town was an important Roman municipium probably built on the site of an earlier Umbria settlement in about BC 300. It rose to prominence around BC 200 when the building of the Via Flaminia attracted a new influx of people into what had been an area of scattered settlements. It was here that the legions loyal to Vespasian (Emperor AD 69-79) rested prior to their final assault on Rome. After several centuries of civil war and earthquakes it was abandoned for good. Its pink marble was plundered by local aristocrats for their palaces and weeds covered the once fine pavements until it was saved from total ruin by the taste for archaeology acquired in the C16 by men of fashion. Two such men from Todi, Federico Cesi and Sebastiano Graziani, initiated a series of excavations which have continued more or less to the present time.
Santuario Madonnna del Bagno. You may see the sign to this place as you are winging down the E45 to Roma or some other delight in southern Umbria. If your Italian has been acquired from a few cassettes or CDs in the weeks immediately prior to your holiday then, like us when we first arrived, you may well wonder why there is a monument to the Virgin Mary in the bathroom, but of course the real translation is “Our Lady of the Waters” !!
This hill site location over looking the River Tiber has clearly been a poignant spot for reverence to the Madonna from ancient times, but the present church and its unique interior date from the 17th Century. One day in 1657, Cristoforo, a merchant from nearby Casalina, prayed to the Madonna on this site on behalf of his wife who was serious ill. When he returned home he was amazed to find his wife, not only in perfect health, but sweeping the floor of the home. He immediately ordered a majolica tile from nearby Deruta to commemorate this amazing miracle of prayer and had it placed in the wall of the church. The tile is still there and has now been joined over the centuries by hundreds of similar ex voto tablets which cover all the walls of the church. The church has recently been restored and now provides a worthy setting for the acts of faith that successive generations have demonstrated.
The Fossil Forest of Dunarobba
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This extraordinary fossil forest is one of the most ancient of forests in the whole world. It has only recently been discovered as a result of the excavation of the clay soil by a nearby brick manufacturer. The remains of 42 trees can be seen that date from about 3 million years ago before the Italian peninsula was even formed. The analysis of the trees indicates that they are of an extinct species, quite similar to the Sequoia which grows in North America, and the Glyptostrobus which are present in China. To get there, exit the E45 @ Aquasparta and follow the signs to Avigliano Umbro and then Dunarobba. |
Buon Divertimento !
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