Orvieto

Orvieto is perfectly placed between Rome and Florence and is renowned for its white wine. Visitors are drawn by the Duomo, one of the greatest Gothic buildings in Italy. Built from volcanic rock Orvieto has a superb setting and is well worth a visit.

Perugia

Many visitors head for Perugia, the provincial capital and its medieval town centre. This has all the big-city amenities and visitors can spend a good day sightseeing here. It is also the home of the Università Italiana per Stranieri ~ the Italian University for Foreigners set up by Mussolini to improve the image of Italy abroad. It gives the town a cosmopolitan feel and means there is an above average number of films, concerts and other cultural events, the towns main draw being the Umbria Jazz festival. Past stars have been Sting, Stan Gertz, Gil Evans and Wynton Marsalis. In Perugia is also the National Gallery of Umbria, which is one of the most important exhibitions of Gothic painting, with masterpieces by Duccio di Boninsegna, Beato Angelico and Piero della Francesce.

Assisi

Assisi, famous as the birthplace of St Francis, is home to one of the greatest monuments to the thirteenth and fourteenth century Italian Art, the Basilica of St Francis. Assisi is much quieter in the evenings and has a medieval hill-town charm but can be quite busy during the day although it is worth the wait.

Gubbio

Gubbio is the most thoroughly medieval of the Umbrian towns, an immediately likeable place that's hung onto its charm despite an ever-increasing influx of tourists. The streets are picture-book pretty, with houses of rosy-pink stone and seas of orange-tiled roofs; the setting is equally gorgeous with the forest-clad mountains of the Apennines rearing up behind. A broad and largely unspoilt plain stretches out in front of the town, and the whole ensemble ~ especially on grey, windswept days ~ maintains Gubbio’s tough, mountain outpost atmosphere. In Gubbio there is also a Civic Museum, which holds the famous “Eugubine Tables” ~ seven bronze plates from the second century B.C.

Todi

Todi is one of the best-established Umbrian hill-towns, at heart still a thriving and insular agricultural centre, but also a favoured trendy retreat for foreign expats and Rome's arts and media types. In the way of these things the tourists haven’t been far behind, but neither fact should deter you from making a day-trip: few places beat it for sheer location and fairy-tale medievalism. With a stunning and extremely daunting position, it makes a highly inviting prospect from below.

Spoleto

Spoleto is perhaps Umbria’s most charming town. Known mainly for its big summer festival, it’s remarkable also for its thoroughgoing medievalism, an extremely scenic setting, and several of Italy’s most ancient Romanesque churches. A very graceful place, two kilometres of well-preserved walls stand as testament to the one-time grandeur of Spoleto’s Roman colony, though its real importance dates from the sixth century when the Lombards made it the capital of one of their three Italian dukedoms. Spoleto is also home to the Gallery of Contemporary Art.

Extras

To be visited: Rich in history and in nature, Umbria offers the Falls of the Marmore, which are the highest in Italy. The Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli anf the Rocca Maggiore. The ancient city of Spoleto offers the Roman Theatre and Drusco’s Arch. Near Perugia, people can visit the Ipogeo del Volumni, which is an Etruscan tomb.