The green hills of Umbria beckon

By Graham Bleasdale Posted on Adventure

THE GREEN HILLS OF UMBRIA BECKON
Going to Italy? Forget the human crush in Rome, Florence and Venice and head for the hills.

The Umbrian hills, that is, where you'll find a luscious landscape of rolling green hills, olive groves and vineyards, and more than enough cultural, religious, artistic and historical works to make you not regret missing the more publicized attractions of the cities. In the beautifully preserved fortified villages and towns of Umbria you can walk into a church of outstanding beauty and antiquity - and find only a solitary person sitting quietly in contemplative prayer. Religious works of art, statues and sculptures adorn the walls. Frescoes hundreds of years old drape across the domed ceilings. A gentle light spills through stained glass windows of incredible delicacy and beauty.

And the quiet. Here is the silence of the ages, with any number of the churches dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries. (Contrast that experience with the hip-and-shoulder, hustle and bustle of the jostling tourist groups in the cities).

Settled for thousands of years

Umbria is north of Rome, to the east of its better-known neighbor Tuscany, and the only region in Italy without a coastline. The area has been settled for thousands of years, from the Umbrian's, one of the oldest Italic peoples who lived in a large part of central Italy in pre-historic times, through to the Etruscans and the Romans.

After the Fall of the Roman Empire, Umbria was invaded by the Goths and Lombard's but from around the 12th century onwards a large number of city-states sprang up, on the one hand creating the climate for flourishing cultural and artistic development, on the other hand setting the stage for on-going power struggles, wars and battles.

One consequence of the endless disputes was the construction of towns and villages on hilltops, surrounded by protective walls. More than 100 of these fortified villages remain in Umbria, some of the best-preserved of their type in Italy, and most virtually unchanged since medieval times - their narrow, winding, cobblestone streets and alleyways take you under archways, past plain-fronted shops and homes hidden behind quaint or decorative wooden doors, up and down steep hillsides and into magnificent civic squares surrounded on all sides by churches and government buildings.

The atmospherics of medieval Italy
Everything is built of stone, with the timelessness and atmospherics of medieval Italy - though occasionally the image is punctuated by a villager walking past talking on a mobile phone.

We have chosen to visit a small part of Umbria on foot, getting off the beaten track and searching out these fortified villages and towns, walking past farmhouses with their olive groves, vineyards and fields of maize and wheat and even finding forests and areas of untouched wilderness.

For a week we will walk from Todi, which must be one of the most beautiful towns in Italy, whose roots go back to Etruscan and Roman times, to Assisi, birthplace of St Francis, and another of the most beautiful towns in Italy.

Each day, we set off with route maps, notes, guide books and picnic supplies in a small backpack, while our luggage is carried for us from one pre-booked hotel to the next. Apart from making sure we don't get lost (the route notes are very detailed) and getting to our next hotel before dark, our days are for us to design.

An Etruscan town

In Todi, the history is palpable. Originally an Etruscan town, it was later conquered by the Romans, then in the Middle Ages became an independent city-state.

Built on the summit of a hill, there are glorious views from the battlements across the plains below. Surrounding the highest part of the town is the original protective ring wall, built by the Etruscans and the Romans. Later in the Middle Ages, when the town prospered and grew, another circle of battlements was constructed. Most of the town's churches and civic buildings date from the 14th and 15th centuries, with the most picturesque being those facing the Piazza del Popolo on the highest point of the hill.

We stop at the open-air cafe in the square for a strong, short coffee (macchiato) and listen to the "battle of the bells" as the bells in the cathedral (dating from the 12th century) and a neighboring church peel off the hour.

Our picnic supplies

On our way out of town, we pick up picnic supplies at a stylish alimentary, that stocks local wines, and an extensive gourmet selection of cheeses, hams, other cold meats and breads.

Well stocked, we head out through the Umbrian countryside, for the most part an intensively farmed area with deep, fertile loam and clay soils planted with crops like maize and winter wheat or orchards of olive trees and extensive vineyards.

Our route takes us off the bitumen roads and on to the "strada bianca", the white, gravel roads that service the many farms, then on to simple tracks that wind past the two-storey stone farmhouses, olive groves and vines, through woodlands and across the rolling countryside to tiny hamlets of stone cottages and the ubiquitous churches.

Lavishly decorated churches

In the little village of Montefalco, which perches high above the Umbrian plains, there are, incredibly, 11 churches, the oldest a simple affair from the 12th century, others from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries the walls and ceilings lavishly decorated with stunning frescoes regarded as among the best in Italy.
As we wander from one to the other, for the most part, our only companion is a dog that follows, apparently hoping for a hand-out.

In the countryside, Italian people have time for a chat, and even though our Italian is limited to being able to order a glass of wine or a coffee, and their English about as good, we nevertheless had a number of great "conversations" with local people.

One day far from towns or villages we heard the sound of a shotgun, and some minutes later spotted a bird hide constructed on the side of the track we were taking. Inside the three-sided hide, and with his back to us, was a hunter keenly scouring the skies for birds.

Not wishing to come up on him unexpectedly, we called out: "Buon giorno" to get his attention.

Thankfully, he's very friendly and carefully "breaks" his shot gun, and indicates that he's not going to shoot us. However, it is clear he is curious about what we are doing in such a remote place.

A typical "conversation"

What follows was typical of our English-Italian "conversations", roughly translated.

Us: "Buon giorno".

Hunter: "Buon giorno, nice day, how are you, where are you from?"

Us: "We're from Australia."

Hunter: "Ah, I have family in Australia - Melbourne".

Us: "We're from Western Australia, near Perth".

Hunter: "So, what are you up to out here?"

Us: "We're walking - from Montefalco to Spello" (we show him our maps and route notes).

Hunter: "What? Are you nuts? Walking? There's a perfectly good super strada (highway) over there. Why don't you drive?"

Us: "Ah well, we're from Australia and it's what we are doing".

The hunter is very impressed, though clearly thinks we've something missing up top. But, when we explain that not only are we walking from Montefalco to Spello that day, over the course of the week we are walking from all the way from Todi to Assisi.

At this point, he loses it completely. A huge grin spreads across his face.

Hunter: "Mie complemento. Mie complemento", which we think means my compliments to you - and, he vigorously shakes our hands.

A local specialty

We take our leave and a few minutes later hear the shotgun go off. Did he get the bird? And, was it pigeon, a local specialty?

That night for dinner I have wild pigeon in a wine sauce with olive oil, vinegar and herbs, game being a feature of the menus in Umbria. On another occasion I enjoyed a breast of guinea fowl, also a local specialty, while the spicy, grilled sausages were so enjoyable we've been desperately trying to recapture the flavour since returning home to Australia.

And, with so much of the countryside under olive groves, olive oil is obviously the dressing of choice for most dishes, except, of course, gelato (icecream), the hand-made ones being so luscious we indulge in them at every opportunity.

And, so we came to Assisi, birthplace of St Francis, the patron saint of Italy and also of ecology. Built in the lee of Mount Subasio, Assisi began as an Umbrian town, was conquered by the Romans and became important to them (there are still plenty of reminders of the Romans) and later became a free city-state.

However, even this is not enough to set it apart from other hilltop towns in the area - we can thank St Francis for that.

Born in 1182 in Assisi to a wealthy family of merchants, when he was a young man he turned his back on the good life, threw away all his clothes and belongings and followed a life of absolute poverty. With other young followers, including Saint Clare, he established the Franciscan order (with the blessing of the Pope) in 1223, teaching purity, humility, forgiveness, simplicity and love for all God's creatures.

Centerpiece of Assisi

St Francis died in 1226 and immediately afterwards building began on the Basilica where his remains were interred two years later and which today is the centerpiece of Assisi's extensive collection of churches, buildings and sanctuaries built in remembrance of the saint.

The complex includes the Upper Church (extensively damaged in an earthquake in 1997 and still being restored) and the Lower Church and the Crypt where St Francis' remains are the draw card for pilgrims from all around the world.
A walk around Assisi and a visit to all the major buildings will take a good half-day. Don't forget to climb up the hill to the Rocca Maggiore, a castle built in 1367 on the orders of the Pope of the day to regain control over this warring region.

Typical of medieval military architecture, the castle is in excellent condition and one can easily conjure up troops of soldiers living out their lives in the castle, as the major defensive point in the area.

A long access tunnel connects the main part of the castle with a high tower which offers superb views over the surrounding Umbrian hills of woodlands, olive groves, vineyards and farmlands.

To reach the tower, you must pass through first through the narrow tunnel, barely wide enough for one person, then climb a spiral, stone staircase in pitch blackness. The only way is to feel for the walls with your hands, for the steps with your feet and count to 60 - the number of steps to get you to the top. Claustrophobics need not apply.

Assisi was by far the busiest of the towns we visited on our walk through Umbria, but even here the nature of these medieval towns works to our benefit. Because there is no large-scale accommodation within the town walls, all the tour coach groups leave by late afternoon for their hotels down on the plain while we retire to our small hotel 100 meters up a stone staircase off the main square.

By night the town takes on a quiet, contemplative mood - perfect to appreciate the spirit of St Francis.