Umbria in Italy has Orvieto wine and TerreUmbre fruit honey, bicycle holidays, castles and a medieval synagogue, waterfalls, an Etruscan gate and tombs, Perugia, the old historic capital and a temple which Byron visited and described in a poem.
Italy, Umbria and Mountains
Umbria - where is it? The heart of Italy, they say. It is land-locked, an area of mountains and medieval villages in the middle of Italy.
Umbria, I think of a shadow? Like Cumbria, Umbria has mountains. However, you pronounce the name not like English Cumbria and umbrella, more like oo.
Wine and Prosecco
I went to a presentation by the Umbrian tourist board, in London at the Kensington Hotel (see my previous post about the lovely hotel). We started our evening with a glass or more of Prosecco, which put me in a good mood, because I like Prosecco more than Champagne, from France, or Cava from Spain. Prosecco is really popular in England at the moment. I am very happy about that. Prosecco is cheaper and sweeter than other white bubbly drinks.
Wine and Asti
My other favourite Italian sweet white wine is Asti - we used to always see Asti Spumante on food and wine menus, especially Italia restaurant menus. Spumante means sparkling. Nowadays menus more often show just the word Asti, which is the town or city.
But the regional wine, Orvieto, is also well known and liked.
My favourite honey was the Honey with chestnut on the left. Although the honey with Acacia on the right was also distinctive, and nicer than the honey we usually have at home, it was completely outclassed by the chestnut honey.
Cheese and Chocolate
In the reception room was a table displaying cheeses and salamis and chocolate. (Not a piece of fruit nor vegetable in sight. But I am sure that when you go to Umbria you will get vegetables and fruit.)
I liked the cheese. I passed on the salami. After a member of my family had treatment for cancer, everybody stopped eating preserved meats and went onto fresh meat and lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. Actually, I did try one piece of the salami. It was very tasty.
The chocolate came in wrapped bars of three or four varieties. Dark chocolate, white chocolate, mottled swirling colours of dark and white chocolate, and nutty chocolate for more nutrition and crunch. I couldn't decide which I preferred. So I kept eating more - break off a small oblong of the dark, another piece of the white, let's try the nutty one again - until a member of my family pulled me away.
However, top of my list of foods to try - and try again, was the honey. They had honey flavours I had not seen before. Fruit - at last, fruit flavours.
The honey bottle labels say:
Dolcezze con MIELE al LIMONE
MIELE alla pera
MIELE alla fragola
MIELE alla MELA VERDE
The honey flavours were delicious. More-ish.
I was about to turn to Google Translate when I noticed the pictures of the fruit on the label.
Limone - lemon
Pera - pear
Fragola - strawberry
Mela verde - green apple.
I got out a magnifying glass and read the label.
Prodotto Italiano - Italian product or produce of Italy.
TerreUmbre is the brand name.
It is made or distributed from Perugia. The label says:
Terre Umbre
Via G Galilei, 59
Corciano
Perugia
www.terreumbre.net
According to the website, they also make or distribute all over the world other products such as chestnuts flavour honey, acacia flour; plus chocolate spread and grappa. The website is in Italian with translation in English (handy if you want to learn Italian) if you click on the English flag you get the English, but it seems to be wholesale, not retail for the public, as there are no prices and they ask you to fax. So you'll have to look for flavoured honey when you visit Umbria.
But what is there to see when you go there?
Perugia
Looking at the literature, the only place name I have heard of, apart from Umbria, is Perugia. Perugia is a lovely old city, not as well known nor flooded with tourists as Florence or Milan or Rome or Venice.
Unfortunately, to the British and American newspaper and internet news reader, the name Perugia will be associated with the murder of a British student. I wondered at the time why students went to Perugia rather than one of the bigger cities. The answer is that Perugia has a well known language school. It specialises in teaching languages and is, as you might expect, good value in terms of the teaching costing you less.
Another feature of the region is cycling. Throughout our evening, a screen showed a video of individuals and groups cycling through the scenic area, up and down hills, along flat paths, past green fields and mountains, over bridges.
Orvieto
Apart from the wines, and wine cellars carved out by Etruscans, a local food speciality is truffle pasta.
My top visits in the region would be:
Etruscan gate and cemetery
Perugia - many museums, central square and sites
The medieval synagogue.
A castle.
A winery.
You can take foodie tours, organised by a lovely lady who is bilingual.
You are also near enough to visit Assisi.
For more information see
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbria
Tourist board website
https://www.umbriatourism.it
TripAdvisor
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g187907-Activities-Perugia_Province_of_Perugia_Umbria.html
For details of the pagan temple with four pillars, converted into a church, which inspired a few verses which Lord Byron wrote in his long poem Child Harold:
http://www.italianways.com/the-temple-of-clitumnus-a-stream-of-poesy/
Let's Meet In The Heart Of Italy
Incontrarsi Al Centro
www.umbriaconventionbureau.eu
email info@umbriaconventionbureau.eu
Touching History
Nel Vivo Della Storia
www.umbriaculture.eu
email: info@umbriaculture.eu
Walking in the steps of St Francis (of Assisi)
Sulle Orme Di Francesco
www.umbriafrancescosways.eu
email: info@umbriafrancescosways.eu
Cycling With Passion
Con La Bici Nel Cuore
www.umbriabike.eu
email: info@umbriabike.eu
Tasting Pleasure
Fra I Piaceri del Gusto
www.umbriatastes.eu
email: info @umbriatastes.eu
www.umbrialifestye.it
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
