Umbria, worth knowing.

Fun facts about Umbria

1. 1Perugia's famous Baci chocolates were first sold in 1922 as 'Cazzotto', meaning 'punch', for their fist-like shape. They were renamed 'kiss', and each one still comes wrapped with a little love note.Source: Gambero Rosso International; Bell'Italia
2. 2Umbria, Perugia's region, is the only region in Italy with no coastline and no border with another country. Italians call it the green heart of Italy.Source: Taste and Wonders of Italy; Wikipedia
3. 3Umbria's Marmore Falls were made by the Romans over 2,000 years ago. Today the river mostly feeds a power plant, so a siren sounds and the waterfall is 'switched on' at set times.Source: Italy Magazine; Wikipedia
4. 4Every winter the mountainside above Gubbio, in Umbria, lights up as a 650-metre Christmas tree, built by local volunteers since 1981. One year an astronaut switched it on from the space station.Source: The Local Italy; Wikipedia
5. 5One night each year in Spello, near Perugia, hundreds of locals work until dawn covering the medieval streets in carpets and pictures made of flower petals.Source: Umbriatourism; Wikipedia
6. 6Umbria's Sagrantino grape grows almost nowhere else on Earth: just Montefalco and a handful of neighbouring towns.Source: Arnaldo Caprai; Liz Palmer

Things to do in Umbria

• ◦In Perugia, the escalators up to the old town run through the Rocca Paolina, a buried Renaissance fortress. Step off and wander medieval streets that now sit underground beneath vaulted ceilings.Source: Umbriatourism; Wikipedia
• ◦Orvieto's St Patrick's Well drops more than 53 metres into the rock, circled by two separate spiral staircases of 248 steps, so people going down never meet people coming up.Source: Pozzo di San Patrizio; Italy Magazine
• ◦Under Orvieto lies a second city: about 1,200 caves, tunnels, wells and cisterns dug into the volcanic rock over nearly 3,000 years, including an old olive mill and rooms for keeping pigeons.Source: Orvieto Viva; Secret Umbria
• ◦Time a trip for Eurochocolate, when Perugia's old town turns into a ten-day chocolate festival with tastings, chocolate makers from cacao-growing countries and hands-on chocolate labs.Source: Eurochocolate; Wikipedia
• ◦Every July, Umbria Jazz fills Perugia with music, and many concerts are free: open-air sets in Piazza IV Novembre and the Carducci Gardens run from midday until late.Source: Umbriatourism; Guide to Italy
• ◦Visit the Casa del Cioccolato Perugina, the factory where Baci are made: see the chocolate museum, watch production, taste, then try a hands-on class at its chocolate school.Source: Umbriatourism; Summer in Italy

Questions to bring to Umbria

From Sojourn's journeys. Ask one over a long dinner or on a slow walk, and let the place do some of the work.

Going together

• When do you feel most like yourself?
• What does rest actually look like for you?
• What is one thing you wish we did more of?

Going solo

• What is the first thing this place is showing you that you didn't expect?
• What does this version of you know that the home version tends to forget?

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