Sample the specialities of Tuscany and Umbria: not just fine food and wine, but also hilltop towns and wild coastlines

HOW TO GET THERE

Alitalia, BA, CityJet, easyJet, Jet2, Monarch, Ryanair and Vueling fly to the region’s main gateway airports in Florence, Perugia, Pisa and Rome from numerous UK airports, including Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Heathrow, Leeds-Bradford, London City, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted (London Stansted to Pisa from £76; ryanair.com).

HOW TO GET AROUND

It can be hard to get around the more remote areas of Tuscany and Umbria without a car, although bus and train routes offer a few options. A week’s car hire starts at around £185 with Avis (avis.co.uk). Trenitalia is the primary train operator and the network connects major cities; tickets can be bought on the day at stations or online (Florence to Pisa from £7; italiarail.com). Buses are a better option between small villages; numerous companies operate throughout Tuscany and Umbria, with tickets available on board, from bus stations or at tobacco kiosks (singles from £1; one-day passes from £2.50).

HOW LONG TO SPEND

Though Tuscany and Umbria are compact, a combination of rural roads and town traffic often means that getting around takes longer than you think. Ten days should be enough to cover the region, but two weeks will allow more time to linger and explore the out-of-the-way areas. You’ll need a week for Tuscany’s highlights, with a couple of days each in Chianti, the Garfagnana and the Maremma, plus optional time in Florence as well. Another three or four days should be enough to head east into Umbria to explore the area’s hilltop towns and soak up the scenery around Norcia and the Sibillini Hills.

WHAT TO BUDGET

Tuscany and Umbria are among Italy’s most popular destinations, so prices rocket in the summer, especially for accommodation – £120 to £150 a day should be enough to cover a basic double room, meals and car hire; £200 would take you a few rungs up the luxury ladder. Another option is to base yourself in one location, in a self- catering apartment or agriturismo, which can allow you to cut costs by cooking your own meals: prices range upwards from around £450 a week. Visit sites such as agriturismo.net or bellaumbria.net for listings.

WHO CAN HELP

For general information, the website of the Italian Tourist Board (italia.it) is a good place to start for inspiration. Many companies offer activity trips. A week of walks with Tuscany Walking (tuscanywalking. com) costs £999, including all meals and activities. For wine lovers, Smooth Red (smoothred. co.uk) and Italian Wine Tours (italianwinetours.com) offer various packages exploring the region’s major wine areas, including Chianti; prices start from around £450 with guides, transfers and two nights’ accommodation. If you’d like to hone your culinary skills, Tuscookany (tuscookany.com) specialises in residential cookery courses – a three-day course costs £1,385.

HOW TO PLAN

For in-depth information pick up Lonely Planet’s Florence & Tuscany (£14.99). For a broader view, the Italy (£17.99) guide also covers Umbria.

ON THE ROAD

Eat

Cinghiale – they’re a menace to vine- growers and farmers, but chefs love wild boar. Prized for its gamey flavour, it has a lower fat content than pork. Pappardelle al cinghiale (pasta ribbons in a wild boar sauce) is a classic. Boar also makes delicious sausages.

Watch

For ravishing views of the Tuscan countryside, watch Bernardo Bertolucci's dreamy coming-of-age tale, Stealing Beauty (1996).

Hum

Nessun dorma – Pavarotti’s signature tune comes from Turandot, the final opera composed by Tuscan maestro Giacomo Puccini, who was born in Lucca in 1858 and spent most of his life in a villa near Torre del Lago. Just in case you were wondering, ‘nessun dorma’ means ‘none shall sleep’.

Sip

Vin santo – a popular afterdinner digestif in Tuscany, this sweet dessert wine is made from a blend of Trebbiano and Malvasia Bianca grapes. It’s often served with almondy cantucci biscuits.

Sample

Lenticchia di Castelluccio – the Italian equivalent of Puy lentils, prized by chefs and connoisseurs alike, sold in all of Norcia’s food shops.

Buy

You can’t visit Assisi and not come home with a souvenir of St Francis. In the basilica’s shop, you’ll find the town’s patron saint gracing everything from bookmarks to keyrings.

Did you know?

The three knots on a Franciscan friar’s belt signify the order’s three cardinal vows: poverty, chastity and obedience.

1. Chianti

Get a real taste of Tuscany – where a passion for wine seeps into every corner of life – with a visit to one of its hallowed vineyards

HAZY YELLOW SUN IS

Acresting over the hilltop as Monica Raspi sets out on her daily tour of her vineyards at Villa Pomona. It’s early; crows are cackling in the trees and mist cloaks the fields, drifting through rows of glossy green vines that unfold in every direction as far as the eye can see.

‘This is always the best time of day in the vineyard,’ Monica says, breathing in the crisp morning air. ‘When the fields are quiet, and before the midday heat.’ She stops beside a row of vines, a tangle of acid-green leaves popping out from the orange soil. Brushing back the branches, she reveals the vineyard’s hidden treasure: clusters of plump, purple-black grapes, skins still frosted with dew. Producing a pair of secateurs from her pocket, she snips off a bunch. ‘Sangiovese grapes. The soul of Chianti wines,’ she says, popping one into her mouth as she disappears into the vines.

Even in a country as oenologically blessed as Italy, the vineyards of Chianti command a special status. Sprawling across Tuscany’s hilly spine between Siena and Florence, this is Italy’s oldest and best-known wine region. Viticulture has been a cornerstone of life here since Roman times, and vines cover every inch of landscape, rolling down the hillsides, carpeting the fields, sprouting from gardens, creeping up the sides of farmhouses and barns. Along the backroads, ‘degustazione’ signs line the verges, inviting customers to sample the latest vintage – a crucial part of Tuscan wine culture, and something that’s offered by every vineyard, from world-famous villas to humble backyard growers.

‘Everyone in Chianti is an expert. Or thinks they are,’ Monica says, uncorking a bottle and filling up glasses on a table outside her cellar. ‘But it’s good that everyone here is passionate. Wine is more than a drink here. It’s a way of life.’ She takes a sip and rolls it around her mouth, sucking in air to intensify the flavour. The taste should be fruity and floral, she says, with a sharp, acidic finish from the Sangiovese grapes, and a nutty overtone from the oak barrels in which the wines are aged. It’s especially good with food – and as if by magic, a plate of cheese, olives and ham arrives from inside the farmhouse, carried by her mother, who ran the vineyard before Monica took it over in 2007. Together they settle down to enjoy their winemaker’s breakfast – or caffè rosso, as Monica prefers to call it – enjoying the sunshine and the scent of clematis and rosemary wafting across the courtyard.

For Monica, at Villa Pomona, as in most Chianti vineyards, winemaking is a family affair. The first vines here were planted in the 19th century by her great-greatgrandfather, Bandino Bandini, and the vineyard has been in family hands ever since. It sits right in the heart of the Chianti Classico, a 7,000-hectare area between Siena and Florence known for producing some of the region’s finest, and most expensive, wines. Standards within this hallowed zone are strictly enforced, from blending techniques to bottle designs, and only the best wineries can display the gallo nero, or black rooster, on their labels. The ultimate seal of Chianti quality, his crowing presence is an appropriate symbol for a region which has elevated winemaking to an art form.

Once you’ve had your fill of Chianti’s vineyards, ask your designated driver to make a beeline for the craggy peaks of the Apuan Alps. It’s a 95-mile drive (be sure to break for lunch in Florence).

Essentials

The borders of the ‘Chianti Classico’ wine region were first set as far back as 1716

Castello delle Serre This grand baronial castle in the hilltop village of Serre di Rapolano has been lovingly restored by its American owner. Rooms are full of medieval atmosphere, with tiled floors, solid beams and shuttered windows overlooking the valley. There’s a gorgeous rooftop pool, as well as a fancy tower suite offering 360° views over the countryside (from £140; castellodelleserre.com). Villa Pomona is nine miles north of Siena (fattoriapomona.it). Most Chianti vineyards are open for visits, but some only by arrangement, so do check ahead. Tasting is generally free of charge, but it’s good manners to buy a bottle.

2. Garfagnana

Strap on your hiking boots, hit the hills and soak up the culture of this remote mountain valley

S THE OLD PROVERB

Agoes, ‘friends may meet, but mountains never greet’ and this morning, the Apuan Alps seem determined to live up to the maxim. For the last two hours, a cloak of cloud has clung to the mountaintops, obscuring both the valley below and the peaks ahead. But the weather hasn’t deterred the hikers; they’re picking their way along the ridge-lines, kitted out with hats and fleeces, braving the cloud in the hope of better weather down the trail. Their optimism is rewarded; within half an hour, the cloud burns off and they’re under a clear canopy of blue, surrounded by spiky summits and lush slopes daubed with wildflowers. It’s a reminder of another old mountain adage: if you don’t like the weather, sit down and wait.

The weather is the only thing that changes at any discernible pace in the Garfagnana. Hidden away in Tuscany’s northwestern corner, 40 miles north of Pisa, this rural valley preserves a way of life that’s hardly changed in centuries. Historically, most families here would have made their living from the land – farming sheep, growing spelt and maize, and harvesting chestnuts used to make everything from cakes to bread. Quarrying was the valley’s other major industry – seams of white Carrara marble streak the mountainsides, of a purity and clarity valued by Roman architects and Renaissance artists alike.

Today, the Garfagnana is part of a national park, the Parco Nazionale dell’Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, and is renowned for some of Italy’s best hiking. Sandwiched between the twin ranges of the Apuan Alps and the Apennines, it’s a pocket of unexpected wilderness on Tuscany’s northern edge, less well known than the Dolomites, but every bit as beautiful. Mouflon and mountain goats roam the high pastures, and old drovers’ paths wind through a landscape of lakeside chapels, abandoned quarries and shepherds’ bothies. Many of the valley’s old farmhouses are now agriturismi, and on a clear day, from the top of Monte Prado, the Garfagnana’s highest peak at 2,054m, the view encompasses three regions of Italy: Liguria to the west, Emilia-Romagna to the north and Tuscany to the south.

Marco Santino has been hiking here for 20 years, travelling every summer from Rome, where he works as an architect. ‘It’s another world here,’ he says, taking a breather against a rock. ‘If I could, I’d spend every day in the mountains.’ He waits for his companions to catch up before they settle down on the grass for lunch: a walkers’ picnic of salami, fruit, bread and pecorino cheese, all freshly bought this morning from the valley’s main town, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. A troupe of goats trots past along the trail, bells tinkling as they disappear down the near-vertical slope.

Pastoral scenes like these are key to the Garfagnana’s appeal. Dotted with tiny villages and sleepy towns – where the streets are lined with old-fashioned cafés and grocers’ shops, and family-run trattorias serve up recipes such as wild boar ragù – this is a region that celebrates a traditional life. The local calendar is chalked with festivals honouring everything from beer to chestnuts, and one village even holds its own medieval pageant, when jesters and harlequins roam the streets, and locals feast on hog roasts and spelt ale, much as they would have done hundreds of years ago.

Look out for old chapels and marble quarries as you head west across the mountains, then pick up the coast road near Massa, following it south all the way to the Parco Naturale della Maremma.

Essentials

Tenuta San Pietro The Garfagnana’s agriturismi are pretty rustic – if you’re after something special, base yourself at this ravishing gastro-hotel further south, near the pretty city of Lucca. The Norwegian owners have given the rooms a light and stripped-back Scandinavian feel, plus there’s an infinity pool with mountain views (from £120; tenuta-san-pietro.com). Most of the Garfagnana’s trails can be tackled solo, but Tuscany Walking offers guided treks from around £50 per day (tuscanywalking.com).

3. The Maremma

Explore the wild beaches and empty hills of the Maremma before travelling back in time in the company of Tuscany’s cowboys

T’S AFTERNOON IN THE

IUccellina hills, as guide Daniele Contarino and his riders seek shelter from the fierce heat of the sun under a grove of umbrella pines. Shadows lace the ground like spider’s webs, and through the canopy there’s the cobalt flash of sky and ocean.

After half an hour the trees thin out and the riders emerge near the beach at Collelungo, marooned in swathes of marram grass. Along the coast an old watch-tower stands guard, its battlements burning red in the sun. Beneath, a strip of ivory sand disappears into the distance, fringed by foaming surf. Apart from a couple of walkers and some bleached driftwood, it’s deserted.

In summer, the only way to reach Collelungo (and much of the Maremma’s

The Maremmana breed is recognisable by its grey hide coastline), is on foot, by sea – or as in Daniele’s case, in the saddle. Since 1975, this strip of hills, beaches and salt-marsh has been protected as a nature reserve, recognising its unique wildlife and rare ecosystems, and for several months because of the risk of forest fire, much of the park remains off-limits without the company of an official guide. As a result, its coves stay quiet, even when the bigger beaches beyond the park’s borders are heaving.

A little way south lies another secluded beach where Daniele often leads his horse treks, Cala di Forno. Cradled between two rocky headlands and hemmed in by maquis shrubland, it’s half an hour from the nearest road, accessed via a dusty forest track or by piloting a kayak along the rocky coastline. It’s worth the effort: with its white sand and crystal water, it’s a patch of paradise in the middle of Tuscany’s busiest stretch of coast.

But there’s more to the Maremma than beaches. A century ago, this sunbaked strip of land was Tuscany’s answer to the Wild West: a centre for cattle production, with its own breed, the long-horned Maremmana. Traditionally, the cattle were left semi-wild, roaming freely over the hills until it was time to round up the herd. That’s where the butteri, the Maremma’s cowboys, came in. The profession required steely nerves and superb horsemanship – something that still remains the case, even though the days of wild cattle herding are mostly gone. ‘Today we work with small herds, but the skills are the same as in my grandfather’s day,’ says Ernesto Buratta, whose family have herded Maremmana for generations. He picks up his hooked staff, known as a bastone, and coils a loop of rope around its end, whirling it round his head before releasing with a flick of his wrist. The lasso curls through the air, landing on a gatepost ten feet away. ‘It’s harder when the gatepost is running away from you,’ he says, flashing a smile under his white moustache, before mounting his horse and cantering away.

After a quick spin south along the coast, head inland to central Tuscany, where you’ll find some of the region’s most beautiful hilltop towns – including the birthplace of St Francis, Assisi.

Essentials

La Valentina Nuova This farm offers self-catering apartments converted from old outbuildings, with wood furniture and terracotta tile floors. Owner Paola Petrilli is a mine of local information (from £50; lavalentinanuova.com). The park headquarters in Alberese organises activities including guided hikes, kayaking trips and horse-riding expeditions (parco-maremma. it). You can also arrange rides directly with local farms: a half-day ride with Tenuta dell’Uccellina costs from £65 (tenutauccellina.it). The Burattas’ ranch is open for dinner most nights (mains from £5; buratta.com).

4. Assisi, Spello & Orvieto

Soak up centuries of history in three of Umbria’s prettiest hilltop towns, where ancient architecture and modern life exist side by side

N THE PIAZZA IN FRONT

Oof the Upper Basilica of St Francis of Assisi, three friars are taking a break from their morning duties with a game of Frisbee. They’re dressed in the garb of the Franciscan order – hooded robes, tied at the waist with a knotted cord – the same outfit worn by St Francis himself, only instead of sandals, the friars are wearing brightlycoloured trainers. Apart from some early pilgrims and a few pigeons fluttering at the church’s façade, the town is pin-drop quiet.

Famous as the birthplace of St Francis, who founded his namesake order here in 1209, centuries later Assisi remains the spiritual home of the Franciscans. It’s also a kind of monastic finishing school; aspiring novices travel from all over the globe to study here and take their final orders.

Andrew Hochstedler is one of them. An American by birth, he’s been studying to become a friar since 2010. ‘The history here can be a little overwhelming,’ he admits,

Spello has been inhabited since before Roman times taking a break from the game. ‘I’ve lived here for three years, but even now, I still discover corners of the town I’ve never seen before.’

Assisi’s history stretches back much further than St Francis. The Etruscans were the first to settle here, taking advantage of the town’s defensible position, protected by steep slopes on three sides and the hump of Monte Subasio behind. Many others followed, and walking the backstreets is like trying to decipher an architectural puzzle. It’s a chaotic jumble of styles, built and rebuilt over the course of three millennia. Along one street, columns from a Roman temple prop up the façade of a Renaissance church. On another, a line of Gothic arches is cut off by the addition of a medieval wall. There are dead ends and blind alleys, bricked-up doorways and staircases leading nowhere. Clues lurk in the walls: coats of arms, beastly gargoyles and saintly images loaded with obscure religious significance.

‘There are secrets everywhere,’ says Andrew. ‘It’s like a real-life Da Vinci Code.’ He points to a T-shaped cross carved above the basilica’s entrance: it’s the Tau, the emblem of the Franciscan order, but also an ancient cipher signifying the resurrection. Lions are another common motif – leering from gutters and peering out from doorknockers – but despite their prevalence, no-one’s quite sure what they mean. Some scholars think they represent Christ, others the Holy Roman Emperor.

A few miles southeast of Assisi, along a winding road which veers round the wooded flanks of Monte Subasio, Spello demonstrates another feature shared by many of Umbria’s hilltop towns: a ring of ramparts, gates and watchtowers, a reminder of the days when a hilltop location was prized not for its prettiness but its protection. Walking along its battlements, Spello is transformed into an impregnable bastion, bristling with crenels and murderholes. Watching cars beetle up the hillside and sparrows flit down its sheer walls, it’s easy to imagine the town under attack, surrounded by siege engines and trebuchets.

Off to the southwest, along quiet lanes that meander through corn fields and cypress trees, lies Orvieto. Perched on a spur of rock high above the plain, this hilltop town had another solution for times of trouble. Beneath the town’s cathedral, a network of tunnels burrows through the limestone, providing escape routes during a siege. Right beneath the townsfolk’s feet, centuries of cobwebs drape the walls of this labyrinth of passageways, staircases, and galleries, where every step returns a ghoulish echo. Guides recount tales of people who entered the tunnels, and whose ghosts are still trying to find their way out.

But Umbria’s hilltop towns are far from museum pieces. Life carries on as it has for centuries. Old men drink their morning grappa at pavement cafés. Cats stalk along the cobbles, and couples marry at the town church under Renaissance frescoes. Mopeds putter along alleys where housewives string their washing between the buildings, the blare of an afternoon soap drifting from open windows. At least once a week, the town square hosts a market, where everyone gathers to exchange produce, money, and – perhaps most importantly – the latest news.

Now head for a feast in Norcia – southeast of Spello on the other side of the Sibillini hills, its a journey of 45 miles. If you have time, the hilltop towns of Bevagna and Montefalco are a worthy detour.

Essentials

Hotel Palazzo Bocci This 17th-century palazzo in Spello still has original frescoes on show in the first-floor reading lounge. Rooms don’t share the same period dazzle, but they’re comfy, with big beds, modern bathrooms and air-con. Breakfast is served in the hotel’s inner courtyard (from £105, palazzobocci.com). The Basilica Papale di San Francesco in Assisi is open every day (sanfrancescoassisi.org). It’s free to enter, but donations are welcome – or you can do your bit by buying a souvenir from the church shop. Orvieto’s tunnels can only be explored on a guided tour, leaving several times a day from the main square of Piazza Duomo (£4.40; orvietounderground.it).

5. Norcia

Hunt for truffles, learn culinary secrets and sample wild boar salami in Umbria’s gastronomic capital

Nicola Berardi checks one of his dogs’ prize finds

T’S JUST AFTER DAWN IN THE

Ihills above Norcia as truffle-hunter Nicola Berardi parks up in the woods and steps out into the misty morning air. He opens the trunk of the car, and his two dogs Nina and Lulu jump out, yapping with excitement.

‘As you can tell, they are happy workers,’ Nicola says, filling his pockets with dog treats. ‘They must be curious to make good truffle dogs, but they get over-excited.’ He barks an order, and the dogs sit obediently at his feet, each earning a biscuit as a reward. Then with another command, he sends them bolting down the hillside, their barks cracking like gunshots over the quiet woods. The truffle hunt has begun.

It doesn’t take long before the dogs make their first dicovery. On the edge of the wood, one of the dogs begins to sniff around the roots of a young oak tree, and frantically starts to dig with her front paws. ‘Good dog, Nina,’ Nicola says, pulling her away as he excavates the soil carefully with a small trowel. ‘We must be careful not to damage the truffle as we dig. To fetch the best price, they must be perfect.’ He scoops his hand into the earth and emerges with a knobbly black mushroom the size of a cricket ball. ‘Not bad,’ he says, holding the truffle to his nose before stowing it safely in his jacket pocket. ‘Now let’s see if we can find more.’

Black truffles, or tartufi neri, are just one of the ingredients that have made the name of Norcia synonymous with fine food. Hidden away in the Sibillini hills, this old walled town is renowned across Italy for the quality of its ingredients – from organic honey to ricotta and rare-breed pork. It’s a poster town for the Slow Food movement, championing the use of home-grown products and organic farming. The valley even has its own trademarked lentil, the lenticchia di Castelluccio, renowned for its delicate texture and nutty flavour.

One man who knows how to get the most from Norcia’s ingredients is Emanuele Mazzella, head chef at Palazzo Seneca, the town’s top hotel. While his staff are hard at work getting ready for lunch service, he’s holding a cooking class in the kitchen, demonstrating how to make two classic Umbrian dishes: zuppa di lenticchie, a rich lentil broth, and agnello al tartufo – roast lamb with truffles. The kitchen thrums with the sound of whizzing blenders and clattering pans as he meticulously trims his lamb joint, stuffing it with butter, herbs and truffle shavings before tying it up with the perfect butcher’s knot. That’s the secret to cooking, he says: use the best ingredients, and treat them with love.

Outside, it’s lunchtime in Norcia’s narrow backstreets, and its trattorias are packed with diners. Seating themselves at long wooden tables, under stuffed boar’s heads and gnarled roof-beams, diners dip chunks of bread into bean soup and rabbit hotpot, or twirl ribbons of wild hare pasta onto their forks. At the rear of the restaurants, woodfired ovens blaze and smoke in the gloom, staining the ceilings charcoal black.

Just along the street, one of the town’s norcinerias, or butcher’s shops, is doing a brisk lunchtime trade. Dressed in a white apron, the butcher engages his customers in debate about the day’s choicest cuts, only pausing to slam a cleaver through a beef joint, or shave a slice from a leg of ham. On the street outside, baskets are stacked with wheels of pecorino cheese, bulbs of garlic, bags of risotto rice and salamis the size of saplings. The choice – and the smell – is overpowering.

While lunch gets into full swing in Norcia, up in the hills, Nicola and his dogs have finished their hunt. It’s been a good morning – well over a kilo of truffles in just a couple of hours. Now he’s heading home for his own favourite lunch – black truffle omelette. ‘Food is such an important part of life here,’ he says, as he unloads his haul into a hamper on the front seat, and Nina and Lulu settle down in the boot to gnaw on a well-earned bone. ‘It keeps us connected to the land, and brings people and families together. And if you ask me, nothing is more important than that.’

Essentials

Palazzo Seneca Lodged inside a nobleman’s townhouse near the main square, this luxurious hotel is the place to treat yourself in Norcia. It has retained much of the building’s medieval heritage, from a hidden library to a fancy spa in the former wine cellar. ‘Romantica’ rooms are small, but the suites are palatial, with antique secretaires, carved bedsteads and marble pillars (from £130; palazzoseneca.com). A morning’s truffle hunt costs around £60 per person, while a cooking course in the Palazzo Seneca kitchen starts from around £65. There’s usually a two-person minimum; rates are cheaper if more people book. Bookings for these and other food activities in Norcia can be made through Exavel (exavel.com). Ask about special rates if you’re also staying at the hotel.

OLIVER BERRY now knows how to dig for truffles and pulp grapes, but is still working on his Maremmana lasso skills.

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