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Vacation in Italy: Umbria travel route
home: travel route: Umbria: southern Umbria

Spoleto

Spoleto has grown in fame since the Festival of Two Worlds has breathed new life to this quiet secluded town with its magnificent 12th century Cathedral and soaring bell-tower (with Filippo Lippi's frescoed interior), 12th century Church of S. Eufemia, and 12th-15th century Church of S. Gregorio Maggiore, Palazzo Comunale, Palazzo Arroni and Palazzo Ancaiani, the Druso Arch and Roman theatre.
We can also walk to the 13th century Church of S. Pietro, the Paleo-Christian Church of S. Salvatore, the Romanesquc Church of S. Ponziano, and then stroll across the 14th century 'Torri' bridge spanning the valley to the belvedere.

Orvieto

Perched on the top of a hill which time and elements are gradually wearing down, Orvieto still preserves the typical layout of the medieval fortress town it was.
We can stroll along its silent streets lined with Renaissance buildings and medieval houses, and linger a length in its unique Gothic Cathedral on which artists, architects, sculptors and painters have worked across the ages - Lorenzo Maitani, Andrea Orcagna, Gentile da Fabriano and Luca Signorelli, who left his greatest work here (the frescoes in the chapel of Madonna di San Brizio).
In a 14th century marble tabernacle is a famous reliquary, a masterpiece of the Italian goldsmiths' craft made of precious metals and enamels by Ugolino di Vieri, in the chapel of the 'Corporale". Just outside the city is the 4th century BC Etruscan necropolis. From Orvieto we pass through Bolsena and Montefiascone to reach.

Todi

In Todi we can visit the splendid Piazza del Popolo, with the Gothic Palazzo del Popolo and Palazzo del Capitano, and the 12th-16th century cathedral; then there is the Church of S. Fortunato (frescoed by Masolino da Panicale, with the tomb of the poet Jacopone da Todi), Bramante's Church of S. Maria della Consolazione just outside the mediaeval town walls.
Todi has also been classified as the 'città ideale', or ideal town, by a group of American researchers who were looking to find an urban center ideal for the social demands of the near future. Why the ideal city? Because it holds no more than 15-20,000 people, it sits in a hilly zone in harmony with its environment, the administrative facilities are all conveniently located in the heart of the town while the ancillary services remain outside the town walls.
The interior of the town is also ideal for the growth of small businesses, ideal locations for internet and technology based enterprises.

Viterbo, Lazio, Umbria border

Viterbo, where virtually all the typical mediaeval features of the 13th century "San Pellegrino" district have remained intact: mullioned windows, external stair casa, balconies, towers and loggias. In Piazza San Lorenzo is the Cathedral and the Papal Palace (13th century).
There are a number of wonderful visits that can be made using Viterbo as home base: Bomarzo and Bagnaia, the ruins of Ferento, (Roman theatre and excavations at Acquarossa), the necropolis at Castel d'Asso, the Cistercian Abbey of San Cimino, and the mediaeval town of Vetralla, in the heart of Norchia, one of the most important archaeological areas of Tuscia (a splendid necropolis hewn into the rocks), and San Giovenale (where prehistoric settlements and an Etruscan town have been unearthed).
After Viterbo, we still skirt Lake Vico and the step tufa stone hill on which the little town off Sutri is built with the ruins of the Etruscan (or Roman) amphitheatre and the church of Madonna del Parto on the site of an Etruscan tomb, dedicated to Mithras before becoming a Christian place of worship, both carved out of solid rock, and the reach isola Farnese to see the ruins of the Etruscan city of Veii where a 6th century, BC statue of Apollo was found in 1916 (now in the Villa Giulia Museum, in Rome).
The tomb in the museum are famous throughout the world, especially the "Campana" tom with the painted lions.

villas for rent in southern Umbria

This is the list of villas in southern Umbria available for weekly rentals. Also, we may have some other additional newly selected villas to offer you. So we in invite you to contact us at info@homeinitaly.com
Calamaio, Carpi, Casa degli artisti, Casa delle ginestre, Castellina, Convento della Lauda, Dorina, Felò, La stalla, Lupaccia, Manoquercia, Melograni, Palazzo Costaguti, Poggio del cerro, Poilio, Segreta, Torretta Troscione, Ubaldo, Vallefalcone, Vallequerce, Villa di Vibio, Villa Monti, Villa Pianciani, Virgoletta.

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