"One for the Painters" a Umbria Travel Page by NinaRira

I came to Umbria this autumn with a group of friends and the intention of doing some artwork and photography and being my first time in this part of Italy, it certainly didn't disappoint. We all stayed in a small village called Monte Castello, which has to it's name one hotel, one cafe and one supermarket. It sits as do so many Umbrian towns and villages, on the top of a large hill, with views that take in 100's of miles of Italian countryside.

The main destinations for visitors to Umbria would be places such as Assisi (home of St. Francis) and Perugia (home of great chocolate), but smaller towns such as Todi, Spello and Montefalco are also high on the list and well worth seeing.

Umbria may not quite have the sweeping fields and the polished looking towns that Tuscany can be so proud of, but I thought that the upside to this was a slightly less touristy feel to the area as a result. A lot of shops were directed towards locals rather than visitors and this also meant that prices when shopping or eating out was a lot better value.

All in all, Umbria covered everything I had expected from a good trip to Italy. There were the fields full of sunflowers, outstanding food served in small family restaurants, wonderful wine and being a woman, the shoe shops kept me busy too. Be adventurous and find the out of the way places that will make a trip here special for you too.