› Home › Itineraries › Umbria to discover
Umbria to discover
| La Scarzuola
St Francis allegedly stayed here in a straw hut, returning from Perugia; on the spot where later Nerio di Bulgaruccio would stand a small church. In 1400 then the area was enlarged by building the Monastery lately known as Scarzuola, property of Franciscans till 1876. The architect Tommaso Buzzi (1900 - 1981) bought the area surrounding the Scarzuola convent in 1956 and he planned and realized the Città Buzziana, rising near the convent, in twenty years' time. The aim of his plan was to create a sort of "ideal" city where a blend between nature and culture could take place. The result has been an architectural complex where symbolisms, allegories and any kind of citations are scattered throughout it and where there are many small and empty rooms that make it appear like a giant termitarium. |
| Photo gallery
|
Umbria underground The lesser known Umbria, under our feet. Numerous underground paths reveal surprising historical and archaeological information. Perugia below ground is accessible by means of mechanized paths through the structure of the Rocca Paolina, within the Rocca are the remains of the medieval quarter belonging to the Baglioni family. Orvieto underground is a labrynth of caves dug out over a period of 3000 years from the rock on which the city is built. You can visit the Etruscan “Velzna”, medieval and Rennaisance Orvieto in an extraordinary journey through time. Todi underground: the Roman cistern in Piazza del Popolo more than 30 pre-Roman, Roman and medieval cisterns and 500 wells of varying ages form the rich underground heritage of the city. Mt. Cucco Cave: very large subterranean system extending for more than 30 km. It has been for a long time the largest and deepest karst system in Italy, one of the most important among the known ones. |
| Photo gallery
|
Abbeys and castles
in the Tiber Valley In the Tiber Valley which lies between the sources and the hollow of Sansepolcro, an area of transition and frontier. Castles, churches, abbeys, hilltop towns, and two absolute jewels in the region's crown, Anghiari e Sansepolcro, constitute the fabric of this area. The hermitage of Montecasale near Sansepolcro, is a jewel of Franciscan simplicity. It stands out among the terraces on the mountain some 2000 feet high in thickly wooded area. San Giustino: Bufalini Castle, which was erected in 1422, testifies to the ancient history of this town, which was first feud of the Dotti, then of the Bufalini family. This building, which was transformed into a magnificent villa by the Vasari, contains, in the interior, decorations in the grotesque style which have been attributed to Cristoforo Gherardiand, and outside, gardens and a labyrinth. |
