Umbria suggested itineraries

A journey admiring some of Umbria's most beautiful artworks, produced in a period which was to signal the intellectual and artistic rebirth of Italy: the Renaissance.

This tour of Umbria starts in Spoleto, city in which the Renaissance has more than left its mark, and no more so than in the Duomo. Although the Cathedral was built in Romanesque style, its splendid Renaissance portico is the first indication of how the building was significantly altered during the 16th century. The interiors are embellished with Filippo Lippi's splendid fresco cycle, recounting the Life of the Virgin, and an especially poignant Madonna and Saints by Pinturicchio. Taking pride of place in Spoleto's Art Museum, is the figure of Mary Magdalene, attributed to Guercino.

From Spoleto we head to Montefalco, which, with its panoramic position dominating the valley, more than deserves its reputation as balcony of Umbria. This is where to visit the ex Church of San Francesco, now transformed in museum, and admire Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes recounting the Life of St Francis, Perugino's Nativity and a marvellous collection of paintings from the 14th to 18th centuries, by pupils of the Umbrian School''. In the crypt''', a number of sculptures and archaeological findings from various periods in history, are conserved.

On our way to Perugia, we stop to explore the enchanting medieval town of Spello and the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where Troilo Baglioni commissioned Bernardino di Betto, alias Pinturicchio to decorate the family's Cappella Bella. The result is a chapel covered with magnificent frescoes, depicting the Nativity, the dispute of Christ with the Doctors and, on the vaulted ceiling, the Sibyls Tiburtina, Eritrea, Europea and Samia.

Perugia greets its visitors in the splendid Piazza IV Novembre, of which the central Fontana Maggiore is symbol. Providing a magnificent backdrop to the Piazza: the city's Cathedral and the Palazzo dei Priori, this latter characterised by an impressive flight of steps which leads up to the Sala dei Notari. It is in the great halls of Palazzo dei Priori that we find the entrance to the National Gallery of Umbria. No ordinary art museum, the gallery houses an incredible number of works by artists of the calibre of Piero della Francesca, Pinturicchio, Beato Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli and Pietro Vannucci, better known as Perugino.

Umbria's capital city boasts any number of important sites, including the imposing Rocca Paolina, fortress, the Church of San Pietro with Botanical Garden, the Pozzo Etrusco and the Church of San Severo, this latter famous for the Trinity of Saints, by Perugino and Raphael. The Collegio del Cambio, the city's historic money exchange, is more than worthy of visit, if only to admire the works of Perugino which embellish its walls.

From Perugia we proceed to Orvieto, where to admire the city's Cathedral, the façade of which adorned with wonderfully ornate low relief works and mosaics. The interiors are equally splendid, decorated with a cycle of frescoes initiated by Beato Angelico and completed by Luca Signorelli. Another important edifice constructed during the Renaissance, Orvieto's Pozzo di San Patrizio, was designed by Antonio Sangallo the Younger, so as to guarantee adequate water supplies for a city historically and militarily weakened by its lack of water sources.