Close up, the cathedral exterior is a masterpiece. Inexperienced and white marble stripes compete for consideration with pointed arches, golden mosaics and an unlimited rose window.
Beneath them, guests shuffle throughout the cobbles of Piazza del Duomo, craning their necks in the direction of one among Italy’s most extravagant cathedral facades. Someplace inside, Renaissance masters await.
Florence is displaying off once more – or it could be, if it wasn’t greater than 100 miles away.
I am standing in Orvieto, a small Umbrian metropolis balanced improbably on a plug of volcanic rock. Regardless of the plain resemblance to Florence’s Duomo, this is not imitation: the 2 cathedrals have been developed and inbuilt parallel, though Orvieto’s spectacular facade took greater than two centuries to finish.
The neighbouring areas function on very completely different scales. Tuscany recorded greater than 15 million vacationer arrivals in 2025; Umbria, simply over three.
Wanting up on the Gothic structure as the sunshine glints off the mosaics, it’s clear that Tuscany does not have a monopoly on medieval flamboyance.
Tuscany could also be much better recognized to the typical traveller, however Umbria has hardly spent the previous eight centuries ready to be found. In Assisi, worldwide pilgrims have been arriving since St Francis’s time. There are extra of them than standard this yr: 2026 marks the 800th anniversary of the saint’s demise, bringing guests from around the globe again to the hill city the place his story unfolded.
Throughout my two days right here, I uncover Assisi’s historical past doesn’t start with its most well-known resident. En path to St Francis’s Basilica, squeezed virtually improbably between a gelateria and memento store, six Roman columns announce the first-century BC Temple of Minerva, now transformed right into a Baroque chapel. My information Chiara cycles by its two thousand years’ of utilization – place of worship, city corridor, courtroom, warehouse, jail – earlier than pointing in the direction of a portrait of Saint Rita, fingers clasped in prayer.
Amongst different issues, Rita is the patron saint of not possible causes and troublesome marriages. A crowded stand of flickering candles suggests neither is in brief provide.
“Soccer followers and aggravated wives” Chiara explains. “She’s all the time well-liked”.
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Day-trippers usually miss Assisi at its finest, through the hour earlier than sundown. I stroll downhill from the town partitions because the delicate night gentle turns St Francis’s Basilica gold.
My mattress for the evening is at Borgo Antichi Orti, occupying a fifteenth-century former Benedictine monastery simply beneath the Basilica. Its unique pilgrim cells have been transformed into rooms, full with an airflow system the predates fashionable air con by 5 centuries.
The Benedictine connection extends to the kitchen. Being one among solely two landlocked Italian provinces, Umbria has all the time regarded to the land, not the ocean, for its produce and there’s a pleasure in hyperlocal substances. Right here, herbs and greens are picked from gardens organized across the seasons, as they have been within the fifteenth century, and truffles are foraged year-round from the encompassing forests. Sourcing substances from a city ten miles away is spoken about as if it’s journey to a different timezone.
That fierce localism is not confined to restaurant kitchens. At Olio Decimi close by, a family-run olive-oil producer simply exterior the city, I join a tasting. An hour of olive oil initially feels extreme however inside minutes, I really feel as if I’ve stumbled into a classy wine tasting.
“We expect it is essentially the most versatile ingredient on Earth,” declares Romina Decimi. Alongside bread and crudités, she produces vanilla gelato slicked with olive oil, then pistachio and hazelnut lotions created utilizing their signature product. It’s scrumptious.
Two hours by prepare takes me again to Orvieto. Inside its cathedral, nevertheless, the comparability with Florence ends abruptly. The San Brizio Chapel is extra like an animated Renaissance horror movie, containing one among Europe’s most visceral depictions of the apocalypse.
Luca Signorelli’s frescoes present muscular, bare souls being dragged in the direction of hell whereas the Satan, horns and all, whispers menacingly into the Antichrist’s ear. It is troublesome to know whether or not to blush or stand in awe.
Signorelli’s obsession with the human physique would later affect Florence’s Michelangelo, whose personal Final Judgment appeared within the Sistine Chapel three a long time later. Signorelli even painted himself into the motion, standing calmly on the fringe of the Rapture, observing his handiwork.
Beneath my ft, greater than 1,200 underground caves, wells and tunnels have been excavated from Orvieto’s delicate volcanic rock, with the oldest relationship again 2,500 years. Initially constructed by the Etruscans however utilized by later civilisations as olive and wine presses, this subterranean labyrinth was a facet of on a regular basis life for hundreds of years. Escape routes into the hillside allowed aristocrats to flee through the area’s frequent bouts of civil unrest.
After a morning of exploring under floor and climbing the Thirteenth-century Torre del Moro for a panoramic view of the Umbrian countryside, it’s time for a ultimate liquid comparability to Tuscany.
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Whereas Tuscany constructed a world status on muscular reds, chianti, and vino nobile, Orvieto’s calling card has all the time been white, historically mixing native grechetto and procanico grapes into wines notably suited to the area’s pasta and pork.
For Gianluca, a neighborhood vintner who leads tastings in the old town, the logic of guaranteeing a very good match with native produce is easy.
“Why produce such a very good wine if it is preventing with what’s in your plate?”
After 4 days in Umbria, this appears an apt metaphor. Assisi and Orvieto needn’t compete with Florence or Siena. They provide what attracts so many guests to Italy in their very own phrases: extraordinary artwork, quiet medieval streets and piquant native produce.
Draining the final of my glass, it’s an inescapable conclusion. There’s far an excessive amount of flavour right here to be anybody’s different.
How you can do it
Perugia, a 15-minute taxi trip from Assisi and one hour from Orvieto, has day by day flights from London Stansted with Ryanair. Fundamental fares begin at £65 return.
Extra handy for a lot of guests shall be to fly to Rome and catch the prepare to Orvieto (simply over one hour) or Assisi (two hours) instantly. Trains from Assisi to Orvieto take slightly below two hours with a change at Orte. E-book tickets and examine timetables utilizing the Trenitalia website.
When you have your individual automobile, each Orvieto and Assisi are a two-hour drive from Florence. It takes about an hour and a half to drive between the 2. Parking within the hilltop outdated cities of each cities is non-existent so use services at floor stage.
The place to remain
Assisi: Borgo Antichi Orti – as soon as a Benedictine monastery, the place visitors keep within the cells and the pool is the previous animal trough. On website restatuarant, Re Tartu, specialises in truffles and is likely one of the finest meals you’ll have in Italy. Rooms begin from £125 per evening.
Orvieto: La Piazzetta – in a improbable location within the higher metropolis, this trendy B&B blends interval options with fashionable facilities. Breakfast contains contains contemporary fruit from the backyard and native pastries. Rooms begin from £110 per evening.
Phil was a visitor of Dovetail PR