Umbria Hill Towns

We have visited in the past few days, quite a few of these wonderful hill towns: Bevagna, Trevi, Perugia and Todi (photo left) so far.

They can begin to blend into each other after a while, but they all are similar in their imposing walls which protected them from invasion way back in the 13^th Century (if not earlier); most of them perched high atop hills with amazing views of the land beneath. And inside the walls, light-colored stone buildings bleached by sun and time, all with one or more piazzas and of course, churches.

We got hopelessly lost in Perugia, whose maze of alleys and layers of one street on top of another defy maps and map-reading. We did however have some fantastic pizza with the most amazing dough. This dough was both crunchy and chewy, springy at the edges. Topped with a smattering of tomato sauce, cheese, anchovies, capers, olives and basil, it was a fragrant , chewy, briny delight.

I think my favorite hilltown so far though is Todi, in Southern Umbria. Where we are staying is in Northern Umbria, and the difference between the North and South is dramatic.

Whereas we are in a bit of a basin, with hills surrounding us, the south is all rolling, fertile farmland, overflowing with sunflowers, grapevines and olive trees.

The grape vines are wonderful to behold at this time of year when harvest is upon us. Many of the grapes have already been taken from the vines, but where they have not yet been picked, the deep purple grapes hang in lush clusters. I just wanted to grab a handful of grapes and eat them right there on the spot. Instead I contented myself with looking at them and photographing them.