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.

Umbria

On Saturday we made the 6 ½ hour drive from Lake Como to Umbria, of course, in the pouring rain. I think there is actually now a universal rule in place that any day Steve has to do a long drive it must be pouring with rain.

In any event, Umbria feels like another world entirely. Gone is the shimmering water of Lake Como with its imposing villas, and in its place are rolling hills and farmland, partially baked by the summer sun.

We are staying at a place called Villa Zuccari (photo above), outside the very small walled town of Montefalco. It used to be a big family villa, but was turned into a hotel in 2005. It still has a family-feel to it, and every morning one of the owners and family members chats with the guests at breakfast.

The thing that became obvious to us with our first dinner at the hotel is that we are in another world here as far as food and wine are concerned. Whereas the food (apart from that one glorious risotto) in Lake Como was largely unimpressive, here even the simplest dishes have been delicious.

We are in the land of the truffle, and so our dinner that first night at the hotel consisted of Strangozzi (the local pasta which is kind of like spaghetti only with square edges instead of round) with truffle, olive oil, and black pepper for me and penne with sausage, cream and truffle for Steve. This was followed by chicken marsala topped with shaved truffle and almond biscuits with shaved truffle.

Ok, I’m kidding about the truffle in the cookies, but you can spot the theme here: the truffle is king. And not particularly expensive either. Last night we had toasted bread covered with olive oil and truffle for 5 euros. I can’t think of what that would cost in The States.

If the truffle is King, then the Sagrantino grape is queen. Here, the local wine is the Sagrantino di Montefalco, and it is a very special wine. With our first dinner here, we sampled an Antonelli 2005 Sagrantino di Montefalco.

Warm and lush, it has an amazing nose, different from any red varietal I have smelled to this point. Every time I stuck my schnoz in the glass, I got a whiff of something different: black and red cherry, smoked meat, black olive, black raspberry, mushroom, chocolate and an earthy mustiness. On the palate, that earthiness came through as dried leaves, tobacco and smoke alongside the dark fruit. It’s a tannic wine, though not pucker-your-face tannic, and it packs an acid punch without a doubt.

It’s a lovely wine, and apparently can age and age and age.