The Umbria has got in years two appellations: “Italy’s Holy Land” and “Italy’s Green Heart”, both well merited by this region that, as time passed, has kept in the measure of man, where ancient traditions are still well alive and they are reflected in the quality of life, in the genuineness of the products, in the splendid tracks left in the landscape by history, art and culture.

Its green valleys vary within their harmonious beauty: the large Tiber Valley; the fertile valley through which the Chiascio and Topino Rivers flow; the Nera Valley, rich in characteristic corners set in ugged natural surroundings. But the Umbrian countryside sometimes opens into a lake (Trasimeno, Piediluco); sometimes it is enlivened by a bold waterfall (Le Marmore) or by a clear spring (the Clitunno).
 

Art and Nature, landscape and culture, town and countryside appear in Umbria in perfect armony.

Umbria has been compared with the Holy Land because, in addition to having a hilly landscape very similar to that of the land where Jesus was born, in history it has been bearer of very high religiousness: it is sufficient to mention Saint Benedict from Norcia, Saint Francis from Assisi, Saint Rita from Cascia, Saint Clare, Friar Jacopone from Todi, Saint Ubald of Gubbio.

The religious fervour has left in the Umbrian land a significative track : it is sufficient to mention Assisi, Gubbio, Norcia, Cascia, with churches and convents of incomparable beauty, Spoleto and Orvieto with their wonderful cathedrals. Umbria is among the first places in Italy for the level of the quality of life: the civil tradition of the population, its so varied and interesting history, have created a social environment characterized by a high grade of civility, by a great spirit of tolerance, by an intelligent and widespread involvement in the management of common problems.

Everybody knows the Umbrian artistic towns: Assisi (with masterpieces of Giotto and Cimabue), Spoleto, Orvieto, Gubbio, Spello, Trevi, Montefalco, Todi e Perugia. This is the Umbria described by a thousand books and that, thanks to its unicity, is famous all over the world and it is destination of a tourism in costant increase. Moreover, there is another Umbria, which appears less frequently in books but will not fail to fascinate the most attentive visitor: it is the land of vineyards, live-groves, woods, natural Parks and small towns set on the top of the hills.

This is also the land of wine shops, that produce the great Umbrian wines, of oil-mills, that yield the most savoury extra virgin olive-oil, of valuable truffles, of farms that supply sausages, typical cheeses and lentils.

The good cooking in Umbria is a tradition and an art based on the quality and on the genuineness of simple and greatly savoury products. A great abundance of products due to the richness and to the wide variety of the lands and of the microclimates of the different areas. Many are the typical products of Umbrian agricolture, different each other but united by the care of whom produces them with traditional techniques, handed down from generations, able to gaurantee undiscussed genuineness and quality.

Umbria is an hilly region, rich in waters, very woody, and its lands are well fit for the olive cultivation.
The hilly appearance is ideal for exposing the vine to the sunlight; the wood, instead, offers an exceptional gastronomic product: the truffle. Mountain areas are rich in excellent pastures, perfumed of rare essences: from here the development of the stock-farming and of the production of milk products and cheeses.