Montefalco, Umbria, Italy complete tour
Montefalco, in Italy's Umbria region is one of those small gems that most travelers don't even know about. It's kind of a secret that we re going to be revealing to you in all its glory in our program today, because this old medieval fortified town has many wonderful sites and makes a great place to visit, especially for those of you who enjoy wandering in those little back pedestrian lanes of a village lined by old homes built of stone with flowerpots everywhere. When you enter Montefalco, especially in the off-season you will find an ideal place that is quiet and peaceful, tranquil you're getting away from the crowds at this hilltop location surrounded by some of the most beautiful Umbria landscapes with the olive trees, vineyards and green rolling hills all around it. Giving rise to the town nickname balcony of Umbria. There's none of that overtourism found in so many other destinations. Yet, if people only knew how attractive this place is, many more would come here.
So let's just keep it a little secret between us to give you a chance to get to Montefalco before it gets discovered by mass tourism. Typical of European medieval hill towns, Montefalco was protected by a fortified wall that went all the way around it, most of which is still standing dominated by this high crenellated tower at the main gate of St. Augustine. This leads right into the heart of town along Corso Mameli, the main street of Montefalco. It's only 200 meters long and yet it has quite a few shops, there's boutiques, you can buy clothing and souvenirs, and the wine shops, restaurants and a couple of hotels.
Right away, you'll find out how friendly the locals are, especially a restaurant manager who wants you to come in and have a look at his unusual interior. The ceiling is covered with musical instruments, and an outside wall, covered with bottles for wine, a very important local product. It's an ancient, hilltop, walled medieval town with origins that go back to the Etruscan era, thousands of years ago, and it is just a perfect spot to visit. A couple of the main sites to see here are the main piazza, and the main street that I'm standing on now.
This is pretty early in the morning. It's about 7:30 in the morning on a November day, so it's certainly pretty quiet today. In addition, Montefalco has two particular attractions, involving wine and art. There is a specific kind of wine made from the subgrantee no grape that only grows in this area, for those who love wine.
And there is a collection of art masterpieces in the museum church frescoes by Renaissance artist but not so goat silly, depicting the life of St. Francis. These two items alone provide sufficient attraction for many of the visitors who come here. We are right in the heart of Umbria near Faligno, it's just 30 minutes away by bus. And the other major towns of Umbria can be easily reached in about one hour.
Compared to Tuscany, just to the west, you'll find the towns of Umbria are every bit as beautiful, and less crowded. You'll want to spend some quality time in the main Piazza del Comune. It's the heartbeat of town with five main streets leading out from it and surrounded by old palaces, some of which are now residences, hotels, City Hall, and a church that became a theater, along with several excellent restaurants. The Town Hall, Palazzo Communale, was constructed in 1270. Palazzo Bontadosi Hotel And spa is in the former home of a 15th century cardinal, and is now a four-star boutique hotel.
Several little intriguing side lanes extend out from the piazza that we will explore later in the program. Enotecha means wine bar and restaurant. This one on the piazza looked very good, so I stepped in and was delighted by an unexpected family experience. I enjoyed a light meal of cheese and prosciutto, with some bread and wine, and then got to talk with the manager. What's the name of the enotecha? It's, il nome restaurante, ti chiama, L'Alchimista. And dove? I trova a Montefalco, Piazza del Comune, i chiuri y molti vini di Montefalco...Sagrantino,
e che Rosso di Montefalco, -- misto, pasta, legumi, fagiole, pesche, beef, biscoti con verdure. Fantastic. In that typical, casual style of the Italian small-town restaurant, which becomes a living room where the chef is playing with her granddaughter, and customers are invited to join the party. Agatha, (laughter), hi Agatha. Grazie, thank you.
Called The Alchemist, their magic is to manipulate simple, raw material and turn them into a golden dish. With several other nice restaurants around the piazza, you might want to stay a couple of nights in Montefalco, as I did to get the most out of your experience. Some enotecha are like small grocery store, s with restaurant tables downstairs. I dropped into another place and had a wonderful meal of fresh gnocchi smothered in a delicious subgrantee no wine sauce, along with some roasted radicchio, yum. Many other Italian towns have a large domed church or cathedral on their main piazza, but here it's more of the civic architecture. We have the town hall and palaces, with the main churches located elsewhere in town.
Perhaps that tells us something about the priorities of the medieval town planners here. Back to the section of piazza fronting L'Alchimista restaurant, notice there is this little lane to the left side. He's going to walk down. That's where we're going tomorrow when it's daylight for an adventure in the back alleys.
Map of town, showing the circular piazza, with the main street we walked on already, and other streets leading out from it, and another lane leading to the church with the Gozzoli paintings we will get to later. Now were going to take a walk from the piazza starting out along the little via Porta Camiano in this residential neighborhood, through those picturesque, quiet pedestrian lanes. Standing in the piazza, it could be very easy to overlook this narrow entrance. With a beautiful paving of stone and brick, it's really quite easy to walk on, especially on a gentle slope, you can almost float down.
There will be forks in the road with intersections and sometimes no street signs to tell you where you're at, almost like walking through a maze, but it's a small area and you don't really need a map. It's a little confusing but lots of fun to just go wander. Montefalco is quite small.
It's about 1/2 a mile across. And yet there is a whole bunch of little lanes to go walking in. Very pretty, very colorful, flower-lined pedestrian lanes, little alleys going up and down the hillsides. It's really a classic, medieval Umbrian hill town. This stretch of Via Porta Camiano, which leads down to via dei Vasari, was my favorite of the little back lanes, and that's really saying something because Montefalco is on the list of the most beautiful villages of Italy.
So let's rank this lane among the very best. It's relatively straight and long, because it reaches all the way from the piazza out to the medieval wall and a gateway called Porta di Camiano, which dates to the late 13th century, from where you get another beautiful view looking across the Umbrian countryside like a little piece of heaven in more olive trees, vineyards and green rolling hills. Continuing our walk through the labyrinth of ancient streets, most of which is a residential neighborhood for the locals. The population in the old town is under 2000 people, living in homes that date back through the centuries.
Then around the bend you come across laundry in the street. Nearly lost in this tangle of alleys is the little church of Santa Lucia, one of the oldest in town, dating back to the year 1220. It was founded by the Benedictines. The interior is plain, but has fragments of a 14th-century fresco. Via dei Vasari is a main lane in this neighborhood, and notice the clever street name up on the left, Piazetta Privata, private piazzetta, but we can still peek at the little gardens and terraces.
The lane connects in with Vicolo degli Operai, and then on to Via Tempestivi, making a lovely place to get a little lost. The little church of San Bartolomeo dates back to the year 1219, another one of the oldest of town. Occasionally, you will walk right through a building. Typical of that medieval style the old houses sometimes formed an arch across the lane. It's because the town was surrounded by a fortified, protective wall, so they couldn't expand outwards. They had to expand up.
The town's second-largest gateway is Porta di Federico the Second, also known as St. Bartolomeo. It was built in the year 1244 and took its name in honor of the Emperor Federico the Second, who was visiting the city, providing another vista and a view along the outside of the medieval wall. By visiting during November I got to see some fall colors, and enjoy the town with very few other tourists around. I was lucky because it can often be cold and rainy then.
They needed these protective walls because the 13th and 14th centuries saw many clashes with the surrounding communities, particularly because Montefalco sided with the Pope against the Ghibelline lords of Foligno. So Foligno conquered Montefalco and ruled until they were kicked out in the mid-15th century. At that time the Pope regained control and a peaceful period settled in where Montefalco developed its town layout and achieved some artistic developments during the High Renaissance period, continuing with some autonomy until 1860 when Umbria was annexed to the kingdom of Victor Emmanuel the Second. There's a nice little neighborhood just outside the main walls along a street called Borgo Garibaldi. It's got an interesting shop that sells olive oil and wine, typical products of the area.
Just beyond it we come to a wonderful church, Santuario di Santa Chiara della Croce, dedicated to Santa Chiara, who was the most important of Montefalco s eight saints. It's still an active church and monastery. This cat was enjoying the view, relaxing on the soft top of an old Fiat. It looks like a comfortable nesting area in a quiet neighborhood.
It looks like this might be a regular perch for this cat. He knows how to crawl down the front of the car and back down to ground level. It's a good indication you are in a peaceful friendly town when the cats are not afraid to come right up to you and say hello. Sometimes a cat's behavior can be so bold that it would really surprise you, as I found out looking out my hotel window. This fluffy tuxedo cat wanted to come right in and check it out. So he goes right to work, sniffing my suitcase, and I don't mind, I love cats, it was hilarious to see this guy walking around sniffing everything.
When I'm traveling alone I always like to make an effort to meet the locals, even if it's a cat. And this guy was just so much fun to watch, sniffing everywhere. He wants to know who I've been associating with, have I been with any other cats, or maybe this is part of his territory, and he wants to know if any other cats have been in the room.
At the same time, you're getting a little peek at my traveling gear, a backpack and a roll-aboard suitcase, everything casually strewn about the floor. He's sniffing everything with such gusto that he was even sniffing the curtains for any telltale scents, and then he wants to play with my tripod. Then he sits and surveys his domain. But the orange tabby is happy to just stay out on the roof and roll around.
This hotel is very welcoming. It's a three-star property, centrally located in the heart of town and we had a chance to talk with the owner. The hotel is the hotel It is in the center of Monte Falco, in the main, the main street, and near the main square. And it's a family business, with my parents, and this is a historical palace. We have historical frescoes by the 14th century. Why should we come to visit, as a tourist, in Montefalco? Wine tour.
Montefalco is famous in the world for Sagrantino, a special grape. Sagrantino is more strong, more tannic. If you see a grape of Sagrantino, it's very, very small, the grape, the fruit. And museums? Museums, many, many churches, and wonderful view.
Montefalco is named the "terrace of Umbria." You see from Perugia to Spoleto in the valley, Assisi, Spello. And many enotecha.
Many, many, yeah (laughs), the restaurants also, is good. So what are the typical foods? Pasta with truffles, yeah. Sagrantino, the grape is used also to cook pasta - gnochhi a Sagrantino. Ah.
And also fileto, the meat, with Sagrantino. With Sagrantino, everything is Sagrantino. (laughs) I always want to stay in the center of town. It's a big priority in my choice of hotels.
And it is nice to stay for a couple of nights in a place, as I've done here. It gives you a better chance to have a good look around. Even if it's a small town like Montefalco, you can do some side trips perhaps out from there. But a one-night stand is pretty tough you check in, overnight, and you check out. That's too difficult better to drop anchor for a while.
Well, the dogs are friendly here too. This fellow was waiting for his master to come out of the shop and came over to say hello and have a seat next to me, killing some time while waiting. No need to put him on a leash.
He's waiting around until the boss comes out. One of the little joys you can get by just hanging around in the evening at a small town like this. At the end of the program, I'll take you out into the countryside around Monte Falco, driving past those beautiful green hills and vineyards accented with fall colors. But now I want to share with you that special art treasure that I've been promising, the great artistic masterpiece of Benozzo Gozzoli, one of the finest Renaissance painters. He worked in Monte Falco for two years painting these frescoes on the walls of the church of San Francesco, which is now deconsecrated and has become the Museum of Monte valve oh This cycle of paintings depicts the life of St. Francis of Assisi, including one of his most famous episodes preaching to the birds: "My brothers praise your creator who covered you with beautiful feathers."
The collection is one of the most extraordinary phenomena in the history of art. There's the poignant depiction of St. Francis giving up all of his worldly possessions. The charm and sweetness of Umbria are summed up here in the choir of this modest church.
A freshness with suave composition and color, never was the master more perfect. Here we see the Pope accepting the Franciscan Order and allowing him to begin his crusade. Here he's kneeling and praying expelling the devils from Arezzo.
Most of the work was done in the apse of the church, painted right up to the ceiling and covering the arch. When he finished this elaborate assemblage of frescoes, he turned his attention to a side chapel along the aisle depicting scenes from the life of St. Jerome. Goat silly was born near Florence in 1420, and was apprenticed some of the great Renaissance artists there, including Ghiberti, who he helped make the Gates of Paradise for the Baptistery. Another masterpiece in Florence was his Procession of the Magi in the chapel of the Medici Palace. He also worked in Rome at the Vatican painting the chapel of Pope Nicholas the Fifth.
A poignant work here is St. Jerome removing a thorn from the paw of the lion. In addition to goat silly there are some other artists including a colorful masterpiece by Fra Angelico of The Adoration of the Magi at the birth of Christ. Save some time to look at the historical exhibits tables, detached frescoes from other churches a, collection of textile works, and several archaeological finds from the surrounding area, including the statue of Hercules from the second century A.D. The last church we're going to visit is Chiesa di Sant'Agostino, right on the main street of town. It's a fine example of Gothic architecture, built in the late 13th century. The wide aisle on the right functioned as a second nave.
Outside we can enjoy that special experience of a cloister, its central courtyard embraced by an arcaded loggia, free and open to the public. Our final glimpse of downtown Montefalco as we prepare to leave this beautiful town, heading down to the bus stop. And along the way we have one last chance to purchase some of that Sagrantino wine or some olive oil. It's only a 50-meter walk from the old town to the bus stop, and some mornings there is an outdoor market happening it's mostly clothing and accessories, always with a very good price. If you're here early enough, you'll probably see a bunch of the local kids waiting for their school bus. The bus station is a multipurpose gathering spot, and provides automobile parking if you came by car, because tourists are not allowed to drive in the old town.
Easy to purchase your ticket at the tobacco shop, and only four euros to get to Bevagna or Foligno. There is no train service to Monte Falco, but the buses are frequent, inexpensive and quite comfortable, with connections to the nearby towns of Foligno and Bevagna, just about 30 minutes away. And you can reach Perugia in one hour. Get that final view of the old town as we make our departure. We are soon out in the countryside, and here you'll find another reason why bus service is quite lovely the scenery is outstanding. We've been looking at these hills from the town now we re driving right through them, enjoying some astonishing views of the vineyards, ablaze with fall colors in late November.
In some ways it's a good thing the trains do not come to Montefalco, because it keeps the crowds down, creating that peaceful atmosphere that we've been enjoying throughout the show. And that completes our in-depth look at Montefalco. We have many more programs about the beautiful towns of Umbria, and the rest of Italy, along with most of the major towns of Europe. We frequently upload new movies so please subscribe to our channel and click that little alarm bell so you'll be notified. And if you enjoyed the movie, how about thumbs up and we always welcome comments down below, or if you have questions about the destination. Make note and we heaven will answer them.
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2021-10-16 11:03
