Beautiful Umbria – now even better!

Umbria is Italy’s ‘green heart’ – a land of wooded hillsides, medieval hill towns and abbeys. And, of course, fabulous food lovingly crafted from the produce of the local farms and gardens. It’s a place to slow the pace of life to a steady walk, with time to appreciate the countless pilgrims and Umbrian farmers that have walked these ways over many centuries.

While our trails through the lush Sabine Hills to the south of Spoleto are long-standing favourites here at On Foot, we’ve recently redesigned the holiday, providing new options for our walkers. And there are shorter versions too, for those short of time.

An early start

The view from Labro

The eight-night version of this route meanders southwards from Spoleto, partially following the Via Francigena (Way of St Francis), to the hill town of Labro. This medieval village was rescued from decay in the 1970s, and you’ll stay in one of a group of stylish, architect-designed dwellings scattered through the narrow streets.

Pass the Santuario di Greccio, where St Francis is believed to have created the concept of the Christmas nativity scene, and on to more hill towns, each more impossibly lovely than the last. Abbeys are the theme of your last day – first the thriving Benedictine community at Farfa where you can take a tour, and finally the lofty ruins of San Martino with a view all the way to Rome if you’re lucky!

Umbrian meadows

Breakfast at Le Mole sul Farfa

The alternative nine-night holiday follows much of the same route, but with your final three nights at the delightful agriturismo of Le Mole sul Farfa and the addition of a circular walk to Salisano. Le Mole is a special place, where your hosts are Stefano and Elisabeth who designed our original route.

The excellent cooking is all vegetarian, using much of their own produce, and has won over many a sceptic! You may also be able to visit the remains of a Roman villa on their farm, which is being slowly and carefully uncovered. Availability here is often limited, so do book well in advance if you’d like to stay here.

For the time-poor, there are also five-night and four-night routes, being the first and second halves respectively of the standard route.

A chance to improve your culinary skills

A particular highlight of this walking holiday is discovering the wonderful produce and cooking at your overnight stops.

As well as Le Mole, there are several other agriturismo stays on the route, where you can try out some local specialities and get a taste of the farming life too.

Take a day out at Casperia for a cookery course, or learn how to make pasta as the Umbrians do at Il Fienile di Orazio, where you can also see the goats being milked, make some cheese or go foraging.

You can find all the details of this holiday on our website or call +44 1722 322652 to speak to Debbie, who knows the route well.

Autumn brings a beautiful quality of light to the Italian hills and a glowing palette of colours. Peter and Jane Hamilton eventually walked our Umbrian route in October 2021, after having to rebook several times due to Covid, and sent us some fabulous photos from their trip.

Enjoy!

(image above: lakeside Piediluco)

Spoleto Cathedral

Setting out from Ferentillo

A view across the piazza at Greccio

Leaving Greccio

Relaxing in Casperia

Stunning sky at Greccio, with mist in the valley

The long days of January have at last come to an end and the world looks towards the coming months of the year with renewed hope. Although it’s difficult for those of us experiencing dreary weather and short days, it is so important that we all keep walking so that we’re ready when the time comes to explore further than our back gardens! However, if you need a little inspiration to get outside, we have just the thing…

On Foot’s Local Contacts are very much an extension of the On Foot family and we have been in regular conversation with them over the past few weeks. Normally, they are responsible for looking after our walkers and maintaining the routes but now they would like to share with you what they have been up to as well as offer you a different view of the countries we know so well, but rarely see out of season. Enjoy!

Photographs are listed by country, then by route and Local Contact. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

SPAIN:
Guy Hunter-Watts, Andalucia
“A sprinkling of snow a few days ago in Andalucia. This is Molly who was adopted from a refuge and likes walking almost as much as I do!”

Aznar Fernandez de Pinedo, The Lighthouse Way, Basque Pyrenees, Basque Country, Camino de Santiago
“We had a lot of snow in the city of Madrid. But the interesting thing is that in the high sierra (over 2300m) there was way less snow than in the flatlands. The storm came from the south, and in the famous Toledo there was even more snow than in Madrid! The middle picture below is of the village Cercedilla, in the sierra of Madrid. The picture on the right is the start of Gredos mountains, with lovely chestnut forests.”

Jesca Verdon-Smith, Mallorca
“Greetings to you all from Mallorca! The mountains are alive with happy new year [local] hikers. The island residents are keeping fit discovering the hiking trails in the absence of gyms and sport centres being open due to covid restrictions. No tourists to guide through the Serra de Tramontana sadly for almost a year now but I have been busy planning weekend hikes for the family and our other groups of friends with kids this winter. It is wonderful to see the kids enjoying the big outdoors, free of face masks which they have to endure all day at school and all chatting to each other as they go. No phones insight! And all of us marvelling at the wonders of nature. Here I am posting photos of a memorable hike two weeks ago from the town of Soller and a circuit into the stunning Barranc de Biniaraix. This is one of the On Foot hike routes. An ancient pilgrim path to the monastery of Lluc, part of the Gr221 and famous for its thousands of cobbled steps and water cascades after heavy rain. This was the weekend after the snow storm fall on the Tramuntana mountains. Yes it does snow in Mallorca! Bitterly cold day but the views of Soller’s snow capped peaks and sound of rushing water down the Barranc was totally magical. Hot potatoes with bolognese picnic lunch washed down with flasks of hot wine kindly carried up the mountain by the men certainly recharged us at our lunch stop! More hikes planned. Also, the Almond blossom is starting to bloom! Spring on its way! Saludos! Jesca.”

CZECH REPUBLIC:
Petr Hoska, Bohemian Paradise
“Hi everyone, I hope you are all well in these times. Also in the Czech Republic during January, an above-average amount of snow fell. Because the ski resorts are closed, many people have pulled out cross-country skis or bobsleighs. Snow statue of Krakonoš (Lord of the Mountains) – this is a tradition in Jilemnice (a town in the Giant Mountains). Today I made a cross country trip around 2nd highest hill in Bohemian Paradise – Tábor. On Friday it was snowing and this morning was -14°C and sunny all day. Perfect conditions. More circular views to Bohemian Paradise [below]. Trosky castle and Kozákov hill. On the other side Jizerské hory and Krkonoše (Giant Mountains). The cats [on the skis!] are my own in front of our house – their names are Mica (the most typical name for cats) and the cat boy’s name is Mourek (Tabby). They are very curious! Petr”

GREECE:
Ariana Masselou, Andros
“Good morning everybody from Greece. In the Aegean in Andros, it seems that winter has not come yet … it feels like spring! These pictures are from a walk I did on Andros yesterday! “Trekky” (my dog) greets you!”

ITALY:
Daniele Cavazzoni, Tuscany
“We had a lot of snow a couple of weeks ago..which has covered most of our mountains. Last Thursday I did a snowshoes hike on Monte Amiata! That’s the extinct volcano which overlook most of our Tuscany route. Not that high (1700 m) but so imposing compared to the gentle hills of Val d’Orcia around it…”

Beatrice Bariletta, Lake Maggiore
“Hi from Italy, Ossola Valley, Alps of Piedmont! Here spring is still very far…just a dream… but we have wonderful snow despite we are not so free to move to enjoy it! Nice snowshoes hikes, but temperatures very cold, – 9 C !”

Isabelle Johnson, Dolomites
“There’s been lots of snow for snowshoeing and cross country skiing in the Dolomites too!”

Greta Coperchini, Ligurian Hills
“Hello everyone! Watch this fantastic video of Monte Chiappo, on the path of the Ligurian hills, third stage. Here we are in Varzi near Milan in northern Italy!”

PORTUGAL
Paul Burton, Northern Portugal
“Hi everyone! Here in N. Portugal we have had heavy snow during early January but now it has gone really warm and humid. The picture shows the Serra Amarela and, almost invisible, the village of Germil, on the walking route. Stay safe everyone! Best wishes, Paul.”

ENGLAND:
Caroline Evans, Devon.
“No snow here in Devon, warm and a bit damp, but the early Spring flowers are just beginning to show their faces. I’m off for a walk along the coast not far from here this afternoon – the waves were huge after an Atlantic storm came through yesterday. However this is a view of a quieter moment last week. The picture on the right is of my family walking in Dartmoor.”

We hope you have enjoyed looking through the photos and reading about what the Local Contacts have been doing. All the photos here have been taken by our Local Contacts and the messages are their own words. Do send us your own updates of where you have been wandering as we love hearing from all of our walkers!

All the very best,

The On Foot Team.