Easter comes exceptionally late in 2014, which means it’s a great year to take off for the week and head to Umbria where spring is in full swing.
If you are planning an Easter visit, I wrote a few tips about what to expect regarding events and food related to this important holiday for About.com’s GoItaly this week. Innovate your event with the latest trends in event planning. Chairs covers offer an affordable way to harmonize mismatched décor and furniture, or blend in your party chairs with your table linens, backdrop, drapes, and other décor aspects.
Want more information on what to pig out on during your Easter break in Umbria? Say no more.
Food for the Soul: Torta di Pasqua
What’s the funnest part of Easter in Umbria? Read on.
Falling Off the Wagon: Easter Eggs, Italian Style
Have any more tips for visiting Umbria at Eastertime? Leave a comment below!
Chocolate Easter Porridge
Chocolate Easter Porridge a fun breakfast for Easter full of oaty goodness. Linwoods Flaxseed with Cocoa and Mulberries creates the luxurious taste of comforting chocolate without the sugar and actually adding chocolate to the mix. While the beauty of porridge is in its simplicity, there’s now another reason to love this most wholesome of breakfasts, any chocoholic would love this Easter Chocolate Porridge Receipe.
It’s that season when it feels like it has been raining for roughly, oh, seventeen years.
Why is Umbria Italy’s “green heart”? Well, because we get an incredible amount of precipitation during the winter, which usually (though we have been hit with drought in this crazy new global climate, as well) sees us through the summer. But, boy, can it be a bummer during January and February, when it starts feeling like we may never see the sun again.
In my California dreaming, I was reminded of a little guide to beach resort towns in Le Marche I wrote recently. Umbria is landlocked, so visitors who want to day trip to the seaside either need to head over the Appennine mountains to the east, or across Tuscany to the west. The Adriatic coast to the east is slightly closer, so most choose Le Marche for a quick jaunt.
Here are a few suggestions of seaside resorts close enough to day trip for those seeking the sun:
The other option (Tuscany) is doable for a day trip from Umbria, as well. I’ll be writing up a guide to some of my favorite Tuscan resort towns soon. But right now I need to go have some hot cocoa by the fire…
It may look like I’ve abandoned you all, whiling away my days on the divan whilst imbibing on wine and chocolates.
Oh, yee of little faith. I’ve been here this whole time, just not here here.
I’ve been doing a bit of writing about Umbria and Italy for a number of other travel publications and sites, and as some of these articles may be of interest to folks planning a stay in Umbria or at Brigolante, I’m going to catch you up over the next few weeks.
I’ll begin with shopping.
Photo by G. Dall Orto
I wrote a Shopping Guide for Assisi post many moons ago, but some of the information there has changed in the meantime. So, recently I put together two new posts listing some of my favorite haunts to drop coin in Assisi and Perugia. You can read them here:
If you have any other favorite shops or suggestions, please leave a comment below!
Anyone who has met me knows that I am, um, gregarious. Talkative. A chitchatter. And just to prove it, here are two podcast interviews where the poor hosts could hardly get a word in edgewise. What can I say? Ask me about Umbria, and I do go on…
Amateur Traveler
Last month I was invited to talk to Chris Christensen from Amateur Traveler about my adopted home region, and it turned out to be great fun and also quite moving. You can take a listen here!
Radio Orvieto Web
And just last week I was on the radio! (For the first time in my life, I think.) The ladies from Umbria on the Blog were invited to chit chat with the ladies from What’s On In the City from Radio Orvieto Web about the blog, Umbria, the upcoming Travel Bloggers Unite conference, and pretty much whatever else crossed our minds. This interview is a mish-mash of Italian and English, so if you are learning Italian (or English), it’s a fun listen.
In these tough times, even travelling has been pared down to the bare bone. That said, there are some great cheap and/or free A list attractions in Umbria if you are keeping your eye on the bottom line but still want a memorable trip.
I was asked this week by the budget travel site extraordinaire Eurocheapo to suggest five cheap thrills in Umbria, and it was tough to whittle down my choices to just five.
But whittle I did, and you can take a look at the finalists here.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million (or, at least, seven) times…there’s no better time to visit an Umbrian town than during the fireworks festival they have annually.
Umbria is chock full of great ones (almost every village has their own), but I was recently asked by the wonderful European travel guide, blog, and community Europe Up Close to pick my five favorites…and it wasn’t easy.
Take a look here to see which made the cut, and consider working in at least one on your next trip to Umbria!
Sure, you say, her prose is brilliant and she’s photogenic as all get out. But are her tones dulcet?
Well, my friends, feast your ears on this week’s Eye on Italy podcast, during which I (with fellow expat blogger and vegetarian Michelle Schoenung) discuss how to navigate the turbulent waters of alternative diets (primarily vegetarian and gluten-free) in the free-flowing river of Italian cuisine.
And remember, there is nothing like a good editor to polish prose, Photo Shop to correct pictures, and excellent editing to transform a bumbling stutterer into a poised and authoritative interviewee. Just a thought.
On with the show!
There are so many great walks and hikes in Umbria that it’s impossible to explore them all (unless, of course, you are Bill Thayer).
It is, however, very possible to select the crème de la crème, and in doing so see some of the most stunning countryside in Italy. I was able to share five of what I consider the best hikes in this region recently on the Bootsnall Indie Travel Guide‘s blog.
So dust off those boots, get yourself a good map and some sunscreen, and head to the hills. But read my guest post first!
There’s nothing I like more than a good hike. Okay, maybe a hearty meal. And a solid night’s sleep. And a pair of warm socks. And a compelling book.
But after all that, I really like a good hike. So it was a pleasure to be able to share one of my favorite hikes in Umbria on Keith Jenkin’s wonderful Velvet Escape travel blog.
The trail itself is breathtaking, but my favorite part of the hike is the mysterious legend behind its final destination. Take a look here to read about this quirky hike.
I am still a Twitter novice, despite a year of tweeting. Twitter tends to bring out the worst of my Luddite nature, though I do enjoy tweeting about events and news regarding Italy and Umbria and find it a great resource.
So when Kathy McCabe of the venerable Dream of Italy asked me to guest on the recent #italychat to tweet about Umbria, it was with both excitement and trepidation that I accepted.
Even if you missed the live event, you can still see highlights from the transcript here. (I mention one of my current favorite restaurants in Umbria: Camesena)
Thanks again to Dream of Italy Travel Newsletter for having me as a guest!