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Italy: Umbria

Overview

Umbria contains the provinces of Perugia (also the name of the regional capital city) and Terni. It’s one of Italy’s smallest regions, covering an area of 8,455 sq km (3,265sq mi) with a population of around 815,000. Despite lying on a major earthquake fault line, Umbria is one of the few areas where the countryside hasn’t been largely deserted by the population. River valleys such as that of the Tiber are cultivated with grain, olive groves and terraced vineyards, and there’s some industry around Foligno, Narni, Perugia and Terni. Umbria, which consists largely of forest and farmland, is quintessentially Italian and is known as the ‘green heart of Italy’ or the ‘land of woods and saints’. It’s a land-locked region, less accessible, dramatic and glamorous than its neighbour Tuscany, but with fewer tourists and foreign property owners.

The spiritual beauty of the countryside is reflected in hilltop towns such as Todi, which has become a fashionable spot with a large enclave of foreign artists and writers since an American university voted it one of the world’s most attractive towns. Perugia, the region’s capital and largest city, is a fine old Etruscan town with a famous University for Foreign Students specialising in courses in Italian art, culture and language. Assisi is the home of Saint Francis (Italy’s patron saint), whose life is commemorated in the immortal frescoes of Giotto (which were badly damaged in an earthquake in 1997) in the Basilica di San Francesco. Spoleto is famous for its annual music, drama and dance festival, called the Festival of Two Worlds. Other famous towns include Città della Pieve (the home of Perugino), Città di Castello, Deruta (famous for its ceramics), Foligno, Gubbio (a medieval ‘film set’), Narni, Norcia, Orvieto (with its magnificent cathedral and fine wines) and Panicale.

Property: The local architecture is sombre but attractive, featuring light-coloured stone and similar in style to Tuscany. Towers are a typical feature of the region’s hilltop villages and farmhouses, which cost from around €1,250 per sq m near Bevagna to €2,100 per sq m near Assisi. Prices rose by 8 per cent in 2002 and more people are discovering its unspoilt, backwater charms; the region is particularly popular with British, Dutch and German property buyers – so much so that few rural properties come onto the market.

Communications: Communications in the region are fair and improving. There’s a domestic airport at Perugia and the toll-free E45 superstrada connects with the A1 motorway and also the Civitavecchia-Rome motorway, making it a fast journey to Rome and Fiumicino international airport. From Perugia it’s also possible to make day trips to the sea and the sandy beaches of the Etruscan Riviera via the E45 to Orte or via the Orte-Viterbo superstrada to Tarquinia.

© Survival Books Limited 2003

“Buying a Home in Italy” 3rd Edition, David Hampshire.

Reproduced with the permission of Survival Books Limited.

Further information on this topic can be found in “Buying a Home in Italy” 3rd edition, by David Hampshire.

For extensive information about buying a property in Italy, you can purchase this book at www.survivalbooks.net

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