To reach the 12th-century Castello di Procopio, one must climb up a gravel road that winds along the edge of a wooded hill thick with acorn trees and wild chestnuts. Turn one last corner and a stone fortress comes into view, a crown atop the sleepy hamlet of Migiana. Through the metal gates and up a final, steep ascent lies a grassy lawn that stretches to the foot of the castle’s defensive walls. Originally commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederico Barbarossa, throughout the centuries, it was a stronghold and a monastery. But now, the property is entirely tranquil—a microcosm of the Italian region of Umbria, one of the last few places one can visit in Italy where it’s still possible to feel removed from time.
Tuscany often claims the spotlight for its picture-perfect landscapes and farmhouse stays, but Umbria, just to the south, offers a quieter kind of escape. The pace is gentler here, the scenery wilder—a mosaic of forests, olive groves, and ancient hill towns that still feel intimately connected to the land. Hoteliers and restaurateurs are beginning to notice, opening a new generation of properties that invite travelers to discover a different side of central Italy: less polished, more instinctive, and deeply rooted in place.
Still, Umbria’s appeal isn’t just its solitude. Its towns are steeped in art, faith, and history. There’s Assisi, a gleaming white patch on the slopes of Mount Subasio and the birthplace of St Francis. Nearby, Perugia is alive with student life, café terraces, and craft boutiques, while farther south, Spoleto’s Roman theatre and frescoed cathedral speak to centuries of cultural layering. Yet from the ramparts of Castello di Procopio, all that fades away. In the early morning, mist gathers in the Tiber Valley below, veiling the roads and villages from view—leaving only the sense of vastness and stillness that defines Umbria at its most beautiful.
Where to Stay
In recent years, the Mandarin Oriental group has expanded its reach beyond luxury hotels with a collection of private villas. Among its Italian retreats is the ultra-exclusive Castello di Procopio, an eight-bedroom fortified castle about a 20-minute drive from the region’s capital, Perugia. The elegantly curated interiors were designed by the British-born, Los Angeles–based decorator Martyn Lawrence Bullard, featuring carefully chosen antiques—suits of armor, allegorical tapestries, heavy wooden tables fit for a medieval feast—sourced from across Europe. Set amid a forested landscape, with a heated outdoor pool, steam room and fully equipped gym, the castle offers all the comforts of a Mandarin Oriental stay with the privacy of a villa.
In the 1980s, Count Antonio Bolza purchased a 1,500-hectare wooded estate and its crumbling 10th-century castle as a private home for him, his wife and their five children to enjoy as a holiday retreat. The property was lovingly restored and lived in by the family for decades until 2021, when his son, the architect Count Benedikt Bolza, took over and transformed the ancient stronghold into a luxury boutique hotel. Now guests can wander the stunning courtyards of the hilltop fortress, outfitted with beautifully crafted interiors—including hand-painted murals by Bolza’s wife, Donna Nencia—multiple restaurants, a pond-like swimming pool overlooking the valley and several newly revived farmhouses that can be rented as private vacation villas.
Borgo dei Conti began as a 13th-century fortified hamlet overlooking the rolling Umbrian countryside. Once owned by Perugia’s noble Raspanti family and later part of the Porta Eburnea district, the estate gradually transformed from a defensive outpost into an aristocratic country residence. Today, its restored stone buildings and manicured parkland capture the quiet grandeur of medieval Umbria, reimagined as a contemporary retreat. The resort’s holistic spa features indoor and outdoor pools and forest trails that wind through centuries-old woodland, while the fine-dining restaurant, Cedri—led by Chef Emanuele Mazzella—celebrates the region’s seasonal bounty.
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Set on the outskirts of Calzolaro, near the Tuscan border, Vocabolo Moscatelli occupies a restored 12th-century monastery. Surrounded by gardens, oak trees, and sweeping hills, the 12-room property blends ancient stone walls and timber ceilings with modern touches—furnishings by Paola Lenti and artworks by Louis Boujac, Domenica Regazzoni, and Massimiliano Poggioni among them. Organized in the manner of a traditional Italian Borgo, at the hotel’s heart—between the main building and a former chapel that now operates as a spa treatment space—is a central piazza, ideal for morning coffees and late afternoon aperitivo. Meanwhile, the restaurant serves creative, plant-forward Umbrian dishes, and the Matite bar offers cocktails made with local ingredients.
Where to Eat
Set in a converted 15th-century olive mill near Foligno, Une is a Michelin-starred restaurant that captures the essence of rural Umbria through the vision of chef Giulio Gigli. After honing his craft at Disfrutar in Barcelona and Benu in San Francisco, Gigli returned home to reinterpret local traditions with modern precision. His tasting menus—Acquedotto and Relazioni—showcase Umbrian ingredients from small producers, the restaurant’s own garden, and seasonal foraging. The surrounding landscape of orchards, forest, and stream shapes both the cuisine and the experience, from intimate dinners at the chef’s table to open-air meals in the property’s woodland clearing.
Vespasia, situated in a 16th-century former inn in the town of Norcia, is run by the Bianconi family, whose hospitality roots in this region can be traced back to the mid-19th century. Working with local producers and sourcing produce and legumes from their own farm in the Norcia valley, chef Fabio Cappiello’s choice of tasting menus provides a veritable tour of this bountiful region. In the autumn months, that could mean glazed sweetbreads with Jerusalem artichokes, venison carpaccio from the nearby Sibillini Mountains, or trout from the nearby Nera River served with beetroot and smoked butter.
Located in the historic centre of Perugia, Ada Gourmet is the creative project of Michelin-starred chef Ada Stifani. The Lecce-born Stifani looks beyond her Umbrian surroundings for inspiration in her cooking, mixing international references with flavors and memories from her Puglian roots: beetroot gnocchi with smoked eel and dill; seabass with capers and foie gras; and for dessert, cakes made with ricotta, passion fruit and black sesame.
What to Do
While its northern neighbor Tuscany may be better known as a producer of world-class wines, Umbrian vineyards are of equally compelling quality. The region is celebrated for Sagrantino, a rich, tannic red, and Grechetto, a fragrant white, along with elegant blends that reflect the region’s sun-drenched hills and fertile soils. Many estates welcome visitors for tastings, guided tours, and cellar visits. Notable stops include Vineria del Carmine near Perugia, Arnaldo Caprai in Montefalco and Lungarotti in Torgiano, a historic, family-run winery with a museum dedicated to wine culture.
Umbria’s relative seclusion and abundant availability of space compared to other Italian regions have made it a haven for visionary artists from the Renaissance to today. Cities like Perugia, Orvieto and Todi are rife with galleries dedicated to classical Italian art—from the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria to the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo di Orvieto, to the vivid Ferraù Fenzoni frescoes at Palazzo Vescovile di Todi—but there are also more esoteric pilgrimages to discover.
A few kilometers from Montegabbione lies La Scarzuola, a former Franciscan convent purchased in 1956 by Milanese architect and set designer Tommaso Buzzi, who spent decades transforming it into a surreal symbolic city. The fantastical park resembles a theatre set, rife with spiritual allegory and modeled on an ascetic’s dream of utopia. Meanwhile, in Todi, the work of two American artists can be encountered in its original landscape settings. Beverly Pepper, a pioneering sculptor known for her monumental works in steel and stone, created a hilltop sculpture garden overlooking the town. Close by is La Casa Dipinta, the exuberantly painted home installation conceived by artist and writer Brian O’Doherty, a leading figure in conceptual art and art criticism.
First walked by pilgrims following in the footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi, like the Camino de Santiago that threads the breadth of Spain, the Via Lauretana winds through Umbria’s quiet interior, linking Assisi to Loreto, located just across the border in Marche on the Adriatic coast. The route cuts across rolling farmland, oak woods and medieval hamlets, passing vineyards, monasteries and stone bridges along the way. It takes around 10 days to traverse the entire path, but shorter stretches allow for a slower, more contemplative taste of the Umbrian countryside. For a curated roaming experience, join the five-day Umbrian Safari by Maremma Safari Club, blending walks from Todi via Montefalco to Assisi with high-art stops, truffles and Sagrantino wine tastings.