Flowers of Umbria – Escorted

Food & Wine

Umbrian cuisine dates back to Etruscan times. Since then each town has developed its own take on the area’s intense flavours and rich dishes centred around fabulous, fresh vegetables, delicious olive oils, a variety of grains and pulses, and high quality meats. Truffles are of course the most famous Umbrian speciality, and whilst you might not be able to find a freshly dug one, you will always be able to find a canned or bottled version. They are used sparingly in such things as omelettes or specialities like crostini al tartufo (small croutons with a truffle paste). Inevitably pasta features heavily, often served with rich sauces of garlic, tomatoes and cheese, and with meat or with truffle sauces. Meat and game feature quite largely on the menu, including dishes such as porchetta, a variation on roast pork stuffed with herbs and spices, and palombaccia, wild pigeon, roasted and then cooked in a sauce of wine, oil vinegar and herbs. We will try a selection of good Umbrian wines, which may include the better local wines of the Nera valley and Spoleto, the prized DOCG reds of Montefalco, just west of the area we visit, and the renowned DOCG whites of Orvieto to the north. Well acclaimed Umbrian wine producers include Lungarotti and Sportoletti.

History

The ‘basins’ of the Piano Grande and Norcia contained lakes in the Pliocene era. Rich finds of stone and bronze implements indicate extensive human habitation from earliest times and excavation has produced evidence of the Naharkus, a distinctive Iron Age culture. Strong traces of Etruscan influence can be found of the Sabine tribe who were finally conquered by the Romans in 290 BC. Territorial confiscation by Augustus in the 1st century was followed by colonisation. Under Vespasian the region flourished. Ravaged by Goths in 532 AD, the region was conquered and colonised by the Lombards from 570. In 870 Spoleto became capital of the Lombard Kingdom of Italy. The Middle Ages saw fierce rivalry between Spoleto and Norcia, although in the Guelph-Ghibelline wars both cities were fiercely loyal to the Pope. The region joined the unified Italy in 1860.

Flora & Fauna

The Sibillini National Park includes within its boundaries an astonishing array of habitats. Thanks to this variety of habitat there is very rich flora – orchids abound and there are outstanding floral spectacles. The moist valley bottoms are farmed and many meadows are left for hay. Before they are cut, they are rich in wild flowers – poppies, daisies and colourful vetches – which provide nectar for butterflies – numerous fritillaries, blues, swallowtails, black-veined white and around the tops of sallow trees flit camberwell beauties. Birds we might see (or hear) include golden oriole, wryneck, hoopoe and, at night, the ‘sonar’ call of the scops owl. On the lower hillsides, herbs, rock roses and cistus bring splashes of colour and there are many insect-imitating bee and spider orchids. The shady deciduous woodland harbours pink cyclamen, early-flowering purple hepatica and white helleborines. At a higher level, the magnificent Piano Grande flowers are later, taking on different hues throughout spring and summer as the species of flower change – from the yellow and white of buttercups, tulip and narcissi (May) to later displays of poppies, daisies and cornflowers (June). The Piano Grande was once a glacial lake, which now drains through the honeycombed karst beneath it. It is grazed by the flocks of the villagers of Castelluccio at its far end. In spring, the air is filled with the songs of innumerable skylarks. On the mountain slopes above the plain and along the ridges where we walk, the Spring flowers form veritable carpets: light blue forget-me-nots, purple basil-thyme, white Narcissus poeticus, pale yellow and magenta elder-flowered orchids and the startling electric blue of spring gentians, to name a few. The colourful local mountain pansy (Viola eugeniae) forms pools of yellow, lilac and blue underfoot and by early June we find blazing clumps of dark pink wild peony. There are also tiny wild tulips and snakeshead fritillaries. At the highest altitudes we find natural rock gardens where dark blue trumpet gentians and many other species of orchid grow in profusion.