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‘La Strada dei Vini del Cantico’ Wine Routes

Umbria has a long tradition of wine making, thanks to its mild climate and the characteristic geology of the land. ‘La Strada dei Vini del Cantico’, the wine route, unwinds between green rolling hills, atmospheric villages and panoramic roads, an undiscovered Umbria. Travel up and down the ancient Roman roads from the ‘Colli Martani’ with the type of ‘Sangiovese Riserva’ to the famous ‘Grechetto’ of Todi. This is the land of ‘DOC Colli Perugini’, which makes the most of the typical Umbrian vines such as Grechetto, Trebbiano and Sangiovese.
Autumn is the time of the grape harvest and is certainly one of the most suggestive times to pass time in this area, winter also offers beautiful scenes and intense tastes of a typical gastronomy rich with flavour, there are other possibilities to follow the working of grapes to make wines.
In spring and summer it is possible to combine the wine route with walking, cycling and horse riding in a very varied natural environment, where the perfume of the land and its products can be smelt. The territory comprises: Todi, Marsciano, Perugia, Torgiano, Bettona, Cannara, Spello, Assisi, Bastia Umbra, Umbertide and Perugia.

'Le strade dell'olio DOP': The DOP oil route - the land of Colli Martani

With its hills and mountains this area is the most genuine Umbria. Successful land, bewitching land, “jucunda” land as Saint Francis of Assisi called it. It is a valley of Umbria immersed in the heart of the “Green Heart of Italy”, where Umbria is the most Umbrian you will find. Here, above all, the vast area of olives and vineyards perfume the air and give flavour to the simple life of this area, industrious, but at the same time “slow”. “Museums everywhere”, named for the thousands of expressions of art which turn up in every corner of the land, the herald of other museums which were founded to celebrate the history and tradition, such as the “Regional Museum of Ceramics” in Deruta and in Torgiano the “Lungarotti Museum of Wine and Olive Oil” an authentic “monument” to the regional treasures.
Between Torgiano and the Etruscan Bettona you will find the history of the powerful “Castello di Rosciano” and further afield the ancient “Castello di Ritaldi”. It is fascinating to reach Gualdo Cattaneo and Giano dell’Umbria, prestigious “Città dell’Olio”, via roads lined with olive trees, here as in other parts of the region an inspiration for poets, writers, painters and simple travellers – characterised by many examples of Macciano and Camporeggiano in the “Abbazia di San Felice”. Masterpiece of the Romanesque period and workshop of oil, this Abbey gives its name to the local produce whose sweetness characterizes the extravirgin olive oil of the “Monti Martani”. This plant, source of life and beauty, still metaphorically speaking, is a custodian of history and tradition which repeats in particolar during the “Festa della Frasca”, which takes place at the end of the olive harvest, the so called happy ending.