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Discover the splendors of Umbria all year round! Experience the wonders through private tours, FESTAtours, In-Compagnia tours, cooking lessons, meals in our home - and local festivals.
February, too, is a quiet month in Umbria and uncrowded medieval backstreets and lodgings at reduced rates attract the traveler. I cannot personally show you Umbria's wonders in February and early March as I am in the U.S. on my annual cooking lessons/lectures tour, but I am happy to help you plan your trip and connect you with top guide colleagues (not just here, but wherever you travel).
March
I return from my annual US tour (see February) in mid-March, when the pruning of olive trees and grapevines starts in Umbria.
Meet our farm neighbors in their vineyards or olive groves on a Rural Life Revisted tour
or join them for dinner and ballroom dancing on Saturday nights at Catecuccio, near Assisi. As we tour any of the hilltown gems of Umbria, we'll notice the emerald greens of the sprouting wheat, oats and barley backdropped by the silver greens of the olive trees. Ah, Umbria, "Italy's green heart". Most tourists will arrive later in the spring, making March an ideal time to visit!
April
At the end of April, wild asparagus start sprouting in our woods, adding a special addition to cooking classes in our home. Easter generally arrives in April (though not always!) and April FESTAtours highlight significant moments in Umbria's Easter season: Good Friday in Assisi and Easter Monday in Montone. ) A special FESTAtour to Gubbio on April 25th finds us joining with the "locals" to celebrate the Liberazione in 1945. and at April sagra events, villagers invite us to enjoy the best in home-cooking and join in ballroom dancing. Join us in a SAGRAtour!
May
May is the month of wondrous festivities - celebrations of the re-birth of spring: the 3-day medieval festival at the beginning of the month in Assisi, the Calendimaggio and the exhilirating Corsa dei Ceri in medieval Gubbio on May 15th. The Palio della Balestra ("Crossbow Contest") winds up May in Gubbio and May sagra events animate small villages all over Umbria - highlights of my SAGRAtour!.
(Note: the Infiorate festival in Spello is a "moveable feast" and generally falls in June - but occasionally, in May).
June
During our "farming years", June was the month of haying and my June Rural Life Revisited tours conclude with farmhouse dinners reminiscent of those years. June SAGRAtour find us sharing rural banquets and ballroom dancing with "the locals"! On June 2nd, the Ceri Piccoli FESTAtour takes us to Gubbio to cheer on the youngest Ceraioli who run the same mad race up the mountain which the men run during the Corsa dei Ceri (in May). I never miss another splendid Umbrian festival, the Infiorate, annual highlight of the hilltown gem, Spello. Join us this year! You'll want to be with us, too, in Bevagna for their bellissima festival fair at the end of June, the Mercato delle Gaite - or in Spoleto at the end of the month for the Spoleto Festival FESTAtour.
When we farmed, August was the month of fruit-juice bottling, tomato sauce bottling and the preparation of endless types of summer vegetables under oil. An August Rural Life Revisited tour ends with a traditional summmer night farm dinner. Sagra events in Umbrian villages gather the farm people for home-cooking and ballroom dancing. The mountain area near Assisi backdrops my favorite sagra in mid-August: join us in a SAGRAtour!!!
September
In September, many local festas animate Umbria, eg., the Baroque
festival Quintana in Foligno and the extraodinary food
festival, I
Primi Piatti, there at the end of the month.
During the years we farmed, September brought the grape
harvest and mushrooming-hunting. In
late September, join us for the Bevagna/Montefalco FESTAtour:
Roman ruins, medieval wonders AND the prize-winning Sagrantino wine of the Montefalco area
(and top wines, olive oils, gourmet foods highlight the Assisi/Spello tour all year round). A sober note: September 26th is a sad anniversary in Assisi,
in 1997 a devastating earthquake hit the area. All of my Assisi
tours include information on Umbria's post-earthquake
restoration, an extraordinary technical and artistic achievement.
The climate has been warming up rapidly over the past few years, making December quite a wonderful time to visit. The weather can be surprisingly mild but the tourists are few. Charming medieval piazzas are deserted in all Umbria's medieval hilltowns and hotel prices are lower as are villa and farmhouse rentals. In early December, Assisians celebrate the arrival of La Madonna and all month, cooking lessons in our home feature typical winter dishes of Umbria. Assisi tours take in Assisi's unique Christmas magic and Gubbio tours hold a Christmas surprise.
I 
May is the month of wondrous festivities - celebrations of the 
July always brings back memories of 
In
early October, join us for the