Practical Information for visiting Umbria

Umbria has no major airport and a limited rail network, and its towns are on hilltops. A car is close to essential.

Arriving

Perugia San Francesco d'Assisi is a small airport with a handful of European routes. Most visitors arrive through Rome Fiumicino — about two hours by road — or Florence. Direct trains run from Rome to Perugia, Orvieto, Spoleto and Foligno; Orvieto is on the main Rome-Florence line and is the easiest arrival by rail.

Trains

The state network covers the Tiber valley axis — Orvieto, Terni, Spoleto, Foligno, Assisi, Perugia — reasonably well. A regional operator runs the Perugia-Città di Castello and Terni-Sansepolcro lines. Assisi's station is in the plain at Santa Maria degli Angeli, with a bus up to the town.

Buses

Regional coaches connect the main towns but thin out sharply at weekends and rarely serve the smaller villages usefully.

Driving

• A car is effectively required for Montefalco, Bevagna, Castelluccio, the Valnerina and most agriturismi.
• The E45 runs north-south for free; the A1 motorway passes the western edge near Orvieto and is tolled.
• Almost every hill town has a ZTL and no parking inside the walls. Park in the designated lots below and walk or take the escalators and funiculars — Perugia, Orvieto and Assisi all have them.
• Mountain roads in the Sibillini can close in winter, and some Valnerina routes remain affected by earthquake works.

Coverage for mobile networks is reliable in the towns and along the valleys, and patchy in the mountains.

• Cellular data. 4G covers the inhabited valleys and hill towns well; 5G is limited to Perugia and Terni. Signal drops in the Valnerina gorges, on the Piano Grande and in parts of the Sibillini.
• SIM cards. TIM, Vodafone, WindTre and Iliad. A passport is required by law to buy an Italian SIM. EU visitors keep their home allowance under roaming rules.
• Wi-fi. Standard in hotels and common in cafés. Agriturismi in the hills often have slow connections, and some have none in the rooms.
• Power. 230 V, 50 Hz, type L and type F sockets. Older stone buildings frequently have few sockets.

Italian is universal. English is spoken in Assisi and Orvieto, which see the most international visitors, and much less in the smaller towns and the countryside.

• Buongiorno / buonasera — on entering any shop or bar.
• Per favore, grazie, prego.
• Il conto, per favore — the bill, not brought unasked.
• Un tagliere — a board of cured meats and cheese, the standard thing to order with wine.
• È aperto oggi? — is it open today? Genuinely useful: small-town opening hours are irregular and many places close one weekday.

Umbrian speech is close to standard Italian — this is roughly where the literary language comes from — so it is easier to follow here than in the north or the deep south. Local vocabulary survives mostly in food terms: strangozzi, torta al testo (a flatbread cooked on a stone), brustengolo.

Umbria is among the safest regions in Italy, with low crime and little of the pickpocketing that affects the big cities. The realistic risks are physical and environmental.

• Petty theft is uncommon but not absent in Perugia around the station and the Corso on weekend nights, and at busy sites in Assisi.
• Vehicle break-ins. The most likely problem: leave nothing visible in cars at trailheads and at the parking areas below hill towns.
• Earthquake zone. Tremors occur. Modern buildings are built to code; some historic structures remain scaffolded or closed, and barriers around damaged buildings are there for a reason.
• Mountain weather. The Sibillini change quickly and the Piano Grande is exposed with no shelter. Marked routes assume proper footwear and a map; rescue call-outs are chargeable.
• Hill-town footing. Steep, worn stone streets and long stairways, slippery in rain. Sensible shoes matter more here than in most of Italy.
• Wild boar are numerous and active at dawn and dusk — the practical risk is hitting one while driving on a country road at night.

Healthcare is good, with main hospitals at Perugia and Terni and smaller facilities in the larger towns.

• Emergencies:112. Emergency treatment is provided regardless of nationality.
• EU/EEA and Swiss visitors should carry the EHIC or national equivalent; UK visitors the GHIC. Others need travel insurance, and anyone walking in the Sibillini should confirm it covers mountain rescue.
• Pharmacies (farmacia, green cross) are in every town and post an out-of-hours rota in the window.
• Summer heat. Valley temperatures above 35 °C are common in July and August, and the hill towns involve sustained climbing — a combination that catches people out.
• Accessibility. Worth planning for: the hill towns are built on slopes with stepped streets, and while Perugia, Orvieto and Assisi have escalators or funiculars, many smaller towns have none.
• Ticks are present in wooded and grassy areas; check after walking.
• Tap water is safe throughout, and public fountains in the towns are drinkable unless marked otherwise.

Umbria is relaxed, but its religious sites are working ones and are treated accordingly.

Rules with real penalties

• ZTL zones cover nearly every historic centre, camera-enforced, with fines forwarded months later by the rental company.
• Photography is prohibited inside the Upper and Lower Churches of the Basilica of St Francis, and the rule is actively enforced by stewards.
• Truffle gathering requires a licence.
• National park rules in the Sibillini restrict camping, fires and off-path walking in protected zones.
• Identification. Hotels must register a passport or ID card at check-in.

Etiquette

• Dress for churches means covered shoulders and knees; Assisi enforces this at the door, and it applies to the basilica complex generally.
• Silence is requested in the basilica, and stewards will ask for it. Assisi receives pilgrims as well as tourists, and the difference matters to the people there.
• The afternoon closure is real in the small towns — many shops shut from about 1pm to 4pm, and some close a full weekday.
• Coffee standing at the bar costs less than sitting, at a published rate.
• Tipping is not expected; a coperto on the bill is a cover charge.

112 is the single emergency number across Italy, connecting to police, ambulance and fire. Operators generally handle English. The older numbers — 113 police, 118 medical, 115 fire — remain active.

• Mountain rescue — 112. The Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico covers the Sibillini and the Valnerina. Rescue is chargeable.
• Earthquake information. The INGV publishes seismic activity in real time, and the national civil protection agency issues guidance after significant events. Tremors are not unusual and are almost always minor.
• Pharmacies on duty — posted in every pharmacy window.
• Consulates. There are none in Umbria; consular matters are handled from Rome or Florence, both about two hours away.
• Marmore Falls. The water is released on a published timetable and a siren sounds before each release — the riverbed below is not a place to be when it starts.