What to See in Umbria, Italy

Umbria is a landlocked region in central Italy, shaped by Apennine mountains, wooded hills, river valleys and historic towns. The best things to do in Umbria include exploring cities such as Perugia, Assisi, Orvieto and Gubbio, as well as discovering the landscapes around the Tiber, Lake Trasimeno and Marmore Falls. Neywo offers free audio guides for 4 cities in Umbria, with 226 narrated places in total and 12 walking tours.

What to see and do in Umbria

Explore Perugia, the regional capital

Perugia is Umbria’s capital and one of the region’s main historic centres. Its story reflects the changing political identity of Umbria: the city was shaped by Roman expansion, medieval self-rule as a comune, papal power and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy.

One of the clearest reminders of this past is the Rocca Paolina. The people of Perugia destroyed the fortress in 1860 because they saw it as a symbol of papal oppression. Today, it remains closely connected with the city’s modern history. Neywo’s Perugia audio guide covers 99 narrated places, including Perugia Cathedral, the Rocca Paolina, Villa del Colle del Cardinale and the Archivio di Stato.

Visit Assisi and its religious heritage

Assisi is one of Umbria’s best-known historic towns. Its setting among the region’s hills helps explain the close relationship between landscape, pilgrimage and religious history found here.

The Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi is one of the city’s essential sights, alongside Assisi Cathedral, the Basilica di Santa Chiara and the Eremo delle Carceri. The Assisi audio guide tells the stories of 57 narrated places, making it easier to connect the town’s monuments as you walk through its streets and surrounding sites.

Discover Orvieto above the countryside

Orvieto is another of the towns that define an Umbria itinerary. Its historic centre rises above the surrounding landscape, while its monuments and archaeological remains reveal different layers of the region’s past.

Orvieto Cathedral is the city’s main landmark. The Necropoli Etrusca del Crocifisso del Tufo offers a connection with the Etruscan world, while the Fortezza Albornoz and Museo Claudio Faina add further perspectives on the town’s history. The Orvieto audio guide includes 51 narrated places.

Walk through Spello

Spello is a smaller historic town with a strong artistic and local identity. Its museums and churches make it a useful stop for travellers interested in Umbria’s religious traditions and cultural heritage.

The Museo delle Infiorate is connected with the town’s flower-carpet tradition. Other important places include the Pinacoteca comunale di Spello, the Baglioni Chapel and the chiesa di Sant’Andrea. Neywo’s Spello audio guide covers 19 narrated places.

See Gubbio and the Festival of the Ceri

Gubbio is one of Umbria’s most important historic towns, and it is home to the Festival of the Ceri, also called Saint Ubaldo Day. The tradition has been held every year since 1160, on 15 May.

The celebration centres on a race in which three teams of cerioli carry huge symbolic candles through the crowds and up much of the mountain. Each candle is topped by a saint: Saint Ubald, the patron saint of Gubbio, Saint George or Anthony the Great. The teams are identified by yellow, blue or black, worn with white trousers and red belts and neckbands.

The route begins in the main square, in front of the Palazzo dei Consoli. More than a spectacle, the festival shows how historic towns in Umbria remain living communities, where old rituals still bring people into the streets with colour, movement and cheering voices.

Take in Umbria’s rivers, valleys and waterfalls

Umbria’s landscapes are central to understanding the region. It is the only landlocked region on the Apennine Peninsula, with no coast and no border with another country. The Tiber crosses the region, while Lake Trasimeno and Marmore Falls offer two very different encounters with water.

The central Apennines rise through Umbria, while the Tiber valley provides flatter and more fertile ground. The Valle Umbra runs from Perugia towards Spoleto, and the Val Tiberina follows the Tiber farther north and west towards Lazio. In the south, the Nera cuts through mountain ravines before reaching a wider floodplain near Terni.

These valleys, wooded slopes and mountain landscapes form the setting for Umbria’s towns. They also help explain why travelling between historic centres is part of the experience: the region is not defined by one single landscape, but by the way its terrain changes from one place to the next.

A short history of Umbria

The name Umbria comes from the Umbri, an Italic people whose language was related to Latin and Oscan. Unlike the Etruscans, they generally lived in small settlements spread through the Apennines rather than in urban societies. Roman expansion later absorbed them into a larger political world.

In the Middle Ages, Umbria became a meeting ground for rival powers. The Lombards founded the duchy of Spoleto across much of what is now southern Umbria, while Byzantine control remained along a corridor following the Via Flaminia between Rome and Ravenna and the Pentapolis. After Charlemagne conquered much of the Lombard kingdoms, some Umbrian territories were granted to the Pope. Several cities also developed a degree of self-rule as comuni.

The region’s political shape changed again after the French Revolution. Umbria became part of the short-lived Roman Republic and then of the Napoleonic Empire, under the name department of Trasimène. Papal rule returned after Napoleon’s defeat and lasted until 1860, when Umbria was annexed by Victor Emmanuel the Second. The following year, it entered the Kingdom of Italy, with Perugia as its capital.

Explore Umbria with Neywo

Neywo has free audio guides for 4 cities in Umbria, with 226 narrated places in total and 12 walking tours. Narration is available in 11 languages.

The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Download Neywo to explore Umbria’s historic towns and landmarks while keeping the freedom to choose your route and stop when you want.