Your journey can begin in the village of Cenerente, located about 5 kilometres from Perugia on the slopes of Monte Tezio.

The village developed around an important coaching station along the route from Colle Umberto to Perugia. Its name derives from the limestone found on nearby Monte Malbe, known as cenerone, which lies just a few centimetres below the ground. Until 1984, the “Gessara”, one of Umbria’s oldest companies, operated here, producing gypsum used in cement manufacturing.

You can visit the Neoclassical Church of Santa Maria Maddalena and admire the privately owned 17th-century Palazzo, the most significant historic building in the village.

Not far from Cenerente, you can visit the 19th-century Castello dell’Oscano, now an accommodation facility surrounded by an attractive park. In the hamlet of Colle Umberto, along the road to Sant’Antonio, stands Villa del Colle del Cardinale, built in 1575 by Cardinal Fulvio della Corgna, nephew of Pope Julius III del Monte. The villa, set within a 13-hectare park of remarkable scenic appeal, is still undergoing restoration.

We also recommend visiting the Monte Pacciano Water Museum, about 3 kilometres away, in Vagliano. Currently undergoing redevelopment and modernisation, the museum is set in the evocative natural surroundings of the ancient conservoni, water-storage cisterns once guarded by hermits, who built a small house and a chapel nearby, on the slopes of Monte Tezio. The oldest cistern dates back to 1255, while the most recent was built in 1883.

If you enjoy trekking, you can choose from a wide range of routes suitable for all levels, starting from Cenerente and winding through Monte Tezio and Monte Malbe.

Heading east, after about 14 kilometres you will reach Bosco, situated between the Tiber and its tributary, the Rio Grande. Here, in a largely unspoilt rural landscape, you can admire the imposing Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria Valdiponte at Montelabate, founded before the year 1000 and now privately owned.

Don’t miss the historic village of Solfagnano, just 11 kilometres away, perched on a hill on the northern edge of the municipality of Perugia.

Founded in the 14th century as a country residence, it was transformed into a castle during the 15th century. Today, the manor is a private villa surrounded by a distinctive horseshoe-shaped garden.

After another 7 kilometres, you will reach Ramazzano, home to a 12th-century castle and a parish church dating from 1610 dedicated to Saint Thomas. Then visit, by reservation, the splendid crypt of the Celestine Abbey in Civitella Benazzone, about 4 kilometres from Ramazzano, built in the 12th century as a secondary seat of the Abbey of Santa Maria Valdiponte.

Nearby stands the castle of Morleschio, where you can admire the imposing defensive walls with their tower and arrow slits, as well as the Church of Sant’Andrea Apostolo, which preserves 14th-century frescoes.

Continuing south for another 12 kilometres, you will reach the Convent of the Santissima Pietà di Farneto, set on a hill surrounded by a woodland of Turkey oaks, from which the place takes its name. According to tradition, Saint Francis stayed here on several occasions.

Visit the small church, which preserves an elegant altar frontal made in 1742 by the Franciscan friars. For centuries, it was also embellished with a 13th-century painting attributed to the Master of Farneto, together with a Pietà from the following century by Perugino. Today, these remarkable works can be admired at the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia.

Travel about 60 kilometres to the south-eastern area of the municipality of Perugia, along the road leading to Città della Pieve and the hills around Lake Trasimeno, until you reach the small rural village of Fontignano. Here, in the Church of the Annunziata, you can visit the tomb of the great artist Pietro Vannucci, known as Perugino, one of the region’s most celebrated figures.

The artist arrived in Fontignano in 1511 and established his workshop there. A few years later, in 1523, while painting the Adoration of the Shepherds, he contracted the plague and died. Inside the church you can admire the Madonna and Child, the only one of his five frescoes to remain there. The Adoration of the Shepherds, originally on the church tympanum, was detached and sold to an English buyer in 1848 and is now preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, while the other works have been lost.