Umbria

Discovering lake Trasimeno and its enchanting villages – part 1

by Giulia BLocal street art travelGiulia Blocal
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy

Last weekend I attended my very first press-tour (yey!), which took place around Lake Trasimeno, right on the border between Tuscany and Umbria. 

This idyllic place is at less than two hours from Rome, but I had never been there before and so I am very grateful for the chance I had to discover this unspoiled countryside area at the very heart of Italy, with its medieval charming villages; that’s a perfect destination to take a break from the big city!
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy
Nestled in the hills, Lake Trasimeno is the 4th largest lake in Italy, the first considering just the Italian peninsula. It is also the less polluted lake of Italy, and its ancient history dates back to the Etruscan times. It’s located on a crossroad joining the most important towns of central Italy: Rome, Perugia, Siena, Arezzo, Florence and Orvieto.
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy
The lake is named after the Prince of Trasimeno, the son of the mythical founding father of the Etruscans, who was so in love with the nymph Agilla that he died for her; and when a light wind caresses the trees and the waters of the lake, you can still hear the laments of Agilla calling her beloved Prince Trasimeno (someone says that Hans Christian Andersen, who sojourned here, got the idea for his popular tale “The Little Mermaid” from this ancient legend).
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy
The total silence and the nature that it encompasses make time goes slowly at Lake Trasimeno; the area is totally unspoiled from the touristic point of view, there are just a few typical colonial houses turned into holiday houses and some camping areas around the lake whose guests are mainly into relaxing activities such as bird-watching, fishing, horseback excursions, trekking and biking.
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy
Sunsets on the lake are breath-taking.
lake Trasimeno, Umbria, Italy

Lake Trasimeno > MONTEMELINO WINE CELLAR, TUORO DEL TRASIMENO (PG)

Our first stop has been at the wine cellar Montemelino on the hill above Tuoro del Trasimeno where we met a German lady who fell in love with the landscape back in 1954, when she was studying at the University for Foreigners of Perugia, and she decided to start her wine production business here.
montemelino wine lake trasimeno umbria italy
We had a nice talk and she explained us that this is a great area for wine production characterized by many different kinds of wine -especially red wines- and there is also an unique vine variety -called Gamay del Trasimeno, from Grenache family- which grows only on the nearby gentle hills. The location itself is beautiful; close to the main cellar there is a terraced garden overlooking the lake with a private church where the top-class wine of the house is aging within expensive French barriques.
montemelino wine lake trasimeno umbria italy
montemelino wine lake trasimeno umbria italy
montemelino wine lake trasimeno umbria italy
Once the rain stopped we had a wine tasting under the rustic porch with a breath-taking view above the lake; it’s easy to imagine why the German lady fell so in love with this landscape that she decided to move here!
montemelino wine lake trasimeno umbria italy
Even if the weather was still pretty unstable, I jumped on a horse-drawn buggy to enjoy a slow, old-fashioned tour of the nearby countryside. I was the only one of the group to go for it and I am pretty satisfied for having the chance to admire that beautiful landscape from a different side of the hill.
lake trasimeno, umbria, italy
lake trasimeno, umbria, italy
lake trasimeno, umbria, italy

Lake Trasimeno > PANICALE (PG)

We were driving to Il Casale restaurant for dinner, having small talks in the car and getting to know each other, when I spotted a medieval hamlet hanging down the mountain and I so deeply wanted to go there!
Panicale, umbria, italy
Luckily someone from our group travelling inside the car in front of us must have shared my same wish and so we stopped for a quick, unplanned tour of Panicale.
Panicale, umbria, italy
Panicale, umbria, italy
Panicale, umbria, italy

The village is still preserving its medieval features and it is built on a natural terrace on the slopes of Mount Petrarvella.

Panicale, umbria, italy
Panicale, umbria, italy

The most amazing feature of Panicale is the view over the Trasimeno valley, with its gentle hills and the peaceful lake. At the sunset, this ancient, lovely village is among the most charming places I have seen during the trip.

Panicale, umbria, italy
Panicale, umbria, italy

Lake Trasimeno > CASTEL RIGONE (PG)

The morning after I woke up early to enjoy a walk around the small village where we were staying, Castel Rigone, whose most ancient part was built during the medieval age. I had breakfast at the local bar enjoying the view above Lake Trasimeno and the surrounding valley, while studying the agenda of the day (and getting excited about it).
Castel Rigone, Umbria, Italy

Castel Rigone is very small and kind of a ghost town, with its pretty ancient houses all firmly closed and hopefully waiting for their owners to come back on holiday during the summer season. Many of the villages we visited during the tour share this trait, making them even more charming as if they were caught in a spell.

Castel Rigone, Umbria, Italy
Castel Rigone, Umbria, Italy
Castel Rigone, Umbria, Italy

Lake Trasimeno > OASI LA VALLE, SAN SAVINO (PG)

After breakfast I joined the group for a bird-watching activity at Oasi La Valle, a natural oasis where every year more than 80.000 migrating birds stop on their way to Africa or to Northern Europe, resting on Lake Trasimeno’s shallow water and extensive cane thickets, making it an internationally important area for ornithology studies.
oasi la valle, lake trasimeno, umbria, italy

And so, field glasses in hand, we headed to the pier; at first I felt like Sex and the City’s Carrie scrutinizing the audience with opera glasses, as I was mostly attracted by the ancient towers and other beautiful landmarks of the surrounding medieval villages, but then I focused on the water and learned how to distinguish different species of ducks from small details on their heads and I must admit that bird-watching eventually turned out more interesting than I had thought.

oasi la valle, lake trasimeno, umbria, italy
oasi la valle, lake trasimeno, umbria, italy

Lake Trasimeno > ISOLA POLVESE

Isola Polvese is the biggest island of Lake Trasimeno; it’s deserted, but provided with two restaurants and a hostel (where I wish one day I will experience the unique feeling of being alone on a desert island by night…).
polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy
polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy
polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy

The island is still pretty wild, with only a few paths leading respectively to the 14th century fortress, to San Giuliano church and to the fascinating pool in the garden of aquatic plants (where you can admire water lilies and lotus).

polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy
polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy
polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy
polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy
polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy

There is also a vast olive tree grove whose olives are pressed on the island to produce the local olive oil, which I had the chance to taste later at lunch, together with other local specialties such as Fagiolina beans (cultivated since the times of Etruscans and Greeks, this tiny bean grows only in this area and hence it is “protected” by the Slow Food movement), regina carp “in porchetta” (regina carp oven-baked seasoned with fine pork lard, garlic, salt, pepper and wild fennel) and regina carp’s eggs (served on bread, as it was caviar…definitely the best culinary discovery of the trip!). Local cuisine is based on lake fish such as carp, perch, pike and eel, and it combines Tuscan and Umbrian culinary traditions while being still very rooted into the Etruscan civilization.

food restaurant polvese island lake trasimeno umbria italy
After lunch, we took the ferry back to the mainland heading to one of the most beautiful village I’ve visited during the weekend: Castiglione del Lago.
But that’s another story… > go to part 2!
You can hover over these (or any image) to quickly pin it!
Lake Trasimeno Italy  Lake Trasimeno Italy

Giulia BLocal street art travel

Ciao, my name is Giulia. I’m a writer specialised in street art and graffiti. Since 2011 I’ve been running this independent street art blog, which has been the media partner of major street art festivals across Europe. I was the Communication & Content Manager of Amsterdam’s STRAAT Museum and now I’m a freelance writer and content creator based in Rome. I work with creative enterprises and museums, and my writing has been published in street art catalogues and art publications. I also write "Beyond the Walls", a monthly newsletter of editorials and critical insights into the world of urban art, and in 2024 I launched the book series "As Seen on the Streets of…", an independent publishing project that captures the cities shaping the global street art movement through my personal experiences, in-depth research, and the voices of local street artists.

You may also like

Discovering lake Trasimeno and its enchanting villages –...