The best hidden towns with a food festival in the province of Perugia
The province of Perugia eats by the calendar. Autumn brings new oil, cloudy and green and peppery enough to catch in the throat, poured over bruschetta in a village hall with trestle tables and paper cloths. Winter is truffle and lentil and pork; spring is wild asparagus and broad beans; late summer is the lake, with carp and tench and eel coming off the grill by the reeds of Trasimeno. The towns themselves are built from pale limestone and pinkish stone, walls that hold the heat, and the sagra is usually held in whatever space the walls leave over, a piazza, a cloister, a covered market.
Most visitors to Umbria book Assisi, and it is easy to see why: the basilica, the Giotto cycle, the frescoed upper church, all of it reachable on a day trip from Rome or Florence. Coach parties fill the Via San Francesco from morning onwards, and the restaurants along it have learned to cook for people who will not come back. Perugia itself absorbs another large share, particularly during Eurochocolate, when the centre is closed to cars and the queues run the length of Corso Vannucci. Both are worth the time. Neither is where the province does its own eating.
The same hills, the same oil presses and the same lake continue well past those two names, and the festivals that matter to Umbrians happen in towns with no coach park. Each place on this list holds a recurring festival built around one local ingredient, run by a committee of residents rather than a tourist board, usually with a fixed month and a fixed menu. Fewer people go, which mostly means you sit down faster and pay less. Some are within easy reach of the Foligno and Terontola railway lines; others need a car and a willingness to drive a valley road in the dark.
Of the 37 communes we have mapped in the province of Perugia, 13 qualify as towns with a food festival: each holds a recurring food festival built around one local ingredient. This list is the hidden ones, 8 in all, ordered smallest first. The smallest, Paciano, has 957 residents.
Elsewhere in the catalogue: The best hidden hill towns with a food festival within 90 minutes of Perugia and The best hill towns with a food festival in the province of Perugia.
Paciano
Why visit Paciano
The town is first documented in 917, in an imperial charter of Berengar I, and appears again in 1260 as a castrum, a fortified site. Perugia rebuilt the walls and main tower between 1461 and 1473, using the site as a watch-post over the western approach to the lake below.
Inside the circuit, three parallel streets are linked by orthogonal alleys, a layout that carries the Renaissance palace with the Vignola staircase, the oldest noble residence in the town, and the 17th-century Palazzo Cennini, once the summer residence of a cardinal. The gates and towers sit at the edge of this grid, facing outward toward the water.
Olive oil from the slopes that drop toward the shore is the present-day specialty. What remains is a small fortified grid, built to watch a lake, that turned its military purpose into a domestic one once the watching was no longer needed.
What to see in Paciano
- Medieval walls. About 600 meters of circuit, with the three original gates named Fiorentina, Perugina and Rastrella still standing among the eight towers.
- Palazzo Baldeschi. Assembled from earlier tower houses, with a staircase attributed to Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. Now used as an exhibition and cultural space.
- Rocca Buitoni. The oldest surviving palace in the town, built as a noble residence inside the walls, with a small private chapel.
How to get to Paciano
Perugia is roughly 44 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September into October are the months for Paciano. The slopes of Monte Petrarvella hold the wildflowers, Trasimeno is warm enough to swim from late May, and the olive groves run from green to silver-gold across the half-year. The Infiorata fills the three parallel streets each Corpus Domini in late May or June. Sagra dello Strozzaprete falls in August.
Sellano
Why visit Sellano
Sellano sits at 641 meters on the eastern edge of Umbria, looking over the Vigi stream toward the Marche border. The Vigi feeds the Nera; the valley is the upper Valnerina, one of the most isolated stretches of the Umbro-Marchigiano Apennines.
The 1979 and 1997 earthquakes hit the commune hard. The 1997 quake destroyed the sixteenth-century Palazzo dei Collicola at Montesanto and emptied most of the surrounding hamlets.
Reconstruction took two decades. In March 2024 a new structure opened: a 517-meter suspension footbridge across the Vigi gorge linking Sellano to the Castello di Montesanto, 175 meters above the valley floor, 1,023 steps, claimed as Europe's highest tibetan bridge alongside Portugal's Arouca 516.
Funded by NextAppennino, 1.6 million euros from PNRR earthquake-area development money. The bridge has become the visible decision of a small commune to bet its future on something other than waiting out emigration.
What to see in Sellano
- Ponte tibetano. 517-meter suspension footbridge opened March 2024, 175 meters above the Vigi gorge, 1,023 steps linking Sellano to Castello di Montesanto.
- Castello di Montesanto. Medieval fortress hamlet across the Vigi, depopulated after the 1997 earthquake, reachable on foot via the new bridge.
- Borgo medievale di Sellano. Compact walled centro storico looking east toward the Marche, partially rebuilt after the 1997 quake.
How to get to Sellano
Perugia is roughly 66 minutes away by road.
Our tip
May through October is the working season at 641 meters in the upper Valnerina. The new bridge runs full schedule, the trails along the Vigi gorge are open, and the temperature stays in the low twenties through summer afternoons. June and September are the best months for walking: long light, dry trail, late wildflowers. Sagra della Fojata e dell'Attorta falls in August.
Fossato di Vico
Why visit Fossato di Vico
Fossato di Vico stands at 581 meters on the slopes of Mount Mutali, on the line of the Via Flaminia between Foligno and Gubbio. The Romans built a changing station here called Hellvillum after laying the road in 220 BC.
The borgo proper was founded in 980 by Lupo, called Vico, son of Monaldo, count of Nocera. In the twelfth century it passed to the Marsciano counts, who eventually sold it to Gubbio; in the thirteenth Perugia took it militarily and the commune declared independence.
What survives from that period is the network of covered passages called Le Rughe, stone vaults that turned the street into a defensible interior, a rare example of thirteenth-century castle architecture used as everyday infrastructure. The church of San Pietro, the oldest in town, predates the castle and was founded as a Camaldolese monastery.
The Chiesa di San Benedetto outside the walls keeps Eugubine-school frescoes including what is taken to be one of the earliest known portraits of a pope.
What to see in Fossato di Vico
- Le Rughe. Thirteenth-century covered alleyways under round stone vaults, rare surviving example of defensive castle-street architecture.
- Chiesa di San Pietro. Oldest church in town, founded as a Camaldolese monastery, Romanesque structure predating the medieval castle.
- Chiesa di San Benedetto. Thirteenth-century Benedictine abbey outside the walls, fragments of fourteenth and fifteenth-century Eugubine-school frescoes including an early papal portrait.
How to get to Fossato di Vico
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Perugia is roughly 47 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June brings the slopes of Mount Mutali green and the upper Flaminia corridor walkable in long evenings. September and October are clear, with first frost on the higher pastures by month's end. July and August push the lower valley into the mid-thirties; at 581 meters the borgo stays cooler, and the vaulted Rughe hold a constant temperature that feels engineered. Sagra del Cinghiale falls in August.
Magione
Why visit Magione
Magione sits at 299 meters on a hill east of Lake Trasimeno, fifteen kilometers from Perugia. The name comes from the Knights Hospitaller, who built a hospital here in the mid-twelfth century dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and called their convent Maison in their own language.
The original nucleus stood on the Perugia-Tuscany route and grew into the fortified base that still anchors the town today. The lower town is organized around two medieval poles: the castle complex near the old route, and the quadrangular tower rising thirty meters over the settlement, built in the same period by the same Order.
The vineyards on the surrounding hills lie between 250 and 350 meters above sea level, and the town's territory extends down to the lake's eastern shore. In October 1502, the castle hosted a plot against Cesare Borgia: his own captains and allies conspired against him inside its walls.
Niccolò Machiavelli, on diplomatic mission for Florence, learned the details and passed them to Borgia, who dismantled the conspirators within months. A hospital, a tower, and a plot against a Borgia: the town's history reads as a sequence of episodes gathered around the same fortified point on the road between Perugia and Tuscany.
What to see in Magione
- Castello dei Cavalieri di Malta. The fortified complex built by the Knights Hospitaller stands as the town's anchor, its walls the setting where the Conspiracy of Magione was plotted against Cesare Borgia.
- Torre dei Lambardi. Thirty-meter quadrangular tower built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by the Gerosolimitani Knights, three floors and a summit terrace.
- Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista. Parish church inside the castle complex, dedicated to the saint of the original Hospitaller foundation.
How to get to Magione
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Perugia is roughly 23 minutes away by road.
✷ We have written about Magione
“The lake is like a sanatorium compared to the sea. It’s relaxed. It’s calm. It’s silent. To find this level of almost disturbing quietness, you either go up into the mountains, or you really need to know your way around the sea to find that particular spot not overrun by vacationers and beach people. In Trasimeno, this is easy. Even the most popular towns like Castiglione or Passignano sit in quiet harmony with the stillness of the water.”
Read our piece on Magione →Lago Trasimeno | Never Compete with the Sea
Our tip
April through June and September into October are the working months on the eastern Trasimeno: clear lake light, olive groves on the hills above, evenings cool enough to walk between the Castello and the Torre. July and August reach the low thirties in the basin; the lake helps but weekends fill with Perugia and Florence day-trippers and the lakefront frazione of San Feliciano runs heavy. The olive harvest in late October and November turns the territory busy with frantoi at full capacity. Festa del Giacchio - Sagra del Pesce del Lago Trasimeno falls in July.
Bettona
Why visit Bettona
Bettona sits at 353 meters on a hill north of the Colli Martani, looking across the cultivated plain toward Perugia. The Etruscans built here in the seventh century BC, and Bettona remains the only known Etruscan settlement east of the Tiber.
Stretches of polygonal walls from that period are still visible at the base of the medieval circuit, mixed with later Roman blocks. The town became a municipium under Augustus, declined during the barbarian invasions, was sacked by Totila in 548, and rebuilt as a self-governing commune by the late twelfth century.
Papal rule held from 1648 to unification. The Pinacoteca Civica, housed in the Palazzetto del Podestà on Piazza Cavour, keeps two paintings by Pietro Perugino (Sant'Antonio da Padova and Madonna della Misericordia), tabernacle panels attributed to El Greco, and Etruscan funerary stones and architectural terracottas from the territory.
The olive groves below town carry the Città dell'Olio designation.
What to see in Bettona
- Mura etrusche. Stretches of polygonal Etruscan walls visible at the base of the medieval circuit, from the seventh and sixth centuries BC.
- Pinacoteca Civica. Civic art gallery in the Palazzetto del Podestà holding two Perugino paintings, tablets attributed to El Greco and Etruscan finds.
- Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore. Main parish church on Piazza Cavour, with a reordered interior holding altarpieces and a Crocifissione fresco.
How to get to Bettona
Perugia is roughly 27 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September into October are the windows that work. The olive harvest runs from late October through November and gives the town its working rhythm, with the frantoi pressing into the evening. July and August are dry and hot; the centro storico is small enough that midday empties it. Sagra dell'Oca falls in July.
Bevagna
Why visit Bevagna
Bevagna sits on the floor of the Umbrian valley at 225 meters, where the Clitunno meets the Timia. Ancient Mevania, the name means she who stands in the middle, was a Roman mansio on the Via Flaminia, listed in the Antonine Itinerary.
A black-and-white mosaic of the 2nd century AD survives almost intact in the frigidarium of the Roman baths, twelve meters by seven, octopuses and dolphins in the center, tritons and sea-horses on the short sides. Piazza Silvestri at the heart of the centro storico holds two Romanesque churches that face each other at odd angles, San Michele Arcangelo and San Silvestro, built within years of each other in the late 12th century.
The Mercato delle Gaite each June turns the town into the year 1300 for ten days, four quarters competing on medieval trades and tavern menus, no anachronisms allowed. The Sagrantino slopes of Montefalco are nine kilometers up the road.
The re-enactment here is La Notte Medievale, usually held in September.
What to see in Bevagna
- Piazza Silvestri. Twelfth-century civic square ringed by the Palazzo dei Consoli, the churches of San Silvestro and San Michele, and the fountain of 1896.
- Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo. Romanesque collegiate church built by Binello and Rodolfo at the end of the 12th century, on the main square.
- Chiesa di San Silvestro. Romanesque parish church across the piazza, signed and dated 1195 by Binello, the same builder as San Michele.
How to get to Bevagna
Perugia is roughly 39 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September into October are the months for Bevagna. The valley fills with green, the Sagrantino vines run on the slopes above town, and the rose festival fills the gardens around the walls in May. The Mercato delle Gaite runs the second half of June and is the single most concentrated weekend on the Umbrian medieval calendar. Sagra della Lumaca falls in August.
Montefalco
Why visit Montefalco
Montefalco sits on a hill above the Umbrian valley, its walls laid out in two concentric medieval circuits with five gates, the inner ring still complete and the outer ring added in the 14th century by the Trinci. At the top, the circular Piazza del Comune gathers four converging streets around the Palazzo Comunale, the high point from which the rest of the town falls away toward the walls and the vineyards beyond them.
The name Sagrantino belongs to the slopes right around those walls, where the grape has been traced back to the 1st century AD, and three of the largest producers, Caprai, Antonelli and Adanti, keep cellars within four kilometers of the centro storico. The harvest runs late September into October.
The fresco cycle Gozzoli painted in the apse of the former church of San Francesco is counted among his most complete surviving works, and the town's own name for itself, the railing of Umbria, describes the same eastern walls where the belvedere gathers seven hill towns into one view. Wine on the slopes, frescoes in the old church, a view of the valley from the walls: a hill town whose economy, art and setting all sit within walking distance of each other.
What to see in Montefalco
- Museo Civico di San Francesco. Former Franciscan church holding Benozzo Gozzoli's fresco cycle, plus works of the Umbrian school, in a building that has stood as the town's museum since deconsecration.
- Piazza del Comune. Circular medieval square at the top of the hill, ringed by the Palazzo Comunale, the Oratorio di Santa Maria di Piazza and four converging streets.
- Belvedere of Umbria. Panoramic walk on the eastern walls that takes in Perugia, Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Trevi, Spoleto and Todi from a single viewpoint.
How to get to Montefalco
Perugia is roughly 54 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September into October are the months for Montefalco. The vineyards run their full work cycle, the harvest of Sagrantino starts in the last week of September, and the railing belvedere holds the long Umbrian light. Settimana Enologica in mid-September brings producers from across the territory onto Piazza del Comune. Enologica Montefalco falls in September.
Torgiano
Why visit Torgiano
Torgiano sits at 219 meters at the point where the Chiascio joins the Tiber, ten kilometers south of Perugia. The Torre della Guardia, also called Torre Baglioni, was raised in 1274 to control the river customs traffic that moved up toward Rome from the Tiber valley.
Torgiano was the first Umbrian wine area to receive the DOC mark in 1968 and to be elevated to DOCG in 1990. Giorgio and Maria Grazia Lungarotti turned the wine economy of the town into a cultural project: the MUVIT, opened in 1974 inside the seventeenth-century Palazzo Graziani-Baglioni, holds three thousand pieces across twenty rooms documenting five thousand years of wine history.
The companion MOO, on the olive and oil, is inside a small medieval cluster within the castle walls. Both are managed by the Lungarotti Foundation.
The cantina itself, on the edge of the centro storico, has been the largest single Umbrian producer for half a century.
What to see in Torgiano
- MUVIT Museo del Vino. Wine museum opened 1974 in 17th-century Palazzo Graziani-Baglioni, with 3,000 pieces across 20 rooms covering 5,000 years of wine history.
- MOO Museo dell'Olivo e dell'Olio. Olive and oil museum in a medieval cluster within the castle walls, managed alongside MUVIT by the Lungarotti Foundation.
- Torre della Guardia (Torre Baglioni). Defensive tower raised 1274 to control the Tiber-Chiascio customs traffic, the only standing element of the original river fortifications.
How to get to Torgiano
Perugia is roughly 26 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September into October are the working months. The vineyards run their full cycle on the slopes around the confluence, and MUVIT and MOO keep regular hours. The Banco di Assaggio dei Vini d'Italia is the historical late-summer tasting that put Torgiano on the wider Italian wine map. Vinarelli - Agosto Torgianese falls in August.
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