Umbria · Perugia
Scheggino
Triangular castle village on the banks of the Nera, where the first commercial Italian truffle company was founded in 1928.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 14 min from Perugia
- Population
- 446
Known for
BLACK TRUFFLE
Urbani Tartufi, the first Italian commercial truffle company, was founded in Scheggino in 1928; black truffle of the Valnerina is the village specialty.
TRIANGULAR CASTLE
Twelfth-century plan, three walls meeting at the tower, built by the Duchy of Spoleto to guard one of three bridges over the Nera.
DIAMANTE NERO
Summer festival prepares a giant frittata of more than 2,000 eggs and 80 kilos of black truffle on the banks of the Nera.
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- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Scheggino sits in the heart of the Valnerina, the village wedged into a triangle of walls between the slope above and the Nera river below. The Duchy of Spoleto built it around the 12th century to defend one of the three bridges over the Nera; the triangular plan and the watchtower of white and pink stone, about 20 meters high, still mark the top of the castle. The Nera runs alongside the lower edge of the village, divided into channels that once turned mills and now hold trout and the springs that feed the truffle washing rooms.
Scheggino is the home of Urbani Tartufi, the first commercial company for the storage and processing of truffle, founded in 1928, which still has its plant on the river. The Diamante Nero festival each summer prepares a giant frittata with more than 2,000 eggs and 80 kilos of black truffle. The Cammino di San Francesco passes through the village on the way south.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 2 h 15 min by car.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) is about 2 h 42 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 14 min or Ancona 2 h 27 min.
Coming by train into Perugia? Scheggino is about 1 h 14 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello di Scheggino
Twelfth-century triangular castle of the Duchy of Spoleto, with a watchtower in white and pink stone about 20 meters high at the summit.
Chiesa di San Nicola
Romanesque parish church at the heart of the centro storico, frescoes of the Umbrian school of the 15th century in the apse.
Nera river canals
Channels of the Nera divided through the lower village, once for mills and now for trout farming and the truffle washing rooms of Urbani.
Cammino di San Francesco
The Franciscan pilgrim route from La Verna to Assisi and on to Rome passes through Scheggino along the Nera.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Scheggino fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer six questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
From the guides
Where to stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Torre Del Nera Albergo Diffuso SpaHotel
Torre Del Nera Albergo Diffuso Spa holds a place in the Michelin hotel guide.
Living here
- Population 446, down 11.6% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Nearest national health service hospital Spoleto, 12 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Full fibre reaches 98% of homes
- No primary school in the comune's register
- Earthquake zone 1, Italy's highest hazard
- Ancona airport, 2 h 15 min drive, the closest of the 15 airports we time
- Regional capital Perugia, 1 h 14 min drive
Could you live here?
Scheggino is at the end of the road.
- A village of 446. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Spoleto, is 36 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Terni, a city of 106,370, is 49 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
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Common questions
- What is Scheggino known for?
- Triangular castle village on the banks of the Nera at 280 meters, where the first commercial Italian truffle company was founded in 1928.
- Where is Scheggino?
- Scheggino is a comune in the province of Perugia, in Umbria.
- Which of the airports we measure is closest to Scheggino?
- Of the 15 airports we time the drive to, the closest is Ancona (AOI), about 2 h 15 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Scheggino?
- About 1 h 14 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Scheggino?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 33 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Scheggino?
- Vallo di Nera, Moresco and Cella Monte.
- How many people live in Scheggino?
- 446 at the 2023 count.
- Is Scheggino a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Scheggino is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Spoleto, is 36 min away. The nearest city, Terni, is 49 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Spoleto, 12 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 98% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 280 m
- Population: 446
- Surface area: 35.85 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Similar
Towns like Scheggino
What all six share with Scheggino: inland, away from the coast · under 1,000 people · hill towns
The ranked lists
Lists Scheggino appears in
- The 6 best hidden truffle towns in the province of PerugiaPerugia provincetrufflehidden6 towns · smallest 345 residents
- The best towns worth staying overnight in the province of PerugiaPerugia provinceworth staying overnight6 towns · smallest 446 residents
- The best towns known for what they grow within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiawithin 90 minproduce zone7 towns · smallest 345 residents · closest 40 min away
- The 8 best hill towns on a walking route within 90 minutes of TerniNear Ternihill townon a walking routewithin 90 min8 towns · smallest 446 residents · closest 18 min away
- The best hidden towns on a walking route in the province of PerugiaPerugia provinceon a walking routehidden8 towns · smallest 446 residents
- The prettiest villages on a walking route in UmbriaUmbriaon a walking routeprettiest villages8 towns · smallest 446 residents
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 67 km away
Tuscia: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Tuscia guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
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Read the guide: The land Rome took twice. 16 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.