Slow trip

28 slow days of nature and walking: Orvieto, Brugnato, and Cefalù

Spring arrives in three distinct corners of Italy, each offering different reasons to linger and walk. From Orvieto's volcanic plateau, you descend into the Val di Chiana and climb into the ceramic workshops of Deruta, then move to the Ligurian coast where Brugnato sits as your anchor for exploring villages tiered above the sea. The final ten days sweep south to Sicily's northern shore and its islands, where April light hits the water at angles that make the morning walk from Cefalù feel like the only sensible way to begin a day.

28 days · April or May · nature & walking-first · easy walking

Orvieto

Orvieto, 8 days

Base yourself in Orvieto and make these your day trips.

4 towns · qualifying pool of 12 from 55 candidates

Hill towns in the provinces of Terni, Perugia, and Roma. ceramics tradition and Borghi Più Belli d'Italia.

Getting around

Orvieto, your base, is on the rail network. 4 of the 4 towns in this corner have a railway station, so a car-free version of this corner is realistic. Check Trenitalia timetables before you commit a day: rural frequencies run thin, especially on Sundays.

Your timing

April and May sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.

While you're there

Orvieto — Festa della Palombella, MayPentecost-day Holy-Spirit reenactment since 1404 where a white dove descends along a wire from a tabernacle to the Duomo amid fireworks, paired with Orvieto in Fiore.
Spello — Infiorate di Spello, MayCorpus Christi weekend (May-June) flower-petal carpets created overnight by 1,000 people along the medieval streets to celebrate the Eucharistic feast.
Deruta — Buongiorno Ceramica, MayAnnual Italian Ceramic Festival weekend in the home of Deruta majolica with workshops and open ateliers across Italy's oldest ceramic-arts town.

Day 1 · Arrive in Orvieto

Settle in. Orvieto is your base for the next 8 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.

Province: Terni

Orvieto

Etruscan Velzna on a 325-meter tufa butte, later a medieval refuge of popes.

Picked for:nature and walking · hill town · Festa della Palombella, May

Day 2 · Day trip to Deruta

First outing. Head to Deruta for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Orvieto for dinner.

Province: Perugia

Deruta

A hill town at 218 meters on the left bank of the Tiber, the maiolica capital of central Italy since the late thirteenth century.

Picked for:nature and walking · hill town · Buongiorno Ceramica, May

Day 3 · Day trip to Tivoli

Out again, this time to Tivoli. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Orvieto.

Province: Roma

Tivoli

A travertine town on the Aniene falls twenty-five kilometers east of Rome, holding two separate UNESCO sites: Hadrian's villa below and the Villa d'Este above.

Picked for:nature and walking · hill town

Day 4 · Day trip to Spello

Last day trip in this corner, to Spello. Make a day of it, then back to Orvieto.

Province: Perugia

Spello

Augustan Hispellum sits at 280 meters on Monte Subasio, its Roman gates still standing over streets that Pinturicchio once painted a chapel for.

Picked for:nature and walking · hill town · Infiorate di Spello, May

Day 5 · Day in Orvieto

A slower day. Stay in Orvieto. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 6 · Day in Orvieto

A slower day. Stay in Orvieto. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 7 · Day in Orvieto

A slower day. Stay in Orvieto. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 8 · Day in Orvieto

A slower day. Stay in Orvieto. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Brugnato

Brugnato, 10 days

Base yourself in Brugnato and make these your day trips.

5 towns · qualifying pool of 16 from 48 candidates

Coastal towns in the provinces of La Spezia and Genova. Bandiera Blu coast and national park territory.

Getting around

Brugnato, your base, has no station, so plan to arrive by car. 4 of the 5 towns in this corner have a railway station, so a car-free version of this corner is realistic. Check Trenitalia timetables before you commit a day: rural frequencies run thin, especially on Sundays.

Your timing

April and May sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.

While you're there

Monterosso al Mare — Festa del Limone, MayMid-May Cinque Terre festival since 1967 with lemon-themed decorations, limoncino, marmalades and lemon sweets across the Paese Vecchio's caruggi.
Camogli — Sagra del Pesce di Camogli, MayAnnual May fish fry in a giant 4-metre frying pan since 1952, honoring San Fortunato patron of fishermen.

Day 1 · Arrive in Brugnato

Settle in. Brugnato is your base for the next 10 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.

Province: La Spezia

Brugnato

The medieval ecclesiastical capital of an inland Ligurian valley, seat of a diocese from 1133 to 1820, with a co-cathedral built over a Columban monastery.

Picked for:nature and walking · plain

Day 2 · Day trip to Levanto

First outing. Head to Levanto for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Brugnato for dinner.

Province: La Spezia

Levanto

The sixth Cinque Terre, a beach town and Cittaslow at the gateway of the national park, with a surf break and a striped Gothic church.

Picked for:nature and walking · coastal

Day 3 · Day trip to Monterosso al Mare

Out again, this time to Monterosso al Mare. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Brugnato.

Province: La Spezia

Monterosso al Mare

The westernmost and largest of the five villages, where Eugenio Montale spent the childhood summers that became Ossi di seppia in 1925.

Picked for:nature and walking · coastal · Festa del Limone, May

Day 4 · Day trip to Lerici

Out again, this time to Lerici. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Brugnato.

Province: La Spezia

Lerici

A fishing harbour under a Pisan-Genoese castle, with the frazione of Tellaro hanging over the rocks at the commune's southern edge.

Picked for:nature and walking · coastal

Day 5 · Day trip to Vernazza

Out again, this time to Vernazza. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Brugnato.

Province: La Spezia

Vernazza

The middle village of the coast, the only one with a natural harbor, buried under four meters of mud in October 2011.

Picked for:nature and walking · coastal

Day 6 · Day trip to Camogli

Last day trip in this corner, to Camogli. Make a day of it, then back to Brugnato.

Province: Genova

Camogli

A fishing village on the Golfo Paradiso whose nineteenth-century fleet of a thousand white sails made it Italy's third maritime power in the Mediterranean.

Picked for:nature and walking · coastal · Sagra del Pesce di Camogli, May

Day 7 · Day in Brugnato

A slower day. Stay in Brugnato. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 8 · Day in Brugnato

A slower day. Stay in Brugnato. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 9 · Day in Brugnato

A slower day. Stay in Brugnato. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 10 · Day in Brugnato

A slower day. Stay in Brugnato. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Cefalù

Cefalù, 10 days

Base yourself in Cefalù and make these your day trips.

5 towns · qualifying pool of 16 from 26 candidates

Coastal towns in the provinces of Palermo, Messina, and Agrigento. UNESCO listed.

Getting around

Cefalù, your base, is on the rail network. 2 of the 5 towns here have a station; the rest need wheels. A rental car makes this corner simple, a rail-plus-taxi version takes patience.

Your timing

April and May sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.

Day 1 · Arrive in Cefalù

Settle in. Cefalù is your base for the next 10 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.

Province: Palermo

Cefalù

A Norman cathedral at the foot of a 270-meter rock on the Tyrrhenian coast, founded in 1131.

Picked for:nature and walking · coastal

Day 2 · Day trip to Sciacca

First outing. Head to Sciacca for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Cefalù for dinner.

Province: Agrigento

Sciacca

A terraced fishing harbor on Sicily's southwestern coast, built on a spa town of the fifth century BC and a ceramics center since the fourteenth.

Picked for:nature and walking · coastal

Day 3 · Day trip to Siracusa

Out again, this time to Siracusa. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Cefalù.

Province: Siracusa

Siracusa

Ortigia island, wrapped in honey-coloured Baroque stone, sits at the heart of the city Cicero called the most beautiful in the world, on the eastern Sicilian coast south of Catania.

Picked for:nature and walking · coastal

Day 4 · Day trip to Lipari

Out again, this time to Lipari. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Cefalù.

Province: Messina

Lipari

The largest Aeolian island and the only municipality that administers six of the seven, with a clifftop castle citadel rising above two harbors.

Picked for:nature and walking · island

Day 5 · Day trip to Pantelleria

Last day trip in this corner, to Pantelleria. Make a day of it, then back to Cefalù.

Province: Trapani

Pantelleria

A volcanic island closer to Tunisia than Sicily, where dry-stone dammusi sit among bush-trained Zibibbo vines listed by UNESCO.

Picked for:nature and walking · island

Day 6 · Day in Cefalù

A slower day. Stay in Cefalù. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 7 · Day in Cefalù

A slower day. Stay in Cefalù. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 8 · Day in Cefalù

A slower day. Stay in Cefalù. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 9 · Day in Cefalù

A slower day. Stay in Cefalù. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

Day 10 · Day in Cefalù

A slower day. Stay in Cefalù. Walk side streets, find the market, take a long lunch.

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