Assisi and Orvieto | Tours

(duration of this tour: 10 hours)

with English Speaking Driver

Assisi tour

The real Italy, far away from the modern highways and large cities, where small ancient villages are waiting to be discovered in the heart of the Umbrian countryside. Assisi is an oasis of art and architecture and home of Saint Francis, one of Italy’s most loved saints.

Enjoy a one day long retreat through the Umbrian countryside with quaint medieval towns dotted along your route.

Assisi in Italy stretches out on the slopes of the Monte Subasio, above the plain where the Topino and Chiascio rivers flow.

Although it can boast Roman origins, its present-day appearance, because of the buildings and also the urban structure, is surely due to the city’s development during the Middle Ages.

Assisi’s oldest nucleus, which is protected by a defensive apparatus made up of eight fortified entrance portals and a long belt of town walls, which are still perfectly preserved, is topped by two castles on peak of the mountain: the Major Castle, reconstructed by the Cardinal Albornoz in 1367 and the Minor Castle. Apart from religious buildings too important to not be considered solely the heritage of Assisi such as the Basilica of St. Francis, you can also visit the churches of St. Clare and St.Peter.

The Cathedral, dedicated to the Patron Saint St. Rufino, vaunts a splendid and unaltered facade with sculptures and reliefs; the interior, however, has undergone much reconstruction during the centuries which have distorted the original project dating back to the 13th century. On the Town Square situated on the ancient Forum, you will find the Priors’ Palace (1337), the Palace of the People’s Captain (12th century) and the temple of Minerva, built during the augustean period with pronaos, columms and corinthian capitals which are still intact.

The impressive basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels was built according to the plans of Alessi between 1569 and 1679 to protect the Porziuncola Chapel, which was the first simple meeting-place of the Francescan brotherhood.

All those who have the good luck of visiting this splendid town have to agree with who says that the beauty of town goes beyond a short, and necessarily incomplete list of works of art more or less extraordinary, but is however to be found in the atmosphere of places which the story and the faith of the Saint have rendered unique all over the world.

Orvieto tour

Orvieto origins go back to the Etruscan civilization: the first Etruscan settlements, going back to the 9th Century B.C. Annexed in the 3rd Century B.C. to the territories of Rome, it remained under the Roman domination until the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Afterwhich it became a free municipality, and during the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, was a valiant opponent of Barbarossa, remaining faithful to the Pope. Riding on the support of the Papal State, it was allowed to prosper through the entire Medieval Period, reaching the top of its development in the 13th Century with the constitution of the General Council of the 400 and the election of the Captain of the People.

It was during this period that one saw the fervent work of erecting palaces and holy buildings among which the very famous Cathedral stands out, dating back to 1263, undoubtedly the most important architectural landmark of the city, with its splendid Gothic facing and the richness of the ornaments and internal chapels. In the ancient town we also find the St.Patrizio well, built in 1527 based on a plan of Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane.