Experience Italy in a way you never dreamed possible!
Thanks to A. Angelucci (photographer in Assisi) for his bellissima photo
Tours
It's the truth: when you tour with me, you will experience Italy in a way you never dreamed possible. My Umbria in particular. While we tour Umbrian hilltown gems, you'll have an eye-opening vision of the artistic wonders which surround us (and which you'd miss on your own). We'll interact with "the locals" wherever we go. Many tours include memorable food/wine experiences: for example, an Assisi tour can include a banquet lunch in our Assisi farmhouse. Another favorite tour concludes with dinner with our farm neighbors. One of my most popular tours is highlighted with a wine-tasting, olive-oil tasting, gourmet foods-tasting feast. FESTAtours plunge us right into the joyous celebrations of local festivals.
Tour Guide Qualifications
Two details in particular guarantee the top quality of my tours: I have lived the Umbrian life and explored this region since 1975 and I am the only American to have attained qualification as an Umbrian Regional tour guide (please see article Tour Guide Trial).
HOW TO TOUR: private or small group?
Medieval Hilltowns of Umbria
Experiencing Rural Life
Most Popular Tours
Tours Outside Umbria
Tour Rates
Cappuccino Chat
COMMENTS
How to Tour: Private or Small Group?
My Umbrian hilltown tours may be either full-day or half-day, customized private tours or shared, small group tours (InCompagnia tours and FESTAtours) at reduced prices. These small group tours generally do not exceed 12 people.
Customized
Private Tours
Private Umbrian hilltown tours can be full-day or half-day and can be tailored to your specific interests on the date of your choice.
Just contact me and we'll start putting together the Umbrian tour to suit you.
InCompagnia Tours/Cooking Classes
If you enjoy meeting new people, tasting the best of local cuisine and wish to save on tour fees, the InCompagnia tours are for you. These shared, small group tours can be either full-day or half-day.
InCompagnia tours include:
* all entrance fees to museums and historic sites visited
* special additional highlights (unique to each tour)
* "banquet" lunch (and you will not need dinner!) for full-day. Lunch includes full meal, all wines and other beverages
* transportation to and from tour destination (for groups of minimum 10)
and
* nearly 2 hrs per tour of extra guide time! The Region of Umbria mandates that half-day tours run 2 - 1/2 hrs and my tours usually run about 4 hours. Full-day tours as mandated by the Region of Umbria conclude at 6 hrs (my tours often run 8 hrs - or more!).
CLICK HERE for more information on InCompagnia tours.
FESTAtours
Whenever a special festival or event is celebrated in Umbria, I like to create a FESTAtour - which offers a unique opportunity to truly "co-participate" in Umbrian life and folkloristic traditions.
FESTAtours include:
* a tour of the town hosting the festa, highlighted by in-depth insight into the event: you will live the sense of fervor, la passione, which transports "the locals".
* special festa lunch in characteristic local trattoria - or in a private home
* transportation to and from tour destination (for groups of minimum 10)
* any entrance fees required.
CLICK HERE for more information on FESTAtours.
Family tours
As I was a teacher in my "former life", tours for families with children are a great pleasure. Children will learn - on a "treasure hunt" through the hilltowns - the concepts of Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque art and architecture - and all about life in Italy today as lived by their Italian peers.
Theme tours
Tours can also be targeted to specific themes: art and history, the people and their crafts, rural life, food and wines. I am happy to put together tours on request.
* Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about my tours.
Medieval Hilltowns of Umbria
(See MAP)
Assisi
The birthplace of St. Francis, most beloved of all saints for the Italians, Assisi is a synthesis of the splendor of the medieval hilltowns.
Gubbio
Dramatically perched on a hill overlooking the ruins of its Roman
theater, here in Gubbio time seems to have quite literally stopped
in the Middle Ages.
Orvieto
Constructed by the Etruscans on a volcanic tufo-rock plateau, Orvieto's cathedral is certainly one of the wonders of the medieval world. Tours in Orvieto can also include Todi and Cività di Bagnoregio.
Perugia
Of Etruscan origin and called "city of the infinite view"by Henry James, Perugia perfectly embodies medieval elegance. Tours to Perugia can also include Deruta, Torgiano and Lake Trasimeno.
Spello
Built in the local pink limestone like Assisi, tiny Spello is a gem of the undiscovered medieval hilltowns, where every backstreet is a feast for the eye.
Spoleto
The Roman and Romanesque architecture of splendido Spoleto form a perfect backdrop for the "Festival of the Two Worlds". Tours to Spoleto can also include Bevagna and Montefalco.
Undiscovered Umbria
Deruta
Since at least the 13th century, Deruta has been one of the most significant production centers in Italy of maiolica (twice-fired pottery).
Bevagna
Once a properous Roman town, Bevagna today offers an intimate view
of quiet Umbrian daily life, unfolding in the midst of Roman ruins,
Romanesque churches, characteristic arched backstreets.
Montefalco
Perched high on a hill and offering probably the best, all-encompassing
view of Umbria, Montefalco is noted today for its fine textiles,
superb Sagrantino wines, a 13th c. Franciscan church-now-art-museum.
Narni
One of my personal favorites, Narni - near the breathtaking Nera
River Valley - is an unspoilt, untouched and - as yet! - undiscovered
medieval hilltown where recent astounding archeological and architectural
discoveries fascinate.
Experience Umbrian Rural Life
An inside look at the lives of Umbria's rural people and an experience of their wisdom and their cherished traditions. My Rural LIfe Revisited tour always delights as my tour guests meet the farm people who taught us the ways of the land and remain our dearest friends.
CLICK HERE for more information on Rural Life Revisited.
Most Popular Tours
Appassioned of art history and fascinated by medieval architecture? Enjoy interacting with local people? Hoping to visit an Italian farm? Eager to taste top wines, prize-winning olive oils? The choice of your hilltown tour(s) will depend upon your personal interests. A few of my most popular tours are:
Assisi/Spello
Perugia/Deruta
Rural Life Revisited
Montefalco and Nostalgia Cuisine
Tell me about your interests: let me suggest a tour for you.
Tours Outside Umbria
My favorite guide colleagues all over Italy will enchant you with their expertise. These are just a few of the unique tours offered by my "guide force" (please ask for information on any other destination desired):
- * Following the Piero della Francesca trail
- * Cortona - A Taste of Tuscany
- * Walking Umbria and Tuscany in May
- * Shylock's Venice
- * Northern Italy Culinary Tour: Balsamics and Parmesan
- * Ravenna: Mosaics and More
- * Heart of Rome
- * Forza, Napoli!
- * Neopolitan Crêche: Story, Masterpieces and Artisans
CLICK HERE for complete descriptions of these tours.
Tour Rates
My tour rates vary widely and can fit just about any budget range:
In-Compagnia and FESTAtour rates per person:
* Half-day tours - $25 confirmation fee at time of booking + 45 Euro (E) at time of tour
(entrance fees included)
* Full-day tours - $25 confirmation fee at time of booking + 125 E at time of tour
(included: entrance fees, "banquet" lunch, added highlights - and for many tours, transportation to tour destination from Assisi)
Further Discount Opportunities:
* even lower prices per person for hilltown tours for groups of friends
traveling together
* special rates for families
* private tours are more, yet even these tour rates are reduced
if you wish to share your
tour with others
* discounts for the booking of multiple tours
* discounts for the booking of tour(s) and cooking class in our home
* discounts if also booking dinner in our home
Cappuccino Chat
My "cappuccino chat" is a 1-1/4 hour orientation to Assisi specifically and Umbria in general which will assist you in preparing "on-your-own" explorations certainly
* 125 E for groups up to 12
* 150 E for larger groups (recommended site: your hotel or villa rental)
This informative chat takes place over cappuccino in a local Assisi café. Brochures, material on Umbria provided. Time? 8:30 a.m. or 6:30 p.m. preferred (possible to request other timetable).
Note: I am happy to offer my talk in other areas of Umbria, though a transfer fee will be requested.
Comments
"Anyone wishing to experience the "true" taste of Umbria, Italy needs Anne Robichaud by their side. She is a virtual "fount" of information. She easily tailors her knowledge of history, art, architecture, local customs, cooking, social norms, etc. to your specific interests. I've found her exuberance to be contagious and have been a repeat customer. Whether I've been in a small group or on my own, Anne has made each experience, be it a visit to an Umbrian hillside town, a "sagra" or harvest festival, the Umbria Jazz Festival, or a small dinner in her own home, fun as well as educational.
Her love and enthusiasm for Italian life and for Umbria in particular has truly enhanced each of my visits. She's a rare gem of a tour guide and I can't recommend her highly enough. Brava Anne!!"
Jennifer Walters, Laguna Beach, CA
"Anne's energetic and in depth tour of Assisi and Spello during our one day tour as well as the dinner of Umbrian specialties in her farmhouse the night before made for a most enjoyable visit. Highlights of the tour were of course the life of St. Frances, a wine and olive tasting in Spello and a private visit with a monk ,Fra Paolo, whose works of art with dried flowers are dedicated to peace. Only Anne with an American background and 35 years of living in Assisi could provide such a visit."
Janet MacLeod, San Pedro, CA
CLICK HERE for more comments.
CLICK HERE for TripAdvisor comments where Anne's Italy tours is rated #1 Assisi attraction!