Within an hour’s drive you can -

• Follow Hannibal’s route south from Lake Trasimeno (scene of the Legions’ greatest defeat) to Spoleto, then back up the valley passed Il Monastero itself to the high mountain pass of Passo D’Acera and down the Valnerina through Ferentillo (stop off to see the ‘mummies’) to Narni with its incredible underground city

• Go boating on the high lake of Piedeluco and visit the marble-gated waterfall (cascata di marmo) built by the Romans to provide fresh water to Ancient Rome via hundreds of kilometres of aquaducts
• See the art and architecture of the birth of the Renaissance— Cimabue, Giotto & Simone Martini in the magnificent Basilica San Francesco at Assisi, Pinturicchio, Perugino, Peiro della Francesca and Fra Lippo Lippi in the surrounding hill towns of Spoleto, Spello, Gubbio and Perugia.
• Shop till you drop for ceramics at Deruta, embroideries and linen in Montefalco, wines, cheeses and sausages in the Roman town of Norcia (birthplace of St. Dominic), buy the famous lentils of Castelluccio and visit the extraordinary wild flowers of Piano Grande.
• Visit the international jazz festival held in Perugia later in the year.