Wild Boar Salami

The wilderness, the best cured meats, and St. Benedict are combined in eastern Umbria.

Perugia is Umbria's political capital, but it is the walled town of Norcia, who boasts of being the gastronomic capital. In the region is rugged and mountainous, below the Apennines famous forests are home to game birds, trout are plentiful in rivers, and pork and truffles are world class.

The Norcinerie

Norcia is famous for its food stores, especially the pork butcher (norcinerie), after centuries of traditional practices, dating from the Middle Ages, killing and slaughtering pigs. pork products for sale include ham (prosciutto), bacon (bacon) and a number of salamis and sausages.

The interiors of the shops are amazing - look stuffed boar's head, the guys hanging prosciutti racks, sausage, cheese and piles of smelly. Upstairs are bags of local legumes, including black-eyed peas and white beans cannelloni. If you want the best lenses, ask Castelluccio di Norcia lenticchia.

Any number of these tasty treats can be combined with a snack, when made on site with panini breads on offer. And since Norcia is a center for truffles, you can try dishes in many restaurants, or buy a small bottle of this treatment preserved in brine. The sauces delicious truffles can be used in a pasta sauce, when combined with anchovies, garlic and olive oil.

Churches and

Norcia is the birthplace of St. Benedict, who founded the Benedictine order of monks, and pride of the city buildings is the imposing Gothic church that bears his name. He fronts the central town of the same name. Because many earthquakes in the region, the church has only a portion of its original exterior facade remaining, but restoration has ensured that the love-shaped building cross, with its polygonal apse and beautiful Gothic portal, canned its splendid frescoes and paintings dating to the 16th and 17th centuries.

Under the church are the ruins reputation of the house where the saint was born. In the 14th century church of St. Augustine, you will find a fresco of the Virgin and Child. Another building dating from the Renaissance is the Castellina, once a fort, which now houses the Municipal Museum of the Diocese.

Natural beauty and rural

Norcia is surrounded by excellent walking trails through the green hills of Umbria. Start with a march from the nearby small town of Serravalle, after obtaining the meaning of rural life in Italy through the alleys of this picturesque village. In spring, the meadows of the plain of Castelluccio has a mass of colorful flowers in bloom.

At the Parco Nazionale Monti Sibillini, near the village of Visso, walking track winds through the woods of the Apennines as you board the Valle di Visso, then down into the valley of Preci. Another popular walk leads to one of the highlands of Europe, the Grand Piano, with its surrounding mountains, such as the Monte Vettore 2400m. For centuries, the fields have been used by farmers to cultivate the special Castelluccio lentils sold in specialty food stores from Norcia.

A visit to the east of Umbria is an experience that will not soon be forgotten. Whether you are looking for saints, Salamis or preserved wilderness, you will not be disappointed.