Umbria - Small town must see

The Umbrian members of the Borghi Piu Belli are listed here (including Montefalco): https://borghipiubelliditalia.it/en/umbria/
Check additional references as sometimes the towns are pretty but depopulated.

Umbria is a wonderful region to visit, filled with beautiful small towns. In my opinion, Assisi is a must-see; please don't be put off by the number of visitors. Orvieto has a gorgeous cathedral and is a joy to wander. Spello is another lovely town in which to simply wander and take in the atmosphere. You have many other options in Umbria, which I am certain you will hear about on this forum. Buon viaggio!

Besides the ones suggested by the "Borghi D'Italia" I would consider Assisi, Orvieto, Gubbio among the top not only in Umbria, but in Italy. If they are the most visited it is because there is a reason.

Orvieto and Gubbio are a bit farther from you, if you stay in Spoleto, but several others in the above lists are within easy reach. I wouldn't miss a visit to Assisi, no matter how busy. Besides crowds in Assisi will never be like Rome or Florence or Venice.

We spent two wonderful weeks in Spello exploring nearby towns in Umbria. Favorites were Norcia, Bevagna, Montefalco, Perugia( city) and
Monte del Lago on Lake Trasimeno.

Spello, by all means. Check out Michelle Damiani’s book, Il Bel Centro. A Year in the Beautiful Center. The book is a collection of Ms Damiani’s blogs about her family’s year-long stay in this lovely little town.

Oh! Jealous!! Umbria is one of our favorite regions in Italy. Reminiscent of Tuscany, but we found the landscapes more beautiful. Gubbio was one of our favorites! An elevator takes you up to their main piazza. While we were there the men were practicing for in upcoming festival. Just wonderful!

Spello is wonderful for wandering. It also has the Villa dei Mosaici, an excellent museum built over the ruins of a Roman villa. If you go to Gubbio, ride the "bird cage" lift up to Basilica di Sant’Ubaldo. Incredible views from a casual cafe; there are walking paths to bring you back down to town (or you can ride the lift again!). I would not miss Assisi! Perugia is a much larger city but is also well worth a visit.

A couple of truly off-the-beaten-track towns that I enjoyed were:

• San Gemini (no, I didn't misspell San Gimignano, and it's in Tuscany anyway.) There are some extensive but unvisited Roman ruins just outside the town (Carsulae)
• Amelia - beautiful church and extensive old town with fairly intact walls. Very steep, which gives you great views, but can leave you puffing
• Bevagna - has some great medieval festivals during the year, check the schedule, but worth a walkabout anyway.

ON the beaten track is Todi, but it was my favourite, even over beautiful Spello. A little larger, with a spectacular piazza at the very top. Great restaurants.

Two years ago, during a month-long trip to Umbria, we stopped in San Gemini twice to eat at Osteria La Pecora Nera --- the opposite of fancy, with good food and a sign out in front saying that this was not the place to get fast food. We visited Carsulae, too, which was OK, and pleasantly devoid of other people, but large sections of it that we wanted to see were fenced off --- perhaps they have now completed whatever excavation or renovation they were doing.

We also enjoyed Amelia, where we went purely to photograph every sign that said "Amelia," because that's our granddaughter's name and we knew she'd get a kick out of it --- at age three at the time, her own name was all she knew how to read. Interesting town to walk around in, good food, seemed like a lot of English people lived there.

Gubbio was our favorite town to stay in --- be sure to go up the hill in the birdcage lift. Several good places to eat. It's quite out-of-the-way unless you have a car.

We were surprised to spend four nights in Orvieto after 20 years and find it still as wonderful as we remembered, but I should mention that we were in Umbria in the off-season --- I'm sure it does "team" a bit during tourist season. It had the best food in the most restaurants of any town or city we stayed in or visited while in Umbria.

I like Orvieto overall as a small town with an unusual number of sights to visit. The Cathedral is much larger than most small towns (because of the Corpus Christi miracle). The underground options are interesting. It's a good place to wander too.

Another vote for Orvieto. Fun to walk on the walls, the Cathedral is great and the underground tour was very interesting.