Luxury olive oil tasting holiday in Umbria
This 4-night olive oil tasting and discovery holiday features the olive oils, wine and local dishes of Umbria, and is based at the Villa di Monte Solare, a short drive from the university city of Perugia and set in hills of vines and olive groves affording panoramic views of Lake Trasimeno. The hotel produces its own olive oil from its 80 hectares of olive groves and nearby are vineyards and wine producers you can visit. Also included in this food and wine holiday is a cookery lesson with the chef at the hotel, where you learn the secrets of local Umbrian or Tuscan specialities. In your three full days here, in addition to the cookery lesson you enjoy an olive oil tasting and a wine tasting with the hotel’s sommelier. In the nearby city of Perugia you can visit the chocolate factory and museum of La Perugina.
Highlights
One olive oil tasting • One wine tasting with the hotel’s sommelier (selection of 3 wines) with Umbrian finger food • Entrance to the chocolate factory and museum of ‘La Perugina’ • One hands-on cookery lesson • One three-course dinner
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 4 nights.
From about
£1,650
Holiday Code FHIT21
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury olive oil tasting holiday in Umbria
Depart from London Heathrow on a British Airways flight to Rome Fiumicino. (Select the flight time, or route if you want to fly from a UK regional airport). You collect your hire-car and then head north to Umbria, criss-crossing the River Tiber and then passing the cathedral town of Orvieto, perched on a rocky outcrop before climbing through the hills above Lake Trasimeno where you find the romantic Villa di Monte Solare. The journey time is about two hours. Once you have checked in, there is time to explore the villa and its grounds. The Villa di Monte Solare is in the countryside near the village of Tavernelle di Panicale and a few miles south of Lake Trasimeno. Surrounded by undulating hills, woods, fields and olive groves, the Villa was the residence of a noble family and dates from the 18th century. Today it is a small hotel of just 25 rooms and combines a charm and cosiness with high standards of service and comfort. Rooms are situated in the main villa and in converted outbuildings such as the olive mill and the lemon house. Antique and traditional local furniture complete the picture of terracotta floors, murals and original fireplaces. Facilities at the hotel include two swimming pools for summer use, clay tennis court, spa (where treatments are based on rice, wild berries and argan oil) and cycle hire.
You have three days to enjoy learning about olive oil and tasting it here in Umbria. You can explore the olive groves of the estate and find out about the olive oil production here. You will have an olive oil tasting, a wine tasting and a hands-on cookery lesson during your stay. The cookery lesson will demonstrate the use of olive oil and local ingredients in quintessential Umbrian-Tuscan cuisine. A short drive of about 20 minutes takes you to the regional capital, Perugia, an historic university city and the chocolate factory where the ‘baci’ have been produced since 1922. Other nearby destinations worth a visit are Torgiano, also noted for its high-quality Umbrian red wine and the Lungarotti winery and wine museum. Umbria is renowned for its truffles too, so depending on the season of your visit here, truffle hunting may be possible too. In any case, truffles are in abundant supply in the delicatessen shops of the region, as are all manner of salami and sausages, also a regional speciality. You will find local pasta, flavoured with porcini mushrooms and truffles too. Your wine and food experiences can be interspersed with cultural sightseeing too as the nearby cities and towns of Perugia, Assisi, Todi and Spello all have noteworthy art and architecture. Whilst the style of the buildings appears more sombre than those in neighbouring Tuscany, the small towns such as Spello and Todi decorate the narrow streets and alleyways with potted plants and tubs of flowers.
A leisurely breakfast and then some free time before your drive back to Rome Fiumicino, depending on the departure time of your flight.
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 4 nights.
From about
£1,650
Holiday Code FHIT21
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
● Scheduled flights with British Airways London Heathrow to Rome return, economy
● Hire of a Group B car for the duration of your stay
● 4 nights’ bed and breakfast in a Classic double room at the Villa di Monte Solare, Umbria
● One 3-course dinner from the A la Carte menu in the hotel restaurant (drinks not included)
● One olive oil tasting at the Villa di Monte Solare
● One wine tasting with the hotel’s sommelier (selection of 3 wines)
● Entrance to the chocolate factory and museum of ‘La Perugina’
● One hands-on cookery lesson (3 hours with 4 course lunch with drinks included, an apron and recipe booklet). Themes of the lessons include famous Italian dishes, seasonal specialities and quintessential Umbria-Tuscan cuisine.
● Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
Call us on 01392 441245
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 4 nights.
From about
£1,650
Holiday Code FHIT21
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
• Scheduled flights with British Airways London Heathrow to Rome return, economy
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of your stay
• 4 nights’ bed and breakfast in a Classic double room at the Villa di Monte Solare, Umbria
• One 3-course dinner from the A la Carte menu in the hotel restaurant (drinks not included)
• One olive oil tasting at the Villa di Monte Solare
• One wine tasting with the hotel’s sommelier (selection of 3 wines)
• Entrance to the chocolate factory and museum of ‘La Perugina’
• One hands-on cookery lesson (3 hours with 4 course lunch with drinks included, an apron and recipe booklet). Themes of the lessons include famous Italian dishes, seasonal specialities and quintessential Umbria-Tuscan cuisine.
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
The journey and how you get there There are scheduled flights with British Airways from London Heathrow to Rome Fiumicino several times a day. The drive from Rome airport to the hotel is about 2 hours. We can also book you on other airlines that might have departures from UK regional airports.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury olive oil tasting holiday in Umbria
Special offers
Call to make your booking and save an extra £50 per adult Call us instead of emailing us when you are thinking of booking a holiday and save an extra £50 per adult (in addition to any special offers that might be available). We want to talk to you to discuss your requirements and a phone call is usually the best way for you to define what you want enabling us to respond more accurately. We want to talk to you and you save an extra £50 per adult.
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Sample prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 4 nights.
From about
£1,650
Holiday Code FHIT21
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
• Scheduled flights with British Airways London Heathrow to Rome return, economy
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of your stay
• 4 nights’ bed and breakfast in a Classic double room at the Villa di Monte Solare, Umbria
• One 3-course dinner from the A la Carte menu in the hotel restaurant (drinks not included)
• One olive oil tasting at the Villa di Monte Solare
• One wine tasting with the hotel’s sommelier (selection of 3 wines)
• Entrance to the chocolate factory and museum of ‘La Perugina’
• One hands-on cookery lesson (3 hours with 4 course lunch with drinks included, an apron and recipe booklet). Themes of the lessons include famous Italian dishes, seasonal specialities and quintessential Umbria-Tuscan cuisine.
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
The journey and how you get there There are scheduled flights with British Airways from London Heathrow to Rome Fiumicino several times a day. The drive from Rome airport to the hotel is about 2 hours. We can also book you on other airlines that might have departures from UK regional airports.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury olive oil tasting holiday in Umbria
About Umbria
An Expressions tailor-made holiday to Umbria offers the chance to explore a lesser-known rural area of Italy. Umbria is a gentle, undulating land of hills, river valleys, a patchwork of fields, vines and olives similar in many ways to her better-known neighbour, Tuscany, yet in other ways so very different. Umbria evokes a deeper rusticity, a less ‘polished' feel than Tuscany, the secrecy and mysticism of the Middle Ages and yet because of this holds a charm and fascination for the visitor. The hill towns are superb in their own right; steep, narrow cobbled streets with overhanging arches, the grey stone enlivened here and there by pots of geraniums. Ancient crafts remain very much alive, with ceramics and woodwork in particular. Umbria abounds in Roman architecture with Gubbio and Spoleto being noteworthy and there are Etruscan remains too. The food is hearty and earthy too with truffles and porcini, sausages and salami being regional specialities. Yet Umbria also has some of the most important religious sites in Europe, such as the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi and throughout the region are to be discovered outstanding works of art by Perugino, Giotto, Pinturicchio and Gozzoli. Umbria is an intriguing region that awaits further discovery.
Highlights of Umbria
Shop for ceramics in Gubbio, truffles and cooked meats from Norcia. Dramatic landscapes of the Monte Sibillini and one of Europe's highest waterfalls called the Cascate delle Marmore near Terni. One of Italy's beauty spots is the Fonti del Clitunno south of Trevi. See carpentry and woodworking in Todi. Visit the wine museum in Torgiano. Forests of holm oak near Spoleto. Antique fair in April and a national craft fair in August and September in Todi.
Cultural highlights of Umbria
A mixture of religious and secular art and architecture makes Umbria fascinating. The cities of Perugia and Assisi are great centres but the smaller towns of Gubbio, Todi, Spoleto and Spello are also of outstanding interest. Highlights of the region include the Fontana Maggiore in the Piazza IV Novembre in Perugia. Perugia`s Galleria Nazionale containing works by Perugino and Pinturicchio. Gattapone`s Palazzo dei Consoli in Gubbio and his Ponte delle Torri in Spoleto. The `Adoration of the Magi` by Perugino in the church of the Madonna della Lacrime in Trevi. Frescoes by Matteo da Gualdo in the Pinacoteca of Gualdo Tadino. `San Sebastiano` by Luca Signorelli in the Pinacoteca at Citta di Castello. Frescoes by Giotto and Lorenzetti in the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi.
Festivals in Umbria
Perugia has a jazz festival in the summer and the Sagra Musicale music festival held in its churches in September. Orvieto holds concerts in August and has a firework display on the 15th. Spoleto`s Festival of the Two Worlds, a world-class cultural event, takes place June and July. Spello holds its Infiorata in June when the streets are decked with flowers. Foligno holds jousting in September during its Giostra della Quintane.
Gastronomy in Umbria
Umbria's gastronomy is very much a product of its earth and waters: Mushrooms and truffles flavour many dishes, Game and wild boar, Trevi produces black celery, olive oil and black truffles, Pecorino cheese from Torgiano, Todi offers Panzanella, dried bread soaked and marinated in sliced tomato, basil, onion and olive oil, Sweet macheroni with walnuts, Salami and sausages are a regional speciality, Trout from the rivers and perch from Lake Trasimeno, Strangozzi and Bici are local pasta, often flavoured with porcini and truffles. Umbria produces some high quality robust red wines near Torgiano (Rubesco produced by Lungarotti for example) and Orvieto is known for its white wine.
