Agriturismo Villa La Rogaia
Travel recommendations and tips for your holidays in Umbria and Tuscany, Italy
Would you like to get in the mood for a vacation at agritourism Villa La Rogaia in Umbria? Would you like to know more about the leisure and cultural activities at Lake Trasimeno, in Umbria and Tuscany ? We invite you to browse through our website. Here you will find information about
- Umbria and Tuscany, cultural events, festivals, leisure activities and sports around Lake Trasimeno
- Towns in our vicinity such as Assisi, Perugia, Arezzo, Siena and Cortona
- Walking and hiking by foot and mountain biking in Umbria and Tuscany
- Gourmet travels in Umbria and Tuscany and everything about excellent food, wine and Italian recipies
- Wellness and relax at La Rogaia and the Tuscan thermal spas
We have only included some of our personal tips and recommendations which we do not claim to be complete. If you would like to know more about travelling in Umbria and Tuscany please check our link pages or travel guides. At the bottom of this page we have listed a few suggestions for books on Umbria, Tuscany and Italy. And in case you run short of reading material during your stay at La Rogaia: We are happy to help you out from our collection of travel guides, novels, art and children’s books.
These pages with tips for your vacation in Umbria and Tuscany are being updated regularly. Come back to see what’s new !
Umbria and Tuscany
Umbria is the green heart of Italy: dark green the woody slopes of the hills, light green the vineyards, silver green the olive groves. At the border to Tuscany this heart has a blue spot: the Trasimeno Lake, enclosed by endless rolling hills and picturesque little hill towns and villages. Less crowded than Tuscany to the West, Umbria still is a refuge for connoisseurs who seek for origial country holidays and half-hidden retreats still largely untroubled by visitors. But yet Umbria is everything else but sleepy. Many Umbrian and Tuscan villages offer art, culture, food and views of which many a European city would be proud. There is the spiritual world capitol Assisi, Perugia with its internationally renommated jazz festival and the innumerable festas and festivals in almost every little village throughout Umbria.
When getting to La Rogaia you will find information brochures, maps for hiking, time tables and event calendars in your holiday apartment.
Music Festivals in Umbria 2010
Classical music - Jazz - Blues - Theatre - Dance
The great events summer and fall 2010
June 26 to July 2, 2010
Trasimeno Music Festival
The festival is the brainchild of, and is produced by, the renown Canadian pianist, Angela Hewitt. The festival venues will be the Castle of the Knights of Malta in Magione, St. Peter’s Abbey in Perugia and St. Domenico’s Church in Gubbio. Talented artists of the highest international calibre will follow one another on the various evocative stages. The festival is already ranked among the most important “quality festivals”, as a “little big festival”, by both the press and the public, both Italian and international. Its fame increases with each edition and its greatest satisfaction has been the international public which returns year after year to enjoy extraordinary music in an extraordinary setting. This year will see chamber concerts with Angela Hewitt (piano), Peter Wispelwey (violoncello), Ilona Domnich (soprano) and the chamber orchestra of Mantova. Program and tickets at www.trasimenomusicfestival.com and www.angelahewitt.com
June 18 to July 4, 2010
Festival dei Due Mondi
Widely reknown theatre, dance and music festival at Spoleto. Extraordinary performances by international artists with the medieval town of Spoleto as stage set.
Highlights 2010:
Robert Wilson puts on stage Shakespeare’s sonetts – The Hamburg Ballet with John Neumeier – An Opera by Hans Werner Henze
July 9 to 18, 2010
Umbria Jazz Festival at Perugia: Jazz stars from all over the world and free open air concerts in the city. For program and tickets visit www.umbriajazz.com
July 21 to August 1, 2010
Trasimeno Blues (July and August): Blues open air concerts in the towns around Lake Trasimeno
Trasimeno Lake and the rolling hills that surround her are imbued with a joyous and evocative spirit when, in the last ten days of July and the first few days of August, the Trasimeno Blues Festival comes to town, one of the most important festivals of its genre in Italy. Its venues cover the map and Trasimeno Blues goes to most of the villages and towns that make up the Trasimeno area, from the old town centres to the characteristic parks. For twelve days twenty stages offer more than thirty concerts from dusk to dawn, almost all of them free. Alongside the music there are exhibitions, musical dinners and music labs. It is a musical journey into the green heart of Italy where over the years such important Italian and international musicians such as Johnny Winter, Jack Bruce & Robin Tower, Maceo Parker, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Sugar Blue, Brian Auger, Alex Britti, Ana Popovic, Cheryl Porter, Shemekia Copeland, Eugenio Finardi, Gegé Telesforo, Fairport Convention, The James Taylor Quartet, Carl Palmer, Them, Ten Years After, Charlie Musselwhite, Treves Blues Band and so many other. For more info please visit www.trasimenoblues.net
August 8 to 12, 2010
Tuscan Sun Festival at Cortona. Festival for classical music with international stars (in former years: Lang Lang, Anna Netrebko, Pinchas Zukerman etc.). Reserve tickets at www.tuscansunfestival.com
July 1 to August 31, 2010
Festival Giovani Artisti in our village Castel Rigone (every year in August): Classical concerts on the romantic little Piazza San Francesco
The 13th edition of the International Young Musicians Festival will take place in Castel Rigone this year, with a wonderful programme of quality performances. Started in 1997 by its Artistic Director Prof. Giorgio Porzi and organised by Prof. Beniamino Giommini and Anne Markoff, it was an immediate success. The aim of the festival is to showcase young and talented musicians, winners of great international competitions, in Castel Rigone in front of a sophisticated audience. The monumental and scenic beauty of the village, and the warm summer air, together conspire to make this an annual appointment not to be missed. The acoustics of Piazzetta S. Agostino, where the concerts are held, is soft and velvety and was obtained via complicated phono-metric calculations. It is the result of ancient construction know-how which sews the walls with an age old technique known as “a faccia vista”, which refines the sounds and then concentrically sends them back with all of their natural qualities.
End of July, early August 2010
Preggio Music Festival (July and August): Classical music performed by musicians from England, Holland, Italy and Germany, some of world class level.
September 3 to 6, 2010
" Figuratevi " International puppet theatre festival at Perugia
September 4 to 6, 2010
" Le vie della fantasia " International street theatre festival at Orvieto
September 12 to 25, 2010
" Sagra Musicale Umbra ": Festival of sacred music at Perugia and surroundings
July 1 to September 30, 2010
Musica Insieme Panicale: This is a musical event featuring ancient, classical, contemporary and avant-garde music performed by well-known Italian and international musicians.
The musicians perform both masterpieces and less-known works of the world's great composers. The concerts a free for anyone under the age of 18, to encourage these young people to get to know this kind of music.
Sagre : Folk festivals in Umbria
Every village in Umbria celebrates a folk festival at least once a year, with music, dance, theatre and above all homemade food.
April 14 to 18, 2010
Festa del Tulipano at Citta della Pieve: Tulip festival with flower processions, processions in historical costumes
June 12 and 13, 2010
Giostra della Quintana at Foligno: Medieval horse games
June 19 to 28, 2010
Mercato delle Gaite at Bevagna: Medieval town and market life, great food cooked following ancient recipes. According to us the most beautiful of all historical reevocation festas.
June 26 anmd 27, 2010
Le Infiorate: Flower festivals in June ( around Corpus Domini):
Many Umbrian villages cover their streets with lush flower carpets once a year for the Corpus Domini processions. The most famous “Infiorate” are at Spello, Citta della Pieve, Ficulle, Orvieto und Montegabbiano statt. For exact dates please ask us or at the tourist information offices. We suggest to get there early to see the art works in the fresh morning air (between 7 and 9 am)
July 19 to 25, 2010
Palio delle Barche at Passignano (last weekend in July). Historical boat race sches Boots- und Laufrennen
July 31 to August 1, 2010
Festa dei Barbari at Castel Rigone Historical procession, tornaments and market commemorating the founding of Castel Rigone around 500 AD by the Ostrogoth Arigo
August 12 to 22, 2010
Palio dei Terzieri at Città della Pieve: Historical Town festival with procession in renaissance costumes, archery competition.
October 15 to 17, 2010
Sagra delle Castagne (chestnut festival) at Preggio (every year 3rd weekend of October). The villagers prepare their home specialities, such as pasta with game, fried mushrooms or chestnut tarts. You can enjoy these together with must and new wine.
More information about the sagre you can get from us during your stay or from the tourist information centres.
Sports and leisure activities
Our suggestions for hiking by foot or mountain biking you can find here: hiking and mountain biking
Information about water sports at Trasimeno Lake you can find here: Trasimeno Lake
Horseback riding
Would you like to discover Umbria from horseback? There are several riding schools in our vicinity:
Poggio del Belveduto between Castel Rigone and Passignano organizes cross country riding in the hills above Lake Trasimeno and archery.
Circolo Ippico di Valvasone at Magione offers pony-riding for children and cross country riding. The daughter of the friendly family enterprise just became national champion in endurance horse riding.
Golf
Golf Club Lamborghini at Panicale: 9-holes-golf course of the legendary car producer Lamborghini; golf school.
Paragliding
Monte Subasio above Assisi and Monte Cucco close to Gubbio are a paradise for the silent knights of the air.
River rafting and canoeing
On the rivers Nera and Corno (close to Norcia) or at the Marmora waterfalls you can discover unspoilt nature from a raft, canoe or kayak.
Star watching
For all hobby astronomers: the clear nights at La Rogaia allow fascinating views of the starry sky above ...
Reading suggestions around Umbria, Tuscany and Italy:
- Reid Bramblett: Tuscany & Umbria. Frommer’s. Hungry Minds, New York 2002
- James Lasdun and Pia Davis: Walking and Eating in Tuscany and Umbria. Penguin, London 1997
- Penelope Hobhouse: Gardens of Italy. Octopus, London 1998
Travel literature:
- D.H. Lawrence: Twilight in Italy
- D.H. Lawrence: Etruscan Places. Secker, London 1932
Novels:
- Barry Unsworth: After Hannibal. Hamilton Ltd., London 1996
- Frances Mayes: Bella Tuscany. The Sweet Life in Italy. Broadway Books, 1998
- Michael Ondaatje: The English Patient. Knopf, New York 1992 (The novel partly takes place in the surroundings of Arezzo)
Enjoy your reading!