AMELIA
, 11km northwest of Narni and plonked on top of a sugar-loaf hilltop, is by far the most tempting local excursion if the ruins don't appeal. Though not big on monuments, it's fairly interesting and unvisited, noted mainly for its extraordinary cyclopean walls, claimed as some of the oldest and mightiest in Italy. Supported by their own weight and comprising vast polygonal blocks up to seven metres across, they reach a height of over twenty metres in places and date back, according to early Roman historians, to the Umbrian settlement of the eleventh century BC. Most of the town's churches were ruined in the nineteenth century, and art's thin on the ground - San Giacomo's
double cloister
and a
tomb
by
Agostino di Duccio
are the only highlights - but Amelia's charm is the typically Umbrian mixture of good views, medieval streets and lovely countryside close at hand.
The
tourist office
is at Via Orvieto 1 (tel 0744.981.453
, info@iat.amelia.tr.it
). The local culinary speciality is a tooth-rotting combination of white figs, chocolate and crushed nuts (only available in winter), but for more substantial fare there are two good
restaurants
, both with rooms to rent:
Anita
, Via Roma 31 (tel 0744.982.146, fax 0744.983.079; L90,000-120,000/?46.48-61.98; restaurant closed Mon); and, just 1km north of town,
Le Colonne
, Via Roma 191 (tel 0744.983.529; L60,000-90,000/?30.99-46.48; restaurant closed Wed). For more elevated food, try the
Gabelletta
, Via Tuderete 20 (tel 0744.982.159; closed Mon), housed in an elegant villa 3.5km northeast, on the road to Montecastrilli.
The drive on to Orvieto along the backroads is a treat: plenty of oak forests and fine walks, and the chance to catch one of Umbria's Romanesque highlights, the twelfth-century church of
Santa Maria Assunata
at Lugnano in Teverina.
