Tulips, water and bicycles: welcome to Umbria

Just across the border with Tuscany I dive into Umbria. Where a large lake, a cycle path and flower bulb cultivation give the region an unannounced Dutch touch. I came for the wine but returned a fan of all that this part of Italy has to offer.

Well City Hopper. The name says it all. So the fact that the route from Florence to Pisa is being diverted is perhaps not surprising. Wind from the wrong direction makes the KLM crew decide to hop to another city on the advice of the airspace bosses. Even further north from our final destination. 

To wait

Then, hassle with luggage. The fact that I choose to travel with only hand luggage does not help. We are waiting for everyone. It is now 2 hours later. A later flight from Copenhagen with the same issue is allowed. Even more hassle: dissatisfied travelers. And whether we want to stop all arriving passengers and keep them waiting. Because the local control lady has to take the SAS passengers to the bus. Meh, not necessarily. Keep calm, breathe. As an experienced traveler that should work.

Green in many shades

Finally on the way. The first thing I always do after arriving in another country is look outside, searching until I spot the first vineyard. In this case, this takes a maximum of 5 minutes. A small neglected field with some messy old sticks. More will follow soon, home gardens kitchen vineyards for personal use. The country is remarkably much greener, moister and cooler than last year when I was in Italy around the same time. Back in Florence we transfer to a smaller bus towards it Lake Trasimeno. 

A tunnel-rich route through green hills. A valley, some industry, but above all green in many shades. And from rolling smooth to rough wooded. The good courage slowly rises from my shoes. I'm looking forward to it (again)!

The most beautiful villages in Italy

Just for context: 'we' consists of an international group of wine journalists who are on their way to the Trasimeno Rosé Festival, held during the annual Festa del Tulipano. The latter requires explanation. I get it, hold your credit. Read you later.

The road follows a railway line that alternates between left and right parallel to the road. Closer to Trasimeno it becomes flatter, the mountains shift into the background. Sweeter. After masses of natural beauty we approach the built-up area.

In the distance, on a small hill, our destination: Castiglione del Lago, a medieval hamlet on a peninsula in the lake. It is not for nothing that it is one of the 250 most beautiful villages in Italy – most beautiful villages in Italy. Beautiful, petite, atmospheric. As soon as you get out, look around and breathe the air you know: I'm home. This is Italy. 

Carp with red wine

Lake Trasimeno is the 4th largest lake in Italy, Como is slightly larger - for comparison. Despite this, it is a shallow lake, averaging between 5 and 6 meters. The circumference measures about 60 kilometers and you can cycle around it very well in Dutch.

Lago di Trasimeno is caught between the Tuscan hills and a mountain range, and has a climate with relatively high rainfall and lower temperatures on average. Believe me, that can be very pleasant in Italy.

In the lake you will find 3 islands, 30 people live on the largest, nobody on the smallest. And it's full of fish. Carp, pike and tench - the latter a carp species unknown to me that appears to do well in slow-moving or still waters with relatively little oxygen. Common carp regularly appear on the Italian plate in this area and are said to taste good with the local red (!) wine. 

The bulb region of Italy

An environment that also appears to be favorable for tulip cultivation, Dutch tourists discovered in the 70s. About 50 years ago, a central Italian flower bulb region arose in this unexpected place. Because it is ultimately about the bulbs that are exported. Not for the flowers.

A real tulip culture has emerged around Castiglione that takes over elements from the Dutch bulb region, where I grew up entirely by coincidence. For example, there is a ten-day tulip festival every year, a charming miniature version of the Flower Parade that chugs from Noordwijk to Haarlem every year.

In Castiglione they only do that within the walls of the village. An event that connects residents, strengthens social cohesion. With lots of music, communal meals and 4 themed floats decorated with only the petals of tulips. More would not fit within the walls of the hamlet. But together they turn something small into something big and valuable.

Wine and art

While the spectacle passes by our window, I taste the rosés and red wines of the region with my tour group: Trasimeno DOC. A consortium founded in 1997 of 16 winemakers that is committed to the quality and promotion of the wine regions around the lake.

The DOC covers the municipalities of Castiglione del Lago, Magione, Paciano, Panicale, Passignano sul Trasimeno and Tuoro sul Trasimeno. But Città della Pieve, Corciano, Perugia and Piegaro are also part of this.

Little one side note: the town Perugia is a must when visiting the area. We visited an exhibition of paintings by Perugino, nickname of Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci. Born around 1450 near Perugia, this Italian Renaissance painter was pioneering and influenced many artists after him. His famous religious works, with a very progressive spatiality for that time, are currently hanging all over the world, but can be viewed together in one place for a short time. Beautiful. 

Weird grape

Where was I? Rose! The DOC produces a relatively large number of them, in various styles. From classic tough and sturdy to modern light and fresh. The great thing is, both are above average and interesting. The grape varieties used also vary in a mix of local and international: sangiovese, pinot nero, ciliegolo, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and gamay di Trasimeno. Now it gets interesting.

Gamay di Trasimeno is not gamay as we know it in Beaujolais (in full: gamay noir à jus blanc). Research shows that the Trasimene gamay is actually grenache. In other words: garnacha, tai rosso, cannonau, alicante, bordo, granaccia - all names for the same grape.

There are 2 theories about how it ended up in Umbria.

• The first: during a temporary period of peace under Spanish rule in the 16th century, Duchess Eleonora Mendoza took the grape (garnacha) with her as a dowry. In 1610 she married the Italian Fulvio Alessandro della Corgna, the last lord of Castiglione del Lago.
• Theory 2: by Sardinian shepherds who settled on the shores of Lake Trasimeno in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They arrived with cattle and all by boat via the Tuscan Maremma and the Val d'Orcia and took the grape plant (cannonau) with them.

The truth? Nessuna idea.

Fascinating wine region: Trasimeno DOC

All the red wines we taste today are made from this grape. Fascinating to experience that it makes a lot of difference where the producer's vineyard is located. One red wine comes from the east side of the lake and can be read as: 'warm red fruit, spicy, black pepper, power' and another, from the south side of the lake, as: 'russet, classic, licorice, wood , reminiscent of Sicilian red'.

The vineyards around Trasimeno each have their own microclimate and each winemaker has his or her own approach. One has flat vineyards behind a forest, the other on a hillside near another, smaller lake that lies just across the border with Tuscany. All in all, this makes the region a fascinating, varied wine region that is worth exploring.    

The road to Montepulciano

After a tasty evening with some winemakers and the organizers of the tulip festival, during which we carefully taste all the rosés, the trip is almost over. Like every morning, I wake up earlier than the rest of the tour group and walk from the atmospheric B&B into the town for the last time.

The sunlight rises over the lake and playfully strokes the old walls, squeezes between the narrow streets. Turns a leaf-blowing street sweeper into a visual spectacle and provides comfort to the market vendor who customarily installs his stall with olives.

I take one last look into the distance, where I scan a dead straight road from a high point between the framework of the smallest Ferris wheel I've ever seen. It is the road to Montepulciano, the famous wine village in Tuscany. As if it proverbially points me in the direction: in that direction.

No. It is this corner of Umbria that stole my heart this time. Where festive tulips grow, where cycling around the lake sounds tempting and where the rosé flows freely. My heart, which, by the way, is very easy to steal anywhere in Italy. So competition is always lurking…