Last night, I returned from a week-long trip to two very different but both equally as amazing places in Italy. It was a long and exhausting week but definitely worth the many hours I spent on the bus to get there and back.
First stop: Perugia!
Perugia is the capital city of the Umbria region, located right in the middle of the country. The city is also home to a relatively large university, so although it had quieted down for the summer session when I visited, during the school year the place is flooded with college students from all over Italy and the world. Bonus: the hotel, the Brufani Palazzo was absolutely beautiful.
We arrived early evening on Monday, just in time to drop off our bags at the hotel and find a restaurant and sports bar to watch the Italy vs. Belgium soccer game (we won!!). We stumbled into an underground restaurant with ivy covering the brick walls. The best part though was that they had beer towers, perfect for watching an Italian soccer match! We finished eating by the halfway point of the game and moved on to a real sports bar. It was packed to the brim with people standing in the street to watch through the doorway, but the ten of us managed to snag some spots inside by the bar. Locals had brought face paint to draw the colors of the Italian flag on their faces, and a few offered it up to my friends and me. It was so exciting being in an authentic Italian bar with locals from the town and watching with them - it made the experience feel so much more legitimate, especially when Italy won and everyone in the bar went wild, cheering, blowing horns, and clinking glasses.
The rest of the time in Perugia was a little more low-key during the last two days, but filled with beautiful sights. Umbria is known for having great truffles, so it was no surprise that we found an amazing shop that sold almost every truffle product imaginable. I ended up leaving with some truffle salts and sauces to bring home as gifts for my family. We also stopped at a little caffè each day to enjoy an early afternoon glass of prosecco.
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| Afternoon prosecco at Bottega del Vino |
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| Etruscan Arch (Arco Etrusco) in Perugia |
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| The best thing you can do in a small Italian city is wander - you're guaranteed to find something beautiful around every corner |
Restaurants
Because everyone knows that the food in Italy is to die for almost anywhere you go. Perugia certainly has no shortage of amazing restaurants, and we found a couple of the best ones (thanks TripAdvisor!)
Tuesday night at Al Mangiar Bene
You definitely need a map to find this place, or at least a good eye. I personally found this restaurant on TripAdvisor and after looking at the menu, knew that it would be the perfect place for a small group dinner. It's located on the Via della Luna which is actually a small side street off of one of the main streets. Everything is made in house or from local ingredients. I would highly recommend any of their pizzas (the crust was perfection) or the tagliatelle al tartufo, which is truffle pasta and absolutely amazing. Plus, the wine is only 7€ a liter.
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| Via della Luna, the small side street where Al Mangiar Bene is located |
Wednesday lunch and dinner at Bottega del Vino
We actually stumbled upon this place Wednesday for lunch and drinks because it has a very cute sign that can be spotted from the neighboring Piazza IV Novembre. It's a little pricier for drinks, at least from the perspective of a college student, but the food and atmosphere is to die for. We made a reservation for almost twenty people here to celebrate a friends birthday, and we took up almost three-quarters of the restaurant! The menu changes daily, offering a varying selection of three or four pastas (primi piatti) and meats (secondi piatti). Reservations are recommended because the place is tiny!
Nightlife
Go to Dempsey's to meet other Americans or English speakers, as well as the locals that hang around during the summer. We were told by an owner at another bar that this is the place to go during the off-season, as the clubs tend not to be as fun.
Porto San Giorgio
Come Thursday it was time to head to the beach. After a short pit-stop in Osimo for lunch, we arrived in Porto San Giorgio around 5:00 to the Hotel Gabbiano. This happened to be my second trip to the small beach town, and it was just as cute as I remembered it. We were also pretty much the only Americans in the town, and we were asked by many of the restaurant and bar owners how we knew of the place.
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| Early mornings at the beach chalet Quadrifoglio |
We headed straight to the beach for a couple of hours before dinner even though the sun was going down. The twenty of us then enjoyed another large group dinner at the chalet restaurant owned by our hotel, called Quadrifoglio. The restaurant is highly rated and offers an extensive menu ranging from pizzas, pastas, and seafood. Try the seafood risotto and fried calamari here.
Unsurprisingly, the days in Porto were entirely spent lounging on the beach and working on my tan. With a glass of prosecco in hand, of course.
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| Enjoying the sunset after a long day of laying out |
Nightlife
Although Porto San Giorgio is as relaxed as any beach town during the day, the nights here can liven up very quickly once 11:00 rolls around. Head to almost any chalet along the beach and you'll find a great place to sip some drinks and let loose. Here are my favorites:
Calypso: often has live music and gets more lively after about midnight. Drinks are average price and the bartenders make great cocktails.
Betty Boop: the owner is from Cuba and makes the best mojitos I have ever had. This place tends to be packed, but most people are sitting around sipping their drinks rather than dancing.
There is one other chalet that I seem to end up at every night between Betty Boop and Quadrifoglio, but in the two summers that I've visited I have never figured it out. You'll just have to go visit and try all of the beach bars for yourself ;)
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| Cheers! Until next time, Porto San Giorgio |
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