Umbria: along Via Francigena from Monteluco to Marmore Falls

Spoleto can be considered a good starting point from where to explore the plenty of beautiful places all around.

In the morning, our destination is Monteluco: the name is composed of Mount +  Latin word lucus that stands for Sacred Woods for Jupiter to witness the religious importance of  this place since ancient times. At the entrance of this wood you can find an inscription that is a typical example of wood standards to prevent desecration of holy sites.

Here you can find an ancient monastery that has been handed down from different orders of monks. At the beginning of the XIII century, Saint Franciscus estabilished the Chapel of Santa Caterina. 

This destination is very nice for picnicking and for doing a nice walk in the wood of evergreen holm oaks that is so atypical of places far from the seaside. By walking you can meet also a lot of hermitages and caves, among which the one of Saint Antonio from Padova. 

From the side of the wood and the monastery you can admire the whole valley that Saint Franciscus remembered as a mosaic of cultivalted Spoleto fields "Nil Iucundus vidi valle mea spoletana".

There are some bars and a very wide lawn on which to lay down to observe the blue sky and, why not, eat something! Italy is known all over the world and wherever you go, you will be offered "Anything to eat?!"

BRUSCHETTA 

It's something really very simple. Bread in this part of the region is unsalted because it is said that under the Pope, salt had to be bought directly from the Church even if it was much more expensive. Citizens were forbidden to go on buying salt from their habitual supplier and so they decided to stop using it and the tradition is still preserved.  

Going southwards, from Spoleto you can find a little village called Strettura where a special bread is produced using the crystal clear water of the near springs and cooked in bricked ovens fueled by scented wood of the Mediterranean area.  The result? A very long shaped loaf of bread...deliciuos.

Ingredients:

Some slices of bread;

Garlic;

Extra virgin oil.

Cut the bread in slices and toast them on the fire. Rub a clove of garlic on the surface, add oil and if you cannot do without it, some salt.

Otherwise you can dice some tomatoes and season them with oil, salt and oregano. Pour them with a little bit of the sauce on the toasted slice of bread.

The next stop is the southern part of the region, we want to reach the Marmore Falls and it would be nice to follow the Via Francigena* that is very well signalized. Otherwise you can go by car and admire landscape always beautiful and relaxing. I think that one of the deepest feeling that these natural spots convey to me is peace and serenity... the green hills that silhoutte themselves against a blue sky is something so ... enchanting!!!
By the main road you can admire little towns perched on the hills, a river flowing nearby...
There are a lot of beautiful spots with Medieval characteristics to stop by: the ancient abandoned Umbriano that can be reached walking through the wood; Scheggino with its medieval church or Ferentillo with its Museum of mummies, that were discovered in the crypt of the ancient church. The last one is in the district of Terni, in the so called Valnerina, that is the valley of the Nera river that divides the town in two parts. This river originates from Sibillini Mountains and crosses this part of the region to flow in the Tevere, by Orte.
This area is really very green and naturalistic and here you can find also associations that can let you discover the beauties of nature from another point of view: from the water. 
We reach Marmore and the Marmore Falls: a men-made water fall created by the Romans that appear like a roaming water column distributed on 3 drops in a 165 meters high game. It has been considered one of the greatest phaenomena of nature and it has attracted a lot of intellectuals along the routes of their Grand Tour in the past centuries and streams of tourists nowadays. The right time to get here is when the falls are opened in order to attend to the release of the water. For further information, have a look at their home site: http://www.marmorefalls.it/indexen_GB.php

*This is a part of the ancient path that from Perugia takes you to the Piediluco lake passing by Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Trevi, Ferentillo and Arrone.