The owner and winemaker, Paolo Montioni, and his wife met us upon our arrival with warm welcomes…read moreand gave us a quick tour of their olive harvesting and olive oil production. We lucked out to be here during their olive oil season. We then started a private wine tasting with Paolo to taste 5 of his wines and 2 olive oils on toasted breads (bruschetta). It was only €10! He was such a great host! Nothing beats having the owner and winemaker lead these wine tastings. It was informal and fun. He even made lunch reservations for us at a nearby restaurant. And lunch at the restaurant he booked us in was fantastic too! We all loved his wines and ended up ordering 6 cases to be shipped home.

We visited Montioni Frantoio e Cantina with family members on our last pre-COVID trip to Italy…read more Here we enjoyed a fabulous food and wine tasting -- our pranzo (mid-day meal that day). Paolo Montioni is an excellent host! Their Umbrian wines and olive oils are excellent. I have also ordered wine by email from Montioni for delivery at home. The process was easy, invoiced and paid through PayPal, and shipped to my front door. As Paolo last wrote to me: "We are safe and we are working very hard ......the Nature is outstanding in this moment." We look forward to our next visit to Montefalco and Montioni!

I brought my pilgrimage group here after visiting Assisi for two days and it was such a welcomed…read moredining highlight for all of us. The olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and wine were superb, and so was the warm and local hospitality that was shown our group. I'll need to return the next time. I visit the Umbrian Valley.

We had booked a lunch and wine tasting for 4 people. What we received was so much more than that -…read moreit was a family welcoming with excellent service and food. First the service and wine tasting aspect. The woman guiding us gave such personality to her descriptions as she went. She was always referring to what Mama liked and wanted and didn't like and want. It gave great personality to the descriptions. She was also very knowledgeable about the wines and how they compared to other wines of the world. We expect that an upscale winery, what was not expected was how good the quality of the food was for a lunch. Each wine brought a new course and with each one our foursome was even more impressed. The chef here could go it alone as a restaurant even without the wine sampling. Then, as we were waiting our final course and wine, who should show up at the table to great us but Mama herself. A charming woman who also knows her wine. We were the last table to empty from the lunch offering and went through the building to our car. Sitting there as we left was the entire team sitting down for a glass of wine and a lunch for themselves. What a perfect place.

Arnaldo-Caprai, the home (birthplace?) of Sagrantino wine, was our second stop on our day of wine…read moretasting. We ran over at the first winery, and Arnaldo-Caprai was very understanding and gave us a warm welcome even though we were over an hour late. The winery is on a large and sprawling estate with a spacious wine tasting room. Our tour was approximately 30 minutes long - we visited the various areas of the winery where they ferment the grapes, bottle the wine and also wandered a little bit into the vineyards. Our wine tour ended with wine tasting in a private tasting room and lunch. The lunch was the perfect lunch to accompany the wines - it was a light lunch of salumni, cheese, bruschetta, panzanella and grilled vegetables. We tasted four wines, including an extra taste of a sparkling wine that Arnaldo-Caprai makes. The Rosso Riserva that we tasted was the universal favorite amongst the group, and we bought a fair amount of wine to enjoy both while in Italy and to have shipped back to the U.S. The wine was all very reasonably priced.

We were in Assisi for our daughter's wedding and had a free day. We somehow found this business…read more through the internet. I emailed to find out if they had bikes available, and received a prompt, positive reply from the owner, Petra (who speaks great English). They offered to deliver the bikes to our hotel, but we were driving around so decided to go to them. Petra and her husband Paolo could not have been more helpful, kind and patient with us. We decided on their suggestion to rent E-bikes, which were very fun and extended our range a great distance. They gave us written directions for two long rides, which were very clear and detailed. Paolo came to our hotel to retrieve the bikes. These are very knowledgable and honest people. I cannot recommend them highly enough

If going, I highly recommend Lucianna Umbria Tours. Ask for Lucianna or Roberta. Roberta was an…read moreexcellent guide and genuinely a nice person. And she knows everyone in Orvieto. 2day tour was fantastic with her.

The previous post was for st Patrick's well. Clearly not for the underground tour which is…read moresomething completely different and starts near the Duomo. Don't confuse the two or else you will miss seeing a few of the 1200 underground caves that date back to 2nd century BC. My husband and I really wanted to see the tour and I found out online that there was a 6 pm tour. Online it failed to mention that it as only in Italian. Not a deal breaker for me, even though I don't speak 2 words of Italian. Low and behold the tour guide spoke English and thankfully did the entire tour in both English and Italian. There was so many interesting tid bits that it was a good thing that she spoke English for us. My husband and I were very impressed and we would recommend the tour for sure. Even though it was dark outside, the caves are well lit.