umbria (italy)  Umbria is a compact region at the core of the peninsula, and it is known as the green heart of Italy. Its attractions include the art and architecture of its hill towns, Perugia, Assisi, Orvieto, Spoleto and Todi, among them, and the legends of its many saints, led by Francis of Assisi. But connoisseurs also know that nowhere in Italy are the pleasures of country cooking and local wines offered more graciously than in Umbria.

Umbria has long been renowned for white wine, thanks mainly to the historical prominence of Orvieto. But evidence is now irrefutable that the scenic hills of the "green heart of Italy" have an aptitude for a multitude of varieties, white and red, native and foreign. The region's two DOCG wines, Montefalco Sagrantino and Torgiano Rosso Riserva, are red.