Umbria, Italy

In our mission to avoid the crowds we arrived at a camping ground 4 km outside of a tiny village called Costacciaro. This village is on the eastern side of Umbria near the Monte Cucco National Park and is about a 20 min drive from Gubbio. We were the only people here, in fact we were not sure the place was even open. We decided to set camp as we had driven the 450km from Switzerland and had no intentions of going another meter. We have now been here for 4 nights. It is a beautiful campground and since our first night a few other tourists have turned up.

The Monte Cucco National Park is fantastic, apparently the home to wolves and wild boars. Part of the Apennines, Monte Cucco is 1500 m and the snow has just gone. We have done several walks and not seen another person. The wildflowers are superb, better than I have ever seen with an enormous variety. Wild jonquils, cyclamens, pansies, primrose, violets, daisies, buttercups, and a hundred others I don’t recognise. We have also been fossil hunting on the mountain with some success.

Walking around Mt Cucco

Looking for our campsite

Yesterday we did the Hermits tour walking between an Abbey and a Monastery and then driving to 2 other abbeys. This area is famous for it monastic traditions. All these buildings were built around 900’s and have been restored numerous times since. These are the 4 we visited.

Look carefully to see the abbey here.

My favourite Italian road sign. What do you imagine they want you to do, drive faster to avoid collapsing road or all breath in??

My first European snake.