Macchie

Le Stalle is close to the traditional medieval village and frontier fortress of Macchie, just 1.5 kilometres away, Macchie boasts a well stocked general shop owned by the Filippi family. In addition to all the normal household necessities, the Filippi family produce their own meat produce such as prosciutto, lonza and salsicie (wild boar sausages).

The village, an old settlement of woodcutters and charcoal burners, still maintains its age-old traditions in cooking and food preservation. The village also has a local bar, the Arco Baleno, a 20 minute walk from Poggio le Stalle.

Amelia

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Amelia is a beautiful walled medieval town only 8 km from Macchie but sadly missed on many tourist itineraries. Reputedly the birthplace of Pontius Pilate, the walls of Amelia are said to be older than the walls of Rome and date back to 1700BC. Its original name, Ameria, was Doric for Hmeria (the day) which it is claimed bears testament to its archaic origins.

Amelia has several supermarkets, food shops, banks and cash machines. The staple foodstuffs are reminiscent of those stocked by expensive delicatessens outside of Italy.

In Amelia and nearby there are several restaurants offering typical Umbrian cuisine at reasonable prices, a destination restaurant and one offering a coeliac menu. Food is very important here. Italian life is centered around the piazza, or square, and table.

For wine lovers you can buy table wine directly from the vineyards of Amelia at less than two euros a litre as well as a wide selection of bottled wines. If this all sounds too exhausting then what better than a prosecco in the square of Amelia engaging in the age-old ritual of people watching.

The long spate of festas, sacras and festivals in this area, which run from late spring through to early autumn, are testimony to this. In an atmosphere of excitement, bursting with local pride, the residents of each town or village cook and serve al fresco their own specialties. These range from frogs’ legs and snails to hare and wild boar and the meals including wine are given at very low cost.

There is music and dancing too and in a relaxed fun atmosphere visitors can polka, foxtrot and tango the night away. Not to be missed are the historical re-enactments and pageants or ‘corteo storico’ run by the towns of Umbria at different times in summer. Here townspeople dress up in handmade medieval costumes and among other things parade through the town to the accompaniment of trumpets and drums.