There’s a small town in the very centre of Italy, perched on the top of a rocky hill and overlooked by a great 14th-century fortress. It has splendid views, well-preserved medieval houses, cobbled streets, and a historic past; and although it provided the name for a series of best-selling fantasy novels, several television programmes, and a film trilogy, it has relatively few tourists.
Umbria, as you no doubt know, is studded with picturesque hill towns, and a few of them are particularly, and rightly, celebrated. Assisi, for example, contains the great, art-filled basilica named for its native son,
