The Green Heart of Italy Is Calling

Nicole Skorka — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 23:09:11 GMT

In the 800th anniversary year of St. Francis of Assisi, Umbria has never mattered more.

Growing up in the Catholic faith, my early life was first influenced by the Franciscans through my first grade teacher, Sister Renata. Later, as an adult running a digital marketing agency, I had the privilege of working with the Capuchin Franciscans as clients. Two chapters of my life, decades apart, shaped by the same spiritual tradition. It is probably no coincidence that Umbria, the birthplace of that tradition, has been on my list ever since. This year, there has never been a better reason to finally go.

Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed 2026 a special Jubilee Year, from January 10, 2026 to January 10, 2027, marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. For the first time in centuries, his mortal remains were placed on public display at the Basilica in Assisi, drawing pilgrims from around the world. Italy restored October 4 as a national civil holiday in his honor. The world, it seems, is remembering why St. Francis matters.

Umbria sits at the center of the Italian peninsula, landlocked and largely overlooked by travelers who follow the well-worn path from Rome to Florence to Venice. The Italians call it il cuore verde d'Italia, the green heart of Italy. Rolling hills, medieval hill towns, forests of oak and chestnut, river valleys, and a quietness that Tuscany, its more famous neighbor, lost long ago. It is no surprise that the Order of the Sons and Daughters of Italy chose Umbria as its 2026 Region of Celebration. A region that rewards travelers who arrive with curiosity and leave the itinerary a little loose.

The Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi is the obvious beginning, and it earns every moment. The Giotto frescoes that line its walls helped define Western art. The crypt where St. Francis is buried is a place of genuine stillness. And the town itself rewards slow walking and unhurried hours.

But the real Umbria begins when you step off the main path.

Spello is covered in flowers. Every June the town lays elaborate floral tapestries for the feast of Corpus Christi, an infiorata that has continued for generations. Bevagna hosts a medieval market each summer that recreates 13th-century Umbrian life with such commitment it feels less like a festival and more like a portal. Norcia, in the eastern mountains, is the birthplace of St. Benedict, father of Western monasticism, where Benedictine monks have rebuilt their monastery after the 2016 earthquake and still brew their own beer. Orvieto sits dramatically on a volcanic plateau, its cathedral facade one of the most extraordinary in Italy, its underground Etruscan tunnels largely unexplored.

And then there is the table. Black truffles from Norcia and Spoleto, lentils from Castelluccio, hand-rolled pasta, pecorino from hill farms, olive oil that locals will tell you, with complete sincerity, is the finest in Italy. A meal in a family-run osteria in a village you had to look up on a map is not something any itinerary can fully prepare you for.

Umbria's depth goes beyond its landscapes and its table. This is the region that produced Sts. Francis and Clare of Assisi, St. Benedict of Nursia, and St. Valentine of Terni. For those drawn to faith, their stories are not distant history here. They are woven into prayers, the feast day celebrations, and the daily rhythms of a place that has never entirely separated the sacred from the ordinary. For those drawn to rich history and culture, the area tells a story of remarkable continuity, a region that has kept its identity across centuries of change.

If you are flying into Rome, consider beginning your journey there. The Capuchin Crypt beneath the Church of Santa Maria della Concezione is a sobering and strangely beautiful introduction to Franciscan Italy. And before you leave the city, order a cappuccino. The drink takes its name from the color of the Capuchin robe, itself inspired by the vestments of St. Francis. Every morning coffee in Italy is, in its quiet way, a small act of Franciscan heritage.

If you are ready to plan your next visit to Italy, this is the year to go to Umbria. I would love to help you plan a journey that goes beyond the postcard.

Your Family's Village Is Still There

Nicole Skorka — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 22:39:47 GMT

What heritage travel actually looks like, and why it's nothing like a typical vacation

My great-grandparents left Sicily in the early 1900s, like so many others, carrying almost nothing. What they left behind, they never spoke of much. A village name. A few surnames. The smell of something cooking that had no American equivalent. For years, I assumed that history was lost. Then I started researching my family's story for my dual citizenship application. After that, everything changed.

What began as a search for documents became something I hadn't expected: a journey into who my family actually was, where they lived, what they left behind, and why. I found myself reading century-old handwritten records, tracing surnames across comuni, finding distant cousins I didn't know, and feeling, for the first time, that Sicily was not just a place my ancestors came from. It was a place I could go back to, my ancestral home.

Heritage travel is not sightseeing. It is something closer to listening.It starts before you leave home. The most meaningful moments of a heritage journey are often the ones you prepare for. Before you book a single hotel, spend time reviewing whatever your family preserved: naturalization papers, old photographs, baptismal and marriage certificates, a surname that points to a region. Even approximate information, a comune, a province, a decade, is enough to work with.

Italian civil records go back to 1809 in most regions, and church records go back further still. Archives exist at the comune, diocesan, and state levels. There are also excellent Facebook genealogy groups for each region, with experts willing to fill gaps and share their knowledge. Many are skilled at navigating resources like FamilySearch and Antenati, Italy's free national digitized archive of historical civil and parish records, and at reading old, smudged documents in Latin. Francesco Curione of 007 Italian Records in Palermo has built a career on making those records accessible to families like yours. A heritage journey that includes even a single afternoon in an archive, watching a researcher pull a handwritten birth record with your family name, changes how you understand the rest of the trip.

The village is not a ruin. This is the part that surprises people most. They expect to find something faded or frozen in time. What they find instead is a living place: a bar on the piazza where the same family has served espresso for three generations, a church where Mass is still celebrated on the feast day of the patron saint your great-grandmother prayed to, a cemetery where the surnames on the headstones match the ones in your family tree. People still live there. They still cook the dishes. They still celebrate the festivals.

In many cases, especially in smaller Sicilian and southern Italian villages, residents remember emigrant families. A local guide who knows the territory, and knows how to make introductions, can turn a walk through a village into a conversation that stays with you for the rest of your life.

Timing matters more than most people realize. Italy rewards travelers who pay attention to the calendar. Arriving in a village on the feast day of its patron saint means witnessing a procession that has continued, uninterrupted, for centuries. Visiting an agriturismo in November means watching the olive harvest happen around you. Traveling in the off-season means the piazzas belong to the people who actually live there, not to summer tour groups. A well-planned heritage itinerary is built around these moments, not just around monuments.

Some travelers come home with a stack of discovered records and feel more prepared for their dual citizenship application. Some come home with a photograph taken in front of the house where their great-grandmother was born. Some come home quieter than they expected, having understood something about their family, and themselves, that no conversation at a holiday table ever quite conveyed.

If you have a village name on a scrap of paper somewhere, it is worth following. I would be glad to help you figure out where to start.

Blog

The Green Heart of Italy Is Calling

In the 800th anniversary year of St. Francis of Assisi, Umbria has never mattered more.

Your Family's Village Is Still There

What heritage travel actually looks like, and why it's nothing like a typical vacation