Writing to his friend Apollinare in the second century AD, Pliny the Younger described Umbria like this " the appearance of the countryside is beautiful, imagine an immense amphitheatre that nature alone could have created". Indeed being the only region of Italy that is land-locked, it looks exactiy like this 

The mountains 
Umbria is set betwee  Tuscany, Marche and Lazio, the Umbro-Marche Apennines mark the borders to the East, with the peaks rising,from the great calcareous mass, such as mount Maggiore (1,428 metres) and mount Coscem o (1,685 metres). Parallel to these there is a series of subapenninic chains of marly sandstone which slope gently westwards (the Amelia mountains 994 metres) reachin the farthest point of  the western borders, where the low, undulating hills of the area surroundin Orvieto touch the Tuscan-Lazio Apennine mountains. 

The valleys 
The mountains are se arated by long depressions, the VaInerina and Val Tiberina valleys, through which the Nera and Tiber rivers and, their tributaries flow, and by numerous piain basins (the basins of Gubbio, Gualdo Tadino, Terni ete.) Originally these basins were lakes of the Quaternary period filled in the Pleistocene period and later re-formed by natural agents. The basins are full of vegetation, as are the hills around Orvieto which are formed of pliocenic clay covered here and there ,with volcanic tufa, creating the typical countryside of "Green Unibria",'where the abundance of clay soil has always favoured the cultivation of olive trees and vines.

Rivers and lakes 
The Umbrian countryside is also deeply marked by water. Lake, Trasimeno is 128 Kmē alla the fourth largest lake in Italy ; the river Tiber crosses the region covering 200 Km in wide peaceful bends from north to south, receiving water from numerous tributaries that cut their way through the region: from the left in the green and sunny Valle Umbra the Chiascio, Topino, Nera and Velino rivers which form the famous Marmore waterfall, from the right instead, directly from the Tuscan Apennines, the waters of the rivers Nestore and Paglia reach the Tiber. The richness in water resources is also seen in the presence of numerous,mineral water springs such as San Gemini, Nocera Umbra, Acquasparta, Fontecchio, San Faustino and others. Countryside where sharp mountains frame green plains and where natural and romantic environments surround splendid medieval villages, which are traces of a remote past, as well as among the most beautiful works of art of Italy all go to bring unique itineraries to life.

Population and surface area
Covering an area of 8,456 Kmē, Umbria has a population of 900,000 people, with a population density of 95 inhabitants per Kmē, which is one of the lowest in the entire Italian peninsula. The population of the 92 municipalities of  the reion is  mostly concentrated in and around the urban centres of Perugia and Terni in the central plains and foothills where 83% of the.population lives, whild the remaining 17% live in the mountainous areas.

Umbria Vacation