What to Eat in Umbria: Dishes, Pasta and Local Specialities

Umbria eats like the inland farming region it has always been. The cooking is simple and seasonal: thick hand-rolled pasta, pork in every form, lentils and spelt from the mountains, grilled meat over wood, black truffle when it is in season and a generous pour of local olive oil over almost everything. If you order the regional dishes rather than the pizza-and-carbonara standards, most trattorias will feed you very well.

Dishes to look for

Pasta and first courses

Dish	What it is	Where you find it
Strangozzi or umbricelli	Thick, hand-rolled pasta strands, the name changes from town to town	Everywhere, often with truffle, tomato or mushrooms
Pasta alla norcina	Pasta with sausage, cream and sometimes truffle	Menus across the region, linked to Norcia
Zuppa di lenticchie	Lentil soup, often with Castelluccio lentils	Mountain areas, winter menus
Minestra di farro	Spelt soup, a mountain staple	Valnerina, Spoleto area
Cicerchia soup	Soup made from an old legume similar to a chickpea	Country restaurants, autumn and winter

Main courses

Meat dominates the second courses. Porchetta, a whole pig deboned, stuffed with herbs, garlic and wild fennel and roasted slowly, is sold at markets and roadside vans as well as in restaurants. Grilled lamb, sausages and mixed grills come off wood-fired grills in many country restaurants. Game dishes such as wood pigeon (palombaccio) appear in autumn. Around Lake Trasimeno, fish from the lake takes over, including the stew called tegamaccio; our Lake Trasimeno guide has more on that.

Torta al testo

The everyday snack is torta al testo, sometimes called crescia around Gubbio. The dough is cooked on a heavy griddle and then split and filled, usually with sautéed greens, sausage, prosciutto or cheese. You will find it in bars, sagre (local food fairs) and casual places all over the region.

The key ingredients

Cured meats from Norcia

The mountain town of Norcia gave its name to norcineria, the craft of curing pork. Prosciutto di Norcia has protected status, and Norcia’s shops also sell salami, ciauscolo-style spreadable sausage, wild boar sausages and lard. Our page on Norcia and Castelluccio covers a visit to the town.

Lentils and legumes

The small lentils of the Castelluccio plateau are among the region’s best-known products and carry a protected designation. Look also for chickpeas, the old cicerchia legume and the tiny fagiolina beans from Trasimeno.

Truffles and olive oil

Black truffle is grated over pasta, eggs and bruschetta, especially from late autumn to early spring. Umbrian olive oil, often green and peppery when new, is used raw on bread, soups and grilled vegetables. Both have their own guide: truffles and olive oil in Umbria.

Cheese

Pecorino from sheep’s milk, fresh or aged, is the main cheese, often served with honey or jam. Fresh ricotta is common in spring.

Sweets and festive food

Umbrian sweets follow the church calendar. Torcolo, a ring-shaped cake with anise and candied fruit, is linked to the feast of Perugia’s patron saint in January. Ciaramicola, a ring cake with a white meringue topping and coloured sprinkles, is the Easter cake of Perugia. Rocciata, a rolled pastry with apples, nuts and raisins, resembles a strudel. Small almond biscuits called fave dei morti appear around All Souls’ Day in November. Perugia also has a long chocolate tradition, which is celebrated every autumn at Eurochocolate.

How eating out works

• Menus follow the usual Italian order: antipasto, primo (pasta or soup), secondo (meat or fish) with contorno (vegetables), then dessert. Nobody expects you to order every course.
• Coperto is a cover charge per person that many restaurants add to the bill. It is normal and should be listed on the menu.
• Times: lunch usually from about half past twelve to two, dinner from around half past seven. Country restaurants may close one day a week and often take a break in winter.
• Sagre are local food festivals, mostly in summer and early autumn, run by villages or associations. They are informal, inexpensive and a good way to try one speciality cooked in quantity. The Umbria tourism website lists many of them.
• Booking is wise for weekend lunches in agriturismo restaurants, which are popular with local families.

Food experiences for travellers

Cooking classes on farms, truffle hunts with a dog and its handler, olive mill visits in harvest season and market tours in Perugia are all offered across the region. Many farm stays also cook dinner for guests; our guide to choosing an agriturismo explains what to look for. To pair food with the right glass, read our overview of Umbrian wine.