Need help meeting people and finding new things to do in umbria

joan slavin Image
05/19/2009 - 20:57

My husband and I have a house in umbria, near spoleto and we enjoy it very much...but apart from a few neighbors, we know no one. As this is our third summer there, we would like to meet some people, but we are stumped. How do you meet people? We also have seen all the usual sights and obvious restaurants and are looking for some new things to do and new places to eat. We just recently found out there is a spa in Spello that is wonderful and I am looking forward to going there this summer. I am an actress and my husband is an ecology teacher at a small college in the U.S. We have lots of interests and speak italian, not well, but we get by. Help! JoanSlavin

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Hello Joan,We have a wonderful international community here in Orvieto with lots of English speakers. Many people have second homes like yourselves and quite a few are permanent residents - pretty much an even mix between retirees and married-to-Italians like myself.I don't know Spoleto all that well, but I can tell you that some of the ways that people meet each other here are: morning coffee at the "foreigners bar", at occasional dinners organized by some longtime expats, at our American church, at the "foreigners' choice" scuola materna where many of us have children enrolled, outside early in the morning running or walking the path around the rupe (almost always all foreigners!) and by word of mouth - I have gotten numbers of people I have only heard about and called them up blind.There is a vibrant community of English speaking expats in/around Todi which is closer to you. I know quite a few people in that area. I'll try to remember to post if I hear of any events coming up out there. There are also a lot of British residents around Lake Trasimeno, and there is an English language newsletter, "The Trasimeno Times" which announces a lot of activities. I think they're online too.If you like to go into Rome, I heartily recommend becoming Friends of the American Academy in Rome. I think it's €50 year, for which you can attend all sorts of art, music and other cultural events. You can find info on their website or by getting in touch with Bill Franklin, a friend and the man responsible for the membership program.Feel free to ask more specific questions - I'm happy to help if I can!-Elisabeth