What's so special about Umbria anyway? You can write reams about its light and landscape but you can do that about Tuscany and Ireland and a hundred other places. What is special to me is that its pleasures are small scale. It is Perugino rather than Leonardo, it is Montefalco rather than Siena, it is students outnumbering tourists in Perugia's Piazza Italia. And although it is remarkably unspoilt, Umbria manages to balance its agricultural heritage with local industry so you feel you are staying in a region that is still very much alive.