Umbria — the green heart of Italy

Set off early in the morning so that the longest transfer is behind you in one go — this is a full day behind the wheel, not a half-day hop. The route runs through Germany and Austria towards Innsbruck; the motorways are good and the only regular hold-up is the traffic around Munich. Spend the night in Tyrol so that you start the second day rested and take the climb to the Brenner first thing.

The Brenner Pass is the fastest way south from Tyrol, and the landscape breaks into vineyards immediately behind it. Past Verona you join the A1, bypass Bologna and Florence, and at Valdichiana you turn off down into Umbria. This second day is long as well, so take a break roughly every two hours and share the driving where you can. End the day at Lake Trasimeno — after two days in the seat, the water beyond the campsite embankment is the best welcome there is.

Trasimeno is Italy's fourth largest lake, shallow and pleasantly mild through the warm half of the year. Castiglione del Lago sits on a promontory above the surface, with the Rocca del Leone fortress and a promenade below the walls looking out over the lake's islands. The afternoon belongs to the beach and the evening to freshwater cooking — locals eat the fish stew tegamaccio or carp stuffed the way porchetta is.

Boats to Isola Maggiore, the only permanently inhabited island on the lake, run from Tuoro sul Trasimeno and from Passignano; you can walk around it in a morning, and the lacemaking tradition is still alive there today. In the hills above Tuoro, the Battle of Lake Trasimene took place in 217 BC, when Hannibal crushed the Roman army, and a waymarked circuit with interpretive stops now crosses the battlefield. Passignano has its walls right above the water and the harbour is a good place to sit in the evening.

The capital of Umbria stands on a hill, and from the car parks below, escalators carry you up through the innards of the Rocca Paolina — the papal fortress built in the sixteenth century on a demolished quarter of the Baglioni family. At the top, the Corso Vannucci promenade opens onto Piazza IV Novembre with the Fontana Maggiore and the Gothic cathedral. Perugia is also a chocolate town; you will recognise the name Perugina and the Baci pralines without any sign.

The Basilica of St Francis is in fact two churches stacked one above the other: the upper one holds the Legend of St Francis frescoes attributed to Giotto, the lower one paintings by Cimabue and Lorenzetti, and beneath them lies the crypt with the saint's tomb. The whole town is built from the pinkish limestone of Monte Subasio, which gives it a uniform shade you will not see anywhere else. Save the afternoon for the Basilica of St Clare and for the walk through the woods to the Eremo delle Carceri hermitage in the rocky gorge above town.

The three small towns south of Assisi show Umbria without the crowds. Spello keeps its Roman gates and has flowers in every niche of its narrow lanes, Bevagna a quiet square with two Romanesque churches, and Montefalco a viewpoint known as the balcony of Umbria. This is where Sagrantino di Montefalco is made, a dense red wine with its own DOCG designation — the wineries around town keep their tasting rooms open.

The waterfall above Terni is not natural: the channel was cut in 271 BC on the orders of the Roman consul Manius Curius Dentatus, to lead the water of the river Velino down into the Nera. It drops in three tiers and measures 165 metres, but today the water mostly drives a power station and is released into the channel only at controlled times, typically around midday and in the early evening — outside those windows the rock face is almost dry, so check the schedule in advance with the park management. Several waymarked paths and tunnels lead up the slope to viewpoints right in the spray; count on getting wet.

Orvieto stands on a slab of volcanic tufa rising out of the plain, and its cathedral has a façade studded with mosaics and marble reliefs that can be seen from far away. Inside is the San Brizio chapel with Luca Signorelli's frescoes of the Last Judgement. The other half of the town is under your feet — the Pozzo di San Patrizio well with its double spiral staircase and a network of Etruscan cellars beneath the houses. A funicular runs up to the town from the station below, which is the most comfortable way to get to the top; have a white Orvieto Classico with lunch.

Civita already lies in Lazio, in the province of Viterbo, but from Orvieto it is the shortest excursion of the whole route. The little town clings to a crumbling slab of tufa above a valley of jagged calanchi and is reached by a single footbridge from 1965 with a paid entry; you go up on foot, on a steep climb. Only a handful of people live here permanently, so the nickname the town that is dying fits literally. Go early in the morning or towards evening; during the day the footbridge fills up.

Say goodbye to Umbria in the morning and head north on the A1. Split the return into two stages and spend the night in northern Italy or in South Tyrol — two days for the journey home are comfortable, one would turn the trip into a marathon. If you have time left, stop at a market and stock up on oil, pulses and cheese; you will shop better in Umbria than in a motorway supermarket.

The last stage runs over the Brenner back into Austria and on home. Plan a longer break in Tyrol — the descent from the pass is long, and both the brakes and the driver deserve to cool down. You will reach Prague in the evening.