In Bevagna you buy souvenirs and local products on Corso Matteotti, sweet wine or red Montefalco at the winery, and handmade sweets from the bakery. The best way to shop is a walk on foot, from porta Cannara to the Accolta, with the shops along the street.
It is not a town for big-scale shopping: these are village shops, and that is exactly why you take home something that tastes of the place.
Souvenirs: Cristina Politi
For souvenirs I go to Cristina Politi, Corso Giacomo Matteotti 41: a small souvenir shop. You find local products, wine, souvenirs, ceramics and even a few toys for children, so it is a useful address if you travel with family and want a small present for the little ones.
The advantage is that you buy different things in one place: a jar, a bottle, a ceramic piece. The shop is on the same street as the bakery and Biagetti, so you can combine souvenirs and food shopping in one pass.
Wine: sweet wines, passiti and Montefalco
I often bought sweet wines, like the passito «Civic92» by Dionigi, and local wines.
If you do not know what to choose, the Consorzio Tutela Vini Montefalco (the producers' consortium for Montefalco wines) explains the difference between the two reds of the area. Montefalco Rosso is a blend: Sangiovese from 60 to 80%, Sagrantino from 10 to 25%, other dark grape varieties up to 30%. Sagrantino di Montefalco, instead, is made only from Sagrantino grapes, 100%. For me, Sagrantino is the finer of the two.
Then there is the passito version, the dessert wine: Sagrantino grapes dry on racks for at least two months, the must ferments with the skins, and the wine stays sweet with a partly dry sensation. The Consorzio suggests serving it at 12 °C, against 18 °C for dry Sagrantino.
For wine to take home I suggest the shop at Corso Giacomo Matteotti 21, part of Fattoria Colleallodole (Milziade Antano). The winery is outside the town, at Voc. Colleallodole 3, in the municipality of Bevagna, and is a member of the Consorzio. The Consorzio's profile lists Montefalco Rosso, Sagrantino Passito, Sagrantino Secco and the Sagrantino «Colleallodole», the estate's cru, produced since 1997. The shop keeps the normal opening hours of the shops on Corso Matteotti: to be sure, call ahead or just drop by.
Food, along the main street
Biagetti, at number 49, is a small village shop: cured meats, cheese and many local products. The same Biagetti family also has a dispensa (a pantry-style food shop) at number 55, described in Where to eat in Bevagna. They do not vacuum-pack: he wraps it up for you, and for the trip you do not need it, because it does not go off.
For sweets there is La Bottega del Forno, at Corso Matteotti 42. It is a bakery and pastry shop with ciambelle (ring cakes) with walnuts and with Sagrantino, Umbrian tozzetti (almond biscuits), biscuits filled with fig and almond jam or with orange marmalade, rocciata (a strudel-like pastry) and torta della nonna. Biscuits are the easiest thing to carry in a suitcase, and reviews suggest going early to find the whole selection.
The hours listed are Monday to Saturday 7:00–14:00 and 16:30–19:30, Sunday 8:00–13:30 and 16:30–19:30. The phone is 0742 361202. Check before you go, because hours change.
Candles and handmade paper
Bevagna is known for its reconstructed medieval trades: among them the cereria, where candles are made, and the cartiera, where paper is made. The Touring Club lists handmade paper as a typical product of the town.
The candles made by Bevagna's master craftsmen are sold at the Cereria Medievale, part of the Circuito dei Mestieri Medievali (the medieval trades circuit) of the Associazione Mercato delle Gaite. I went there to buy some. The ticket office is at piazza Silvestri 1, Monday to Friday from 10 to 13. The medieval trades are open all year by reservation, except in June, the month of the Mercato delle Gaite: before you go to buy candles, it is best to ask at the ticket office.
The paper mill is also part of the circuit, so the same rules apply. For guided visits or workshops, it is best to ask the Museo Civico or check the Mercato delle Gaite website. You can also buy the paper online: the paper mill has a shop on Instagram, @cartiera_bevagna_shop.
Walking Corso Matteotti
When I walk around town I always start from porta Cannara and finish at the Accolta, along Corso Matteotti. You see small shops, hairdressers, the bakery, bars and tobacconists, clothes shops, shops selling hand-painted pictures, costume jewellery and handmade jewellery. When I pass by, most of them are usually open.
The Accolta, which in Bevagna we call "l'accorda", is the old wash-house on the Clitunno, with piazza dell'Accolta and the ponte dei Molini: I described it in Bevagna in a day.
What to choose, in short
- A gift that lasts: a souvenir or a ceramic piece from Cristina Politi.
- A gift for wine lovers: a passito or a red Montefalco, depending on whether you prefer sweet or dry.
- A gift to eat: biscuits and sweets from the bakery, or cured meats and cheese from Biagetti.
Before or after shopping
If you are in Bevagna for just one day, the shopping walk fits between the morning on the square and lunch: read Bevagna in a day. If you have a car and an extra hour, Lago di Aiso at Capro is a quiet walk a few minutes from town. And if the weekend continues towards Assisi, see the spas of Assisi.
