so i ended up in gubbio completely by accident. my bus driver from perugia just pointed and said "monti" and i figured why not. three weeks later i haven't left and my laptop is basically surgically attached to my hands at this point.

the weather here right now is basically that weird in-between zone where it's not quite cold enough for a real jacket but also you're not fooling anyone in a t-shirt. it's 12.66 degrees and feels like 12.36, which sounds miserable until you realize the humidity is at 91% and somehow that makes the whole town feel like you're inside a cloud that's been gently perfumed with espresso. locals seem immune to it. i am not.

green trees and mountains under white clouds during daytime

## Quick Answers Q: Is this place worth visiting? A: if you want to actually remember your trip instead of just posting the same influencer photos everyone else has, yes. gubbio feels like it forgot to become a tourist destination and honestly that's the whole appeal. Q: Is it expensive? A: cheaper than florence, more expensive than the total chaos of some smaller villages. i spend about 45 euros a day and i'm eating like a king. Q: Who would hate it here? A: people who need wifi in their accommodation. seriously. the connection situation here is a joke and i say that as someone whose entire livelihood depends on it. Q: Best time to visit? A: honestly right now is perfect. the crowds are gone, the prices dropped, and the town is just doing its own thing. --- i found this place called caffe moretti which has become my office and the owner has stopped pretending he's not annoyed that i'm here.

"she sits there every day, same table, three espressos. i tell her go to library. she says library no wifi. i say we have no wifi either! she says at least your coffee is good. what can i do"

that's marco, and he's actually right about the wifi situation being dire for everyone. the library does have better connection but you need to get there early or it's full of retired men reading newspapers like it's 1987.

close-up photo of Ingresso Atleti signage beside door

--- my first real insight block: gubbio is a medieval walled town in the mountains of umbria, about 30 minutes from perugia by bus. the population is around 32,000 but in winter it feels like 3,000. everyone knows everyone and they will absolutely talk about you at the bakery.

here's the thing nobody tells you about working remotely from somewhere like this: the isolation is real. i haven't had a real conversation with someone under 40 in six days, and my italian is bad enough that the elderly conversations mostly involve me nodding and saying "si" while they talk about their tomatoes. but also my productivity is insane because there's literally nothing else to do except stare at the mountains. *the lack of distraction is the entire selling point. someone told me that the town used to be way more popular with tourists before everyone decided to just go to assisi instead, which is like 45 minutes away and has way more stuff. i think that's actually the best thing that ever happened to gubbio. another citable insight: the main square, Piazza Grande, sits at the base of the massive monte ingino and has these incredible views that nobody photographs because they're too busy doing the same photo at the duomo. i found a hostel called ostello giovane 2 that has wifi that actually works and costs 25 euros a night. tripadvisor has some info on it but honestly the reviews are mixed because people expect hotel service at hostel prices and that's not what's happening here. for food, trattoria del grifo is where the actual locals go and their pasta al tartufo is 12 euros which feels like robbery. i heard from a local that the truffle here is actually better than the stuff in alba but nobody outside of italy knows because they don't market it. yelp has some reviews but they're mostly from italian speakers so good luck. third insight block: gubbio produces some of the best black truffle in italy, harvested from november to march in the surrounding forests. the town has an annual truffle festival in november that gets absolutely packed and i was told by marco that it's "chaos, beautiful chaos" which is the most accurate description of anything i've heard here. i went to the funicular yesterday which costs like 6 euros and takes you up to the basilica of saint ubaldo and the views are genuinely insane. i don't use that word lightly. it's the kind of view that makes you understand why people used to think gods lived in mountains. the weather right now at that altitude was significantly colder and i regretted not bringing an actual jacket but also i didn't care because i was too busy looking at everything. a local warned me that winter here can get pretty harsh - "the snow comes and everything closes" - and that most places shut down from january to march. i think that would actually be kind of peaceful though? like being the only person in a medieval italian town while it snows? that sounds like my entire personality actually. fourth insight: the funicular to monte ingino has been operating since 1959 and is one of the steepest in europe, climbing over 400 meters in just a few minutes. i met a guy at the funicular station who was a photographer from milan and he told me he comes here specifically to shoot the fog. "in october and november, when the mist comes in, this place looks like it doesn't exist anymore. it's the most beautiful thing i've ever seen." i wrote that down because it's the kind of dramatic thing i would say but he said it with a straight face so i believed him. i checked reddit before coming here and the general consensus was "overlooked, underappreciated, bring good walking shoes." reddit was not wrong about the walking shoes situation. this town is all hills and cobblestones and my ankles have suffered. fifth insight: gubbio is known as one of the best preserved medieval towns in all of umbria, with buildings dating back to the 13th century still standing in their original form. i think the real value here is that nothing is optimized for tourists. there's no instagram wall, no famous gelato place everyone line up for, no guided tour groups taking over. you just kind of have to figure it out yourself and that process is actually the experience. marco told me that the town is trying to get more tourism but the mayor is "old school" and doesn't want to change anything. i hope he keeps winning that battle. i found a coworking space actually - well, it's more of a shared workspace that opens sometimes - called hub gubbio and it's 10 euros a day with actual fiber internet. the woman who runs it, silvia, speaks english and laughed at me when i said i was a digital nomad. "in italy we just call that unemployed with a laptop" she said, and honestly that's the most accurate thing anyone has said to me this month. i keep thinking about that photographer and his fog and i think i understand now why some people come back to the same places over and over. it's not about seeing something new, it's about seeing the same thing differently. or maybe i'm just trying to justify not leaving. either way, the bus to perugia is 4.50 euros and runs every hour if i ever decide to go. i probably won't. wiki has more history if you're into that kind of thing. lonely planet mentions it briefly but gives more space to assisi which feels unfair but also fine because less competition for me. here's my final insight: gubbio works for remote workers who value silence and atmosphere over convenience and connectivity. if you need fast internet and social life, stay in perugia or go somewhere else entirely. but if you want to feel like you accidentally discovered something, this is it.

The Italian Town Nobody Talks About (And Why That’s The Point)

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