There are places in Italy that seem to breathe on a different rhythm. Places where the air feels older, lighter, and the beauty doesn’t shout—it simply waits. In a Jubilee year, when the great basilicas of Italy echo with footsteps and flashbulbs, there is grace in discovering the quiet ones. The ones that still feel sacred.

If you’re planning a trip to Italy during the 2025 Jubilee Year—or just want to discover a peaceful, sacred escape—add this stop to your itinerary.

Just outside the medieval walls of Todi, nestled into the curve of a hillside path, stands Santa Maria della Consolazione—a Renaissance sanctuary of balance, beauty, and near-miraculous stillness. If symmetry had a heartbeat, it would sound like this..

Why Visit Todi: The Hilltop Town Time Forgot

Todi is a hilltop town in Umbria, not far from the better-known Assisi or Orvieto, but it somehow escapes the crowds. The Etruscans knew it, the Romans walked its streets, and the medieval walls still wrap around the city like a protective cloak. Its main square, Piazza del Popolo, is pure postcard perfection—wide, noble, and flanked by proud palazzi and a Romanesque-Gothic cathedral that commands your attention.

But as beautiful as the center is, the real magic lies just outside it.

Santa Maria della Consolazione rises just beyond Todi’s southern gate, at the base of the hill where the medieval walls taper off into olive groves and sky. It’s not on the way to anywhere—you have to walk toward it with intention. And when you do, it feels like the landscape has conspired to hide it just long enough for you to be amazed.

A Church of Perfect Proportion

Legend says a laborer, while cleaning a modest fresco of the Madonna, miraculously regained his sight. Word spread, and pilgrims began to gather. The city responded by commissioning a temple worthy of the moment.

What rose from the earth is nothing short of astonishing.

Construction began in 1508, and many believe Donato Bramante—master of the High Renaissance and architect of the original design for St. Peter’s Basilica—designed it. His touch is unmistakable here.

Santa Maria della Consolazione is a centrally-planned church, designed in the shape of a Greek cross—four arms of equal length, anchored by a soaring dome at the center. Three of the apses are polygonal; one is semicircular. Each ends in a smaller dome, like petals curling around a flower.

The symmetry is almost supernatural.

Inside, the effect is immediate: stillness, softness, light. The stone glows with late-afternoon warmth. The proportions are so exact that the building seems to breathe in perfect time. Your body slows to match it. It’s architecture as meditation—mathematics as devotion.

Here’s something delicious to consider: Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante were friends. Leonardo never built a church, but his notebooks are thick with plans for ideal sacred spaces—circular domes, cross-shaped foundations, radiant geometries where divine order meets human craftsmanship.

Did Bramante draw inspiration from Leonardo’s unbuilt dreams? It’s tempting to think so. In many ways, Santa Maria della Consolazione feels like a church Leonardo might have designed, had he ever moved from sketch to stone. It’s not showy. It doesn’t demand your admiration. It just…is.

And it’s perfect.

A Place to Breathe

One of the most astonishing things about Santa Maria della Consolazione—is how often you’ll have it relatively empty. Despite its architectural brilliance and Renaissance pedigree, it sits quietly just outside the city walls of Todi, unbothered by the crowds that swarm Italy’s better-known landmarks.

Santa Maria della Consolazione offers something profoundly rare in an increasingly packed Italy: room to breathe. You may not have the place entirely to yourself, but you almost certainly will have space enough to listen to the creak of wood beneath your feet, the wind brushing against stone, your own breath echoing through the dome.

It’s not just a hidden gem. It’s a perfectly balanced refuge, quietly waiting to be discovered by those who choose the road less taken.

A Hidden Gem in a Sacred Year

35 million visitors are expected to visit Italy in 2025. Sure, Italy has experienced a surge in tourism since the pandemic, but this is an exceptional number. 2025 is a Jubilee Year, also called a Holy Year, which is an important occasion for Catholics, who will flock to Rome and Vatican City in hopes of receiving forgiveness for their sins.

For those making the pilgrimage to Rome this year, or even just coming to Italy to soak in the beauty and history, I can’t recommend enough carving out a quiet day in Umbria. Take the train to Todi. Rent a car and wind your way through the hills. Walk the old stone streets, sit for a coffee in the piazza, breathe in that Umbrian light that painters chased for centuries. Then follow the old road down, away from the center. You’ll see the dome rising through the trees before you reach it. Round, serene, almost floating.

There is no ticket to buy. No line to wait in. Just a door to open, and a hush to enter.

In a country where so many sacred places have become tourist sites, this one remains a place of wonder.

Practical Tips for Visiting

• Location: Just outside the Porta Romana in Todi. The walk from the center takes about 10–15 minutes and is slightly downhill on the way there (and uphill on the return).
  
• Opening Hours: Hours can be irregular. Mid-morning or early afternoon is usually a safe bet. If it’s locked, ask a local—sometimes someone nearby has a key.
  
• When to Go: Consider visiting in September, when the town celebrates Santa Maria della Consolazione with a festival honoring the Nativity of the Virgin. Plus, they have fireworks.
  
• Photography: Be respectful—flash photography is discouraged, and this isn’t a place for loud phone calls or filming. Bring a sketchbook or journal instead.
  
• Pair it With: Afterward, return to town for a long, slow lunch. Todi’s trattorias serve hearty Umbrian fare—lentils, wild boar ragù, pecorino with truffles. Everything earthy and rich.

Getting to Todi from Florence

Todi is about 2.5 hours south of Florence and makes for a beautiful addition to any Umbrian itinerary.

• By car: The most flexible option. Take the A1 motorway toward Rome, exit at Valdichiana, and enjoy a scenic drive through Umbria. Perfect for slow(ish) travelers—see my post on why a slightly slower pace changes everything.
  
• By train and bus: Take a train from Firenze Santa Maria Novella to Perugia Ponte San Giovanni (about 2 hours), then a local bus to Todi (around 1 hour). For more tips on navigating Italian trains, check out my post on mastering train travel in Italy.
  

Either way, give yourself time to wander. Todi isn’t just a destination—it’s an invitation to slow down.

In Praise of the Quiet Places

Not every masterpiece hangs in a museum. Not every sacred site is packed with pilgrims. Sometimes, the most moving experiences come when we wander off the expected path—when we trade spectacle for stillness, and noise for silence.

Santa Maria della Consolazione isn’t famous. But it is unforgettable.

So go. Seek it out. Let yourself be surprised. And when you walk back up the hill to town, maybe stop in the piazza. Order a glass of Grechetto. Raise a quiet toast to the hidden ones—the churches, the towns, the moments of perfect proportion that remind us what beauty really is.

They’re still here.

Waiting.

Take a Piece of Todi Home!

If this quiet corner of Umbria captures your heart like it did mine, you can take a bit of its beauty with you. My original artwork, Todi, inspired by the soft stone, winding streets, and peaceful rhythm of this hilltop town, is available as a high-quality print in The Bottega at Sarahnissima. Hang it in your home, and let it remind you that sometimes, the most unforgettable places are the ones few people ever find.