Nightlife in Umbria can mean a number of different things. It can be sipping wine and listening to jazz or chugging beer and dancing to canned music. It can also mean dining by candlelight at a reclusive village eatery or sitting on stone fountain in a village square, watching life happen. You choose. 

If you choose the bar scene, you don't need to dress in velvet to gain entrance to the Velvet Discoteca, but something nicer than ripped jeans and a souvenir Umbria Jazz Festival t-shirt is advised. Located at Viale Roma, the Velvet Discoteca in Perugia is a favorite spot, with a dance floor and a terrace that overlooks the whole scene.

If you're an American feeling lonely for home or compatriots, head straight for the Crazy Bull Cafe on Via Palermo in Perugia. Billed as an American Restaurant and Music Bar, the Crazy Bull gives you a taste of home in the middle (literally) of Italy. The cuisine is shamelessly American, with some Mexican, Texan, and Meditteranean offerings as well. They also offer an Italian lunch menu for the diehards.

For a different kind of nightlife in Umbria, consider spending a night (or more) at the Abbazia di San Petro Abbey in Ferentillo. The abbey, a modernized midieval monastery, is only accessible by car but is well worth the effort for its sensual, rustic accomodations and views. The abbey has an in-house restaurant with the freshest of local ingredients. You'll wish you could become a monk in order to stay. 

An evening walk through Spoleto is an enticing experience: ancient stone buildings softened by lamp light, aromas wafting past your nose as you pass a restaurant, Italian music drifting from somewhere beyond; all enough to give you a buzz of a different kind.