Perugia (Perusia in Latin, Perusna in Etruscan, Peroudja in
ancient Umbrian) is an Italian town of 166 506 inhabitants, the
capital of the province of the same name and of the Umbria region.
Homeland of artists and eclectics such as Perugino,
Pinturicchio, Galeazzo Alessi, Vincenzo Danti, Guglielmo Calderini
and Gerardo Dottori, the city was the destination - especially
during the Italian Renaissance - for the artistic training of
important personalities such as Raffaello Sanzio, Pietro Aretino,
Piero della Francesca and Luca Signorelli. The city was also the
birthplace of the mathematician and astronomer Ignazio Danti, who
revolutionized modern cartography and who reformed the calendar
making it pass from Julian to Gregorian.
Rich in history and
monuments, the region's cultural, productive and business center, it
is an international tourist destination. The University of Perugia
(1308) is one of the oldest in Italy and in the world. It is also
home to the second oldest academy in Italy, the Pietro Vannucci
Academy of Fine Arts (1570), as well as home to one of the very
first public libraries, the Augusta Library (1592).
Refounded
by the Etruscans on a pre-existing Umbrian settlement, during its
three thousand years of life it was one of the great lucumonies of
Etruria under the name of Perusna. The original Etruscan walls,
still visible today in many points, enclose Colle Landone and Colle
del Sole on which the acropolis stands. With a large historic
center, asymmetrically laid out on a series of hills a short
distance from the Tiber, the city retains a harmonious medieval
appearance and presents - given the town planning choices of the
administration starting from the 1950s - a perfect continuity with
districts built in the flat areas, as well as numerous hamlets
spread over the vast municipal area (with its 449.51 km² it is the
11th largest in Italy) and a multitude of residential and productive
settlements, green areas and sports facilities.
It is known
as the "city of chocolate" due to the historic presence of the
Perugian industry and numerous other companies specialized in the
production of confectionery products.
Perugia is a large hilly city. Most of the main attractions are up the hill in the Historic Center. Corso Vannucci is the main artery of Perugia. It connects Piazza Italia with Piazza IV Novembre, on the corner with which stands the Palazzo dei Priori, home to the town hall and the National Gallery of Umbria. Longitudinal development, from the north-northeast cathedral to the south-southwest Carducci gardens.
The Fontana Maggiore (1275-1278) is one of the main monuments of the
city and of all medieval sculpture. It is the terminal point of the
medieval aqueduct and was built to celebrate the arrival of water in
Perugia.
It consists of two concentric polygonal marble basins
surmounted by a bronze cup. The two concentric polygonal basins are
decorated with bas-reliefs finely sculpted by Nicola and Giovanni
Pisano: in the lower one the symbols and scenes of the agrarian
tradition and feudal culture are represented, the months of the year
with the zodiac signs and the liberal arts, the bible and the history of
Rome; in the upper one biblical and mythological characters are depicted
in the statues placed at the corners.
The names of the builders
as well as the two sculptors are engraved in the inscription: Fra
Bevignate directed the entire factory, including the aqueduct, with the
help of the hydraulic engineer Buoninsegna from Venice. Rosso Padellaio
is the sculptor who created the bronze parts, recovering ancient casting
techniques.
Built between 1540 and 1543 at the behest of Pope Paul III and to punish the Perugians for having rebelled against the salt taxes, the Rocca Paolina represented, until 1860, the symbol of papal power over the ancient municipality. Designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and with the engineering assistance of Alessandro Tomassoni da Terni, the imposing fortress originally extended from the current Piazza Italia to Largo Cacciatori delle Alpi. Today, after the post-unification demolitions, the imposing underground remains remain with the bases of the medieval buildings of the ancient village of Santa Giuliana and the houses of the Baglioni which, together with the Porta Marzia, were incorporated into the fortress. Today the Rocca Paolina is crossed by a path of escalators that connect Piazza Partigiani to Piazza Italia, in the centre. The Province and Prefecture Palace was built on part of its ruins.
The medieval aqueduct of the Fontana Maggiore was a hydraulic work of
extraordinary daring for its time. Construction began in 1254 to conduct
water from Mount Pacciano to the Fontana Maggiore. After an interruption
of 20 years, work resumed under the guidance of Fra Bevignate and
Boninsegna from Venice and the aqueduct was finished in 1280. Without
the aid of pumps, but with the principle of communicating vessels and
the use of a forced pressure conduit, it was possible to send the water
back uphill. In 1322, as indicated by the plaque in the upper basin of
the fountain, the construction of another more direct route, but with a
difference in height and greater pressure, was completed.
In the
19th century it was abandoned, but a section that passes inside the city
consisting of a bridge with 10 spans was transformed into a
characteristic suspended pedestrian path.
The Neptune Fountain is located in the Rosa and Cecilia Caselli Gardens in Viale Indipendenza. It is composed of an octagonal basin, in the center stands a column which supports a basin from which the bronze bust of Neptune emerges. According to local historians Serafino Siepi and Luigi Bonazzi, its construction dates back to the 17th century. The initial location was Piazza Matteotti known as Piazza del Sopramuro. From there it was dismantled to be reassembled in 1887 based on a design by the municipal engineer Filippo Lardoni in the gardens of Sant'Ercolano currently called Rosa and Cecilia Caselli in honor of the followers of the historic glass art laboratory.
The Etruscan well dates back to the second half of the 3rd century
BC. and in ancient times it was the main source of water supply for the
city. About 40 m deep, it also served as a cistern, and is located in
Piazza Danti.
Etruscan walls and gates of Perugia visible in many
points of its perimeter.
Necropolis of Palazzone (6th-5th century
BC), located in the current hamlet of Ponte San Giovanni, in whose
archaeological area there is the Hypogeum of the Volumni, an Etruscan
underground tomb from the second half of the 2nd century BC, which
constituted the tomb of the family of Arnth Veltimna Aules.
The
Postierla della Conca and della Cupa are minor gates of the Etruscan
city walls, used for pedestrian traffic.
The Mosaic of Orpheus and
the Fairs or of Saint Elizabeth is a work of Roman workers from the 2nd
century, it stood near the ancient Roman baths.
Roman street of
Piazza Cavallotti
Underground of the Cathedral Museum.
Early
Christian Church of Sant'Angelo.
Oratory of S. Bernardino Roman
Sarcophagus.
Church of Sant'Ercolano Roman Sarcophagus.
Church of
San Pietro, Roman base of the fifteenth-century bell tower, reused
Corinthian columns.
Hypogeum of Villa Sperandio (2nd century BC).
Etruscan tomb of San Manno (3rd century BC), in the Ferro di Cavallo
district.
Etruscan Necropolis of Centova Madonna Alta.
Etruscan
tomb of the Faggeto, near Monte Tezio near S. Giovanni del Pantano,
discovered between 1910-20 and can be dated to the second half of the
2nd century BC.
Perugia has two city walls: the Etruscan walls were built between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. and they were built in a rather unitary way with an overall length of about 3 km; the second circle of walls, dating back to the Middle Ages, reached a length of approximately 9 km and incorporated the villages created in correspondence with the five ancient gates.
The walls are still visible in some long stretches (Verzaro, via del
Poggio, via Battisti, via Bartolo, Campaccio, Canapina, via del
Paradiso, near Porta del Giglio, Aula magna of the University of
Education, Conservatory Auditorium, via Oberdan) , as well as near the
doors listed above. Then other minor sections remain visible, both
outdoors and above all in the basement floors of many public and private
buildings built above them. Other long stretches are no longer visible
even if their location is known, they are portions either removed or
particularly deep. The Etruscan Walls are all characterized by the
consistency of large squared blocks (megaliths) of travertine,
juxtaposed without the use of binding mortar, sometimes fitted together
by appropriately shaping the contact surfaces.
The Etruscan or
Augustus Arch is the largest and most monumental of the access gates to
the old city, part of the Etruscan city walls (4th-3rd century BC)
oriented towards the north, garnished with powerful lateral bastions
made of megalithic blocks of travertine (size average 100x60 cm on the
facade). The left buttress is surmounted by an elegant Renaissance
loggia and decorated at the base with a seventeenth-century fountain, in
turn surmounted by two typical Etruscan phalluses. The writing "Augusta
Perusia" is engraved in the round arch. In 2015, the restoration work
was completed by the patron and leader of Italian cashmere Brunello
Cucinelli, which brought to light some coins and the inscription of the
dedication by Emperor Treboniano Gallo.
The Porta Marzia built in
travertine was dismantled and rebuilt in 1540 by Antonio da Sangallo to
set it in the walls of the Rocca Paolina; it has a round arch framed by
pilasters with central rosette capitals, surmounted by a balustrade
marked by four pillars in Italian-Corinthian style from which five
sculptures protrude: Jupiter between the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux,
and two horses at the ends.
Porta Trasimena, located in via dei
Priori, was rebuilt in the 14th century. Very little remains of the
original Etruscan door, the arch is in fact ogival and no longer round,
and the lion-shaped sculpture was also added in the Middle Ages.
Porta Sole was one of the oldest entrance gates to Perugia. Cited by
Dante Alighieri in Paradise, it had its original location at the highest
point of the city, the homonymous hill of the Sun. Today no longer
exists in its original form, the Arco dei Gigli, located in via Bontempi
and rebuilt in the Middle Ages. The area was fortified in the 14th
century, but the military citadel was demolished after a popular
uprising in 1376.
Arco della Mandorla or Porta Eburnea.
Arco di
Sant'Ercolano or Porta Cornea, takes its name from the nearby church of
Sant'Ercolano. Also known by the names of Berarda or Comitoli, due to
the proximity of the homes of Messer Berardo (14th century) and
subsequently of Bishop Napoleone Comitoli (17th century). Like many
Etruscan doors, it retains the original structure at the base, while the
arch is pointed. Above the arch on the external facade there is a 13th
century statue of a lion, placed as the emblem of the Guelph faction and
at the same time a symbol of vigilance and protection. The gate is part
of the Porta San Pietro district, whose coat of arms is the crossed
keys, symbol of the Saint.
Along the 9 kilometers of the wall perimeter there are numerous
doors, some older, some more recent, some closed and reopened or vice
versa in the succession of eras. We list only the largest ones,
including those corresponding to the extremes of the five neighborhoods.
The Porta di Sant'Angelo is the largest of the medieval gates in the
walls of Perugia. Located in the Sant'Angelo district, at the end of
Corso Garibaldi, it opens into the Cassero, a crenellated fortification
inserted in the 14th century city walls. It is oriented to the north.
The Corso Bersaglieri Gate at the top of the street of the same name,
dating back to the fourteenth century, oriented towards the east.
Porta Santa Margherita, oriented south-east, takes its name from the
ancient female Benedictine monastery, located outside the walls,
transformed into a psychiatric hospital in 1818. In 1821 the door was
blocked and another was built with the same name in front of the gates
of the former psychiatric hospital. In 1934 the medieval gate was
reopened while the nineteenth-century one was demolished.
The Porta
di San Pietro or Porta Romana is located at the end of Corso Cavour, at
the beginning of Borgo XX Giugno. The external facade was created in
travertine by Agostino di Duccio and Polidoro di Stefano between 1475
and 1480, while the internal facade remained in its medieval form, with
the singular characteristic of a double fornix. It is oriented south
towards the fertile and populous Tiber valley.
A replica of the
previous one on the same southern slope is the Porta di San Costanzo,
from the late sixteenth century, placed to accommodate the Frontone
area; it replaces another medieval door now inside the Medieval Garden
in the convent of the Abbey of San Pietro.
The gate of via delle
Forze, corresponding to the Porta Eburnea district, now made up of a
fourteenth-century arch; look southwest. Serving the same neighborhood
but in a slightly different direction is the sixteenth-century Porta
Crucia, now at the end of via Eburnea.
The Porta di Santa
Susanna, or Porta di Sant'Andrea, is located in via della Sposa at the
crown of the S. Susanna district, oriented towards the east.
Porta Conca, belonging to the S. Angelo district but oriented to the
west; fourteenth-century, in limestone and sandstone. The presence of
the remains of the city's medieval aqueduct (1280) bringing water to the
Fontana Maggiore from Monte Pacciano, about 5 km away, is linked to this
gate; in 1835 the aqueduct was dismantled from its original function and
repurposed as an evocative pedestrian route.
The long stretches
between one door and another are marked by the presence of the typical
"canvases" of medieval masonry, made of stones much smaller in size than
the Etruscan wall, bound with lime, limestone or sandstone mortar; high
and narrow walls, suitable to resist the military assault of the time
which consisted of climbing from the outside with cold weapons.
The
good conservation of the medieval walls is due to the fact that, once
their military function ended at the turn of the sixteenth century, they
were used as an effective toll barrier until the twentieth century.
Before the definitive medieval perimeter, there are news and fragments
of a first, narrower medieval wall: unmistakable signs of this can be
found in the "Arco dei Tei" in the Porta Pesa area and in the "Arco di
S. Elisabetta" under the University for foreigners.
The Torre degli
Sciri, which belonged to the noble family of the same name, stands out
in the surrounding landscape for its square shape and the characteristic
light color of the stone used. It is the only one of the medieval towers
to have remained intact throughout the city, among the many dozens that
distinguished the rank of the major families in the 12th and 13th
centuries, as evidenced by many paintings and also by the epithet of
"Turrenia" that Perugia received precisely because of the numerousness
of its towers. Over the centuries, the other towers have been
incorporated into adjacent buildings or have disappeared due to
collapses, war destruction or new buildings.
Subsequent
interventions
The Three Arches crossroads or Porta Santa Croce was
built in 1857 during an urban road reorganization.
The monumental Palazzo dei Priori, an excellent example of a public
palace from the municipal age, was built in its original part between
1293 and 1297, then with two subsequent medieval additions until 1443.
The last addition was built by Galeazzo Alessi in the sixteenth century.
In Gothic style, it is accessed both from Corso Vannucci through the
fourteenth-century portal adorned with statues of the griffin and the
lion, and from Piazza Maggiore (now IV Novembre) through the notable
Sala dei Notari, a medieval hall characterized by large arches and
entirely frescoed. member of the popular assembly of the free
municipality. It is still the seat of the Town Hall today. Altered
during the centuries of papal domination, it was restored after 1860.
On the ground floor of the Palazzo dei Priori is the Collegio del Cambio
(15th century) embellished with inlaid wooden pallets between the 16th
and 17th centuries. The Audience Hall was completely frescoed by Pietro
Perugino and his school between 1498 and 1507.
Also on the ground
floor of the Palazzo dei Priori is the Collegio della Mercanzia, seat of
the medieval corporation of the same name, it consists of a rectangular
room with walls and vaults completely covered in inlaid wood. Above the
court is the Mercanzia coat of arms, a golden griffin on a bale of
clothes.
The Palace of the Captain of the People or of Justice was
built between 1472 and 1481 by the architects Bartolomeo da Torgiano and
the Lombards Gasparino di Antonio and Leone di Matteo. It is a
Renaissance structure with some Gothic references.
Palace of the Old
University (1490-1514), in Piazza Matteotti, currently home to the
Palace of Justice.
Palazzo degli Oddi Marini Clarelli, located in via
dei Priori, 84, was built in the mid-16th century and enlarged in the
18th century. Keep all the original furnishings and furnishings intact.
It is currently used as a house museum and open to the public (free
entry) on Monday afternoons and Friday mornings.
Palazzo Sorbello in
Piazza Piccinino, a typical and intact noble residence from the 16th
century, equipped with a museum and library open to the public.
Palazzo Gallenga Stuart, previously known as Palazzo Antinori
(1748-1758), now home to the University for Foreigners, is a palace with
a Baroque style façade, designed by the architect Francesco Bianchi
(architect).
Palazzo Della Penna (16th-19th century), built on the
remains of a Roman amphitheater (partially visible), which previously
belonged to the Vibi family, in the 19th century housed a library and a
collection of paintings and drawings, now home to a museum.
Palazzo
Sorbello, private palace home to the House Museum of Palazzo Sorbello,
ancient residence of the noble Bourbon family of Monte di Sorbello,
later Ranieri di Sorbello. By accessing its underground it is possible
to visit the Etruscan well.
The Palace of the Province and Prefecture
was built in 1870 based on a design by Alessandro Arienti.
Palazzo
Cesaroni, seat of the Regional Council of Umbria, designed by Guglielmo
Calderini, preserves the largest cycle of Art Nouveau frescoes in the
city, created by Annibale Brugnoli and Domenico Bruschi.
Palazzo
Donini, seat of the Regional Council of Umbria, is an eighteenth-century
palace built by the architect Pietro Carattoli. It preserves a pictorial
cycle, "adventures, misfortunes and glories" of ancient Perugia, created
by Salvatore Fiume.
Palazzo Conestabile, now home to the Augusta
Library.
Fontivegge Business Center (1982-1986), complex created by
the Milanese architect Aldo Rossi.
Antognolla Castle, an ancient
manor house located outside the city limits, on the slopes of Monte
Tezio, now private property.
Palazzo Murena, seat of the University
of Perugia.
Archbishop's Curia
The cathedral of San Lorenzo was built between 1345 and 1490. The
external covering was never completed. Inside, of the Hallenkirche type,
the Sacred Ring is preserved, according to the tradition of the wedding
ring of the Virgin Mary. The most important work preserved in the
cathedral is the Deposition from the Cross by Federico Barocci from
1569.
The Basilica of San Domenico, founded in 1304 and extensively
rebuilt according to Maderno's design in the 17th century, is the
largest religious structure in all of Umbria. An authentic masterpiece
of 14th century sculpture, preserved in the basilica, is the funerary
monument to Benedict XI. Also of notable value are the wooden choir from
the end of the 15th century and the apse window from 1411, the second
largest in Italy (22x8 m) after that of the Milan cathedral. Above the
vaults and under the two slopes of the roof there are the singular
"attics of S. Domenico", large rooms resulting from the
seventeenth-century reconstruction, rich in suggestions and finds of the
original Gothic structure, with direct access to the mighty bell tower
(16th century) with panoramic view extending from Romagna to Abruzzo,
from Marche to Tuscany.
St. Peter's Basilica was built around 996 on
top of the previous cathedral, the first bishopric of Perugia, which had
existed since the 7th century. The entrance to the church is on the left
side of the seventeenth-century cloister. The polygonal bell tower
dominates the basilica, built in 1463-68 with Florentine Gothic lines.
During fascism it was rebuilt, after the roof collapsed, as can be seen
from the stones used. It has recently undergone radical restoration work
and adaptation to an auditorium.
Chapel of San Severo (inside there
is a fresco painted in the upper part by Raphael in 1508, and in the
lower part by Perugino in 1521). The chapel is adjacent to a church of
the same name built in the 18th century and, in fact, the aforementioned
chapel is a residual room from a previous construction;
The church of
Sant'Agostino, built in the 13th century, has Gothic forms, but
internally it has undergone many alterations, some of which are from the
modern era (17th century). The church houses some valuable frescoes: a
Madonna enthroned and a Crucifixion, the latter attributed to Pellino di
Vannuccio (14th century).
The Church of Gesù was built in the second
half of the 16th century. The internal ceiling is enriched with valuable
carvings and the vaults are frescoed with biblical subjects painted by
Giovanni Andrea Carlone. Below the main plan there are three oratories:
that of the Congregation of Colonists, the Congregation of Artists and
the Congregation of Nobles.
Church of San Bevignate (13th century),
containing a frescoed pictorial cycle of extreme importance for the
history of the Templars.
The church of Sant'Ercolano was built at the
beginning of the 14th century close to the Etruscan walls. However, both
the front access staircase and the internal frescoes by Giovanni Andrea
Carlone date back to 1666-1669. Under the main altar there is a Roman
sarcophagus from the imperial age in which, according to tradition, rest
the remains of the saint to whom the building is dedicated.
The
church and former monastery of San Fiorenzo has a thirteenth-century
Gothic structure, but the interiors were profoundly remodeled in the
eighteenth century. The building houses a beautiful fifteenth-century
banner, the work of Benedetto Bonfigli.
The Church of San Filippo
Neri or Church of the Santissima Concezione or San Giovanni Rotondo alla
Chiesa Nuova is a Baroque building built between 1626 and 1663, the year
in which the façade was completed. Designed by the Roman architect Paolo
Maruscelli, the church contains valuable frescoes inspired by various
biblical subjects, painted by Giovanni Andrea Carlone, Francesco Appiani
and Francesco Martini. Contains a San Filippo Neri by Guido Reni.
The
church of San Costanzo is a building erected in the 12th century in
Romanesque style, with subsequent additions and extensively remodeled at
the end of the 19th century by the greatest Perugian architect of the
time: Guglielmo Calderini. Of particular value is the altar from the
first half of the 13th century.
The church of San Francesco al Prato
was built in the first half of the 13th century and has an architecture
that quite closely resembles that of Santa Chiara, in Assisi.
The
Church of Santa Giuliana built in 1253 has a linear and austere
interior. The walls were mostly frescoed during the 14th century and in
some places they reveal influences from the great Cimabue (in particular
the Last Supper). Today home to the Italian army's foreign language
school, it has an admirable cloister.
The church of Santa Maria di
Monteluce was built during the 13th century but was almost entirely
rebuilt following a fire in the following century. It has a beautiful
fifteenth-century façade and inside you can admire frescoes dating back
to the early seventeenth century by Giovanni Maria Bisconti. The church
is flanked by a former monastery, which was used as a hospital for a
long time (Santa Maria della Misericordia or Monteluce Hospital).
The
14th century Church of Santa Maria Nuova is structured in a large
interior with three naves, in Gothic style. The church has an organ from
the second half of the sixteenth century, a valuable fifteenth-century
wooden choir and some frescoes from the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. The bell tower was built in the 1640s.
the Church of
Sant'Agostino and the oratory of the same name with 17th century
internal ornaments (including a carved ceiling and some paintings by
Mattia Battini and Giulio Cesare de Angelis).
Oratory of San
Bernardino (1457-1461), significant example of Renaissance art. The
polychrome façade is decorated with bas-reliefs and sculptures in the
round by Agostino di Duccio.
Oratory of the Confraternity of the
Disciplinati of San Francesco (16th-17th century).
Oratories of
Sant'Agostino (Perugia)
Oratory of the Confraternity of Sant'Antonio
Abate (16th century).
Oratory of the Confraternity of John the
Baptist (XVI)
The church of San Michele Arcangelo also known as the
Temple of Sant'Angelo is an early Christian church from the 5th century,
built on the previous pagan temple. A rare example of a religious
structure with a circular plan, it has inside a marble colonnade and
Corinthian capitals of Roman origin.
Church and former monastery of
San Fiorenzo with the funerary monument of Galeazzo Alessi inside.
The Church and former monastery of Santa Giuliana, between the Gardens
of Santa Giuliana and the Santa Giuliana Stadium.
Church of San
Fortunato is one of the oldest in the city located near the Arch of
Augustus. The presence of the church has been attested since 1163, and
in 1285 it became a parish church. In 1634 it was rebuilt following the
settlement of the Silvestrini.
Church of Sant'Antonio Abate (Perugia)
dating back to the 11th century which gave its name to the village of
Sant'Antonio in Coso Bersalieri, inside frescoes by the Areofuturist
painter Gerardo Dottori
The Monumental Civic Cemetery in via Enrico
dal Pozzo, created to a design by Francesco Landoni and Alessandro
Arienti, was inaugurated by Archbishop Gioacchino Pecci (future Pope Leo
XIII) in 1849. In numerous and significant funerary monuments of
illustrious Perugian families, it contains admirable examples of
Neoclassical and Bell'Epoque sculpture: among others the monument
dedicated to the Fallen of 20th June 1859 and a section dedicated to
illustrious citizens.
The five royal streets branched off from the main square in the centre, which connected - and still partly connect today - the city of Perugia with Cortona (today the Via Cortonese overlaps the Trasimeno state road), Orvieto (Via Marscianese), Gubbio (Via Eugubina), Città di Castello and the Via Flaminia (Foligno) which from Rome led to Ariminium (now Romagna).
Corso Vannucci, the main street of Perugia's acropolis: according to
the ancient Etruscan-Roman road structure, it follows the route of the
cardo maximus (north-south axis) joining Colle del Sole to Colle
Landone. Starting from the second half of the twentieth century - with
the removal of the tram tracks and the closure to vehicular traffic -
the street was completely pedestrianized.
Corso Cavour (formerly
Sant'Ercolano and then Porta Romana), of medieval origin, forms a single
route with Borgo XX Giugno and together they constitute the longest flat
street in the center of Perugia and the fulcrum of the so-called
Borgobello. The route leads to the royal (main) road of Porta San
Pietro.
Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi and Via del Tempio, of medieval
origin, the route that leads to the royal road of Porta Sant'Angelo.
Corso Bersaglieri (formerly Sant'Antonio) crosses the village called
Sant'Antonio - of medieval origin - and leads to the royal road of Porta
Sole.
Via Cesare Battisti and via della Stella.
Via dei Priori
(which continues as via della Sposa) corresponds to the Roman decumanus
and leads to Porta Trasimena and the royal road of Porta Santa Susanna.
Via Bontempi and via del Roscetto.
Via Luigi Bonazzi and via Cesare
Caporali.
Via Guglielmo Oberdan and via Marzia, where the Etruscan
gate of the same name is located, set in the Rocca Paolina.
Via della
Cupa and via delle Forze.
Via Baglioni and Viale dell'Indipendenza
(which continues as Via Luigi Masi).
Via dell'Acquedotto, a
characteristic suspended pedestrian path made such when its function -
precisely - as a waterway ceased (it continues on Via Appia at the point
where it insinuates itself underground: the last stretch of the
aqueduct, in fact, passes under Cathedral).
Piazza IV Novembre (formerly Platea Magna - i.e. "large square" and
Platea Communis).
Piazza Giacomo Matteotti (or Sopramuro).
Piazza
Francesco Morlacchi and Piazza Felice Cavallotti.
Piazza Ignazio
Danti, Piazza Francesco Ansidei and Piazza Francesco Piccinino.
Giordano Bruno Square.
Rossi Scotti square and Biordo Michelotti
square.
Republic square.
Piazza Italia (formerly Vittorio
Emanuele) and Largo della Libertà.
Duke's Square.
Piazza Braccio
Fortebraccio (formerly Grimana).
Piazza Domenico Lupattelli.
University Square.
Piazza di San Francesco al Prato from the
Romanesque church of the same name which housed the Baglioni Deposition,
now deconsecrated and transformed into an auditorium.
Circus Square.
Piazza Annibale Mariotti (formerly della Annunziata) where the first
Music Conservatory of Perugia is located.
Via XX Settembre, via and largo Cacciatori delle Alpi (improperly
called piazza Garibaldi due to the statue in the flowerbed in the center
of the roundabout).
Via Guglielmo Marconi - which crosses Corso
Cavour at the Tre Archi - which continues as Via XIV Settembre (from the
date of the liberation of Perugia in 1860) and Via Tancredi Ripa di
Meana (named after the young leader who died in the same enterprise).
Piazza di Monteluce.
Piazzale Giuseppe Bellucci, where the Perugia
Sant'Anna terminal station of the Umbrian Central Railway is located.
Piazza Nuova (formerly Piazza del Bacio since the Perugina industry was
located there in ancient times, of which the chimney remains), where -
in Rossi's architecture known as the "Broletto" - important offices of
the Umbria Region are located.
Piazza Vittorio Veneto (where the
central railway station is located), via Mario Angeloni and piazza delle
Fonti di Veggio where the ancient source is located.
Piazza dei
Partigiani (formerly d'Armi) where the bus station is located and where
the escalators leading to the center begin.
Via Fiorenzo di Lorenzo,
viale Pompeo Pellini and viale Orazio Antinori.
Via della Pallotta,
via Romana and viale Roma.
Via della Madonna Alta (formerly and still
partly Pievaiola), via Martiri dei Lager and via Settevalli.
Viale
Centova, viale Enrico Berlinguer and viale San Sisto in the neighborhood
of the same name.
Giardini Giosuè Carducci (in Largo della Libertà, in the historic
centre).
Fronton Gardens.
Medieval Garden of San Pietro and New
Botanical Garden of Via Romana.
Pincetto Gardens (Minimetrò
terminal).
Gardens and Stadium of Santa Giuliana (formerly Campo di
Piazza d'Armi).
Gardens of Cupa (so-called Campaccio or Cuparella)
and Canapina.
Sant'Anna Park.
Rosa and Cecilia Caselli Moretti
Gardens (formerly on Viale dell'Indipendenza) under the church of
Sant'Ercolano.
Sant'Angelo Park, sites outside the walls under the
keep.
Santa Margherita Park, in which the complexes of the former
mental hospital are scattered, now home to the USR, the "Galilei" high
school and the University for Foreigners.
Pescaia Park (formerly
Verbanella Park), between via Luigi Canali and via XX Settembre.
Guerriero Guerra, Chico Mendez, Bellocchio and Foibe Victims Parks in
the extensive Madonna Alta neighborhood.
Leonardo Cenci Green Route
to Pian di Massiano (Ferro di Cavallo) reachable from the Perugia
Engineering station. The private Barton Park is also nearby.
Città
della Domenica, private area and first amusement park in Italy (1964).
Green Route on the Tiber of Ponte Felcino (with Educational Forest and,
once, an adventure route, as well as the private Thebris Gardens), Ponte
Valleceppi and Ponte Pattoli.
Monte Tezio municipal park.
Playground in via Giampaolo Lancellotti.
Green area of via Ruggero
Torelli and Parco dei Rimbocchi all'Elce.
Green areas of the Oliveto
and San Marco and Montegrillo Park and Campetto.
Francesco Petrarca
Garden and Pietro Aretino Park at Pallotta.
Horseshoe playground.
Mercato Park, Bellini Park, Don Annibale Valigi Park and Ponte San
Giovanni Park in the neighborhood of the same name.
GNU National Gallery of Umbria, contains the largest collection of
works, from the 13th to the 19th century, by artists (among others
Arnolfo di Cambio, Beato Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Duccio di
Buoninsegna, Gentile da Fabriano, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Master of San
Francesco, Luca Signorelli, Benozzo Gozzoli, Melozzo da Forlì, Benedetto
Bonfigli, Nicolò Alunno) passed through Umbria;
MANU National
archaeological museum of Umbria, in the former convent of San Domenico
(outside room VII, where the valuable mirror from the necropolis of
Santa Caterina was placed with the representation of Helen and the
Tyndarides, the inscription of the "Cippo di Perugia", one of the
longest and most interesting writings left to us by the Etruscans, which
apparently reports an agreement between two families for the right of
passage over a piece of land;
Opera del Duomo Museum;
POST Perugia
Workshop for Science and Technology;
Pietro Vannucci Academy of Fine
Arts Museum;
Palazzo della Penna Museum with modern art collections
(Doctori collection, Beuys collection)
Museum of Palazzo Baldeschi al
Corso;
Historical Museum of Perugina;
House museum Palazzo degli
Oddi Marini Clarelli Santi
House museum of Palazzo Sorbello;
Glass
Museum of the Moretti-Caselli Artistic Laboratory;
"Giuditta
Brozzetti" Textile Art Laboratory Museum
Etruscan well, Piazza Danti;
Sansevero Chapel (Perugino and Raphael);
Historical Museum of Musical
Instruments (Cassero di Porta S. Angelo);
College of Mercanzia;
Collegio del Cambio with frescoes by Perugino
Church of San Bevignate
with frescoes on the Templars
Tomb and frescoes of Pietro Vannucci,
known as Il Perugino, in the hamlet of Fontignano;
Fuseum, house
museum of the artist Brajo Fuso;
Mirabassi MUMA puppet museum via del
Castellano 2 a
Museum of Games and Toys - Perugia San Marco street
(under the chimney)
Palazzo Danzetta Art Collection (via Mazzini);
Art Collection of the Augusta Municipal Library;
Art Collection of
the Cassa di Risparmio Perugia
Art Collection of the Regional Council
Palazzo Cesaroni;
Art Collection of the Regional Council Palazzo
Donini;
Art Collection of the Municipality of Perugia, Palazzo dei
Priori;
Art Collection of the Province of Perugia, Palazzo Prefettura
Piazza Italia;
Guardabassi Marionette Collection c/o Teatro Morlacchi
Foy of the 3rd order;
Greek, Etruscan and Roman plaster cast gallery,
at the University Department of Classical Studies, Via dell'Aquilone;
CAMS-University Center for Science Museums University of Perugia -
Casilina
The Morlacchi Theater (1777-1780), formerly the Verzaro Theatre, is
the largest theater in the city. Designed by the architect Alessio
Lorenzini, it is divided into a horseshoe-shaped room with four tiers of
boxes and a gallery.
Teatro del Pavone (1717-1723) was the first
theater open to the public, made up of the Perugian nobles of the
Accademia del Casino. The current structure dates back to 1765, designed
by the architect Pietro Carattoli, with decorations by Carlo Spiridione
Mariotti.
Turreno Theater (1890-1891), built to a design by the
architect Alessandro Arienti. In 1896 the first cinematographic
representation of the history of Perugia took place here. In 1953 it was
rebuilt according to a design by the architect Pietro Frenguelli as a
cinema theater and reached a capacity of 2000 seats.
Sant'Angelo
Theater (Cinema S. Angelo), in the historic district of Porta S. Angelo.
Figure, Puppet and Marionette Theatre, in the historic district of Porta
S. Pietro.
Franco Bicini or Cortone Theatre, in the street of the
same name in the S. Pietro district.
Sacco Theatre, in Piazza
Giordano Bruno, S. Pietro district.
Umbria Jazz: it is the most important Jazz festival in Italy and one
of the most important in the world, the festival has taken place in the
month of July since 1973.
Eurochocolate: the European chocolate
event, has taken place in October since 1993. Since 2021, it has taken
place in Bastia Umbra.
The Perugia-Assisi Peace March, held every two
years, has usually taken place in October since 1961.
International
Journalism Festival, has taken place every year in April since 2008.
Fair of the Dead: a large popular fair held in the first week of
November since the Middle Ages. In ancient times it took place in the
centre, since the seventies of the twentieth century it has taken place
in the vast area of the Pian di Massiano car park.
Bagliori d'Autore,
a literary review started in 2005, takes place for about a week in
February/March, with a parallel edition in Milan and events in Rome,
Terni, Assisi, Macerata.
Luminaria and Fiera di Costanzo in Perugia,
takes place on the last Monday of January.
Perugia Carnival, event
with allegorical floats and disguises.
Palio di Perugia 1416, a
commemorative event that has taken place every June since 2016, which
celebrates the entry of the leader Braccio da Montone into Perugia,
reconquered with the victory in the battle of Sant'Egidio in 1416.
Singers and musical groups
Fast Animals and Slow Kids, an Italian
alternative rock band.
Perugia Big Band, the city's jazz orchestra
active since 1973.
Perugian cuisine, like much of traditional Umbrian cuisine, is based
on local agricultural and livestock products and includes various
game-based dishes. It is a simple cuisine that tends to enhance the
taste of the raw materials.
The characteristic bread of the city
of Perugia (as in the rest of the region) is similar to Tuscan and
Marche bread, or sciapo: the sciapa tradition dates back to the
so-called salt war, in rebellion against the tax imposed by Paul III in
1531 for the use of salt. The typical bruschetta is prepared with whole
toasted slices of bread, rubbed with a clove of garlic, a pinch of salt
and then seasoned with extra virgin olive oil. Characteristic focaccia
of the area, in Perugia and in the rest of the province, is the torte al
testo. Easter cake is a traditional savory cake with cheese flakes.
Among the first courses worthy of note are potato gnocchi with goose
sauce, tagliatelle with meat sauce with chicken giblets and cappelletti
in broth.
As for the second courses, typically Perugian are the
stuffed and roast pigeon in carriage, the pork porchetta, and the mixed
grilled roasts.
The herb, or various wild country herbs boiled
and sautéed in a pan with oil and garlic, represents the most
traditional side dish.
The typical desserts are the torcolo di
San Costanzo, characteristic for the celebrations of the Patron Saint
(29 January), in the shape of a donut with pine nuts, anise seeds,
raisins and candied fruit, and the Ciaramicola, a torcolo with pink
crumb and white meringue crust, typically Easter dessert. Typical
biscuits for the period of the Commemoration of the Dead (November 2nd)
are the Fave dei morti and the Stinchetti or Ossi dei morti based on
almond paste. Frappe and Strufoli are typical carnival desserts.
By plane
Perugia Airport — is located 12 km to the east in the
direction of Assisi. Connects Italian and European cities.
Other
international airports close to Umbria are those of Pisa (230km from
Perugia), Rome-Fiumicino (210km from Perugia) and Ciampino.
By
car
Perugia is just off the A1 motorway that runs from Rome to Milan.
Approximate travel times are 2.5 hours from Rome, 1 hour from Orvieto
(76 km), 6 hours from Milan, 1 hour from Florence (154 km). Perugia is
also accessible from other parts of Italy by car via the motorway.
On the train
1 Perugia Station (Perugia Fontivegge), Piazza
Vittorio Veneto. The main station, with connections to the city by bus,
taxi and mini-metro.
All the connections are present on the
Trenitalia website. The Perugia-Rome route is covered between 2 hours
and 50 minutes and 3 hours at a cost of around €11.
2 S. Agnese
Station. Regional station. It serves the cities of: Sansepolcro, San
Giustino, Città di Castello, Umbertide, Perugia, Deruta, Marsciano,
Fratta Todina, Todi, Massa Martana, Acquasparta, Montecastrilli,
Sangemini, Terni.
By bus
3 Bus terminal, Piazza Partigiani.
The terminal for all extra-urban buses covered by the regional Bus
Italia service. The private company Sulga operates daily connections on
the following routes:
Assisi-Perugia-Deruta-Todi-Rome-Fiumicino
airport
Ravenna-Forlì-Cesena-Sansepolcro-Città di
Castello-Perugia-Rome-Fiumicino airport.
By public transport
Minimetrò, ☎ +39 075 5058753, ☎ 800 910348,
fax: +39 075 5155133, info@minimetrospa.it. €1.50 single journey, €5.40
tourist one day. Mon-Sat 07:00-21:20, Sun and holidays 08:30-20:30.
Minimetrò is in fact a tram-funicular with technological innovations
that allows you to overcome the differences in height of the city of
Perugia. It makes stops at the Perugia-Fontivegge railway station. The
closest stops to the center are Cupa and Pincetto (currently the
terminus).
Note that the Minimetrò stops and route are visible in the
map above by ticking "transport network" among the options on the map
itself.
Perugia is covered by an urban bus service which can be
consulted here. There are also minibuses and buses to go to the centre.
By taxi
Radio taxi, ☎ +39 0755004888. Oct-Jun 18:00-02:00,
Jul-Sep 24 hours.
Taxi stations:
Fontivegge station Tel. +39
0755010800
Corso Vannucci Tel. +39 0755721979
Piazza Italia Tel.
+39 0755736092
Largo Cacciatori delle Alpi Tel. +39 0755736096
By car
Traveling by car, especially in the central areas, can be
difficult due to traffic restrictions and the limited parking available,
unless you rely on paid parking.
It is almost impossible to
access the Historic Center by car unless you have a confirmed
reservation with a hotel. Even outside the center you drive very slowly
on the many one-way cobblestone streets and you can end up wandering
around a lot looking for parking spaces. It is advisable to drive as
little as possible and move around on foot. The main car park for
tourists is in Piazza Partigiani. From there you can take a series of
escalators (hopefully most of them are in operation!) up to the old
town. There are lots of interesting things to see on the way as the
route is carved through the Rocca Paolina, the medieval citadel. More
information on parking can be found on this site.
Saba parking
Piazza Partigiani, Piazza Partigiani, ☎ +39 075 573 2506.
Saba
Pellini car park, Viale Pompeo Pellini, ☎ +39 075 573 6319. Automatic
parking.
Escalators
In many parts of the city, to overcome the
noticeable differences in height, there are free escalators that allow
you to tackle the steepest and longest climbs without problems.
Escalator via Priori, via Priori/via Pellini. It leads to the parking
area in via Pellini.
Escalator Piazza Italia, Piazza Italia.
There is probably no city in the world that better rewards the casual
explorer in the sheer variety of landscapes than he. You can walk along
the medieval aqueduct, transformed into a characteristic hanging
pedestrian path, which connects two of the city's hills, passing the
doors of the houses to look over the edge at the access doors. You can
walk along the Via dalle Volta della Pace, which follows the Etruscan
wall of the city, but is now entirely arched by a Gothic portico. You
may come across cobbled streets that have the unique combination of
slopes interrupted by small steps that only Italians seem to master. The
wide, traffic-free Corso Vannucci, named for Perugino, is what makes
Perugia truly beautiful. You can laugh with the students of the
International University on the steps of the Cathedral at one end or
admire the Corso from those steps to sit on a bench at the other end and
look out over the hills of Umbria where the sun sets.
Frontone
Gardens, Borgo XX Giugno. Gardens with panoramic views.
Libreria Cavour (Esoteric bookshop), Corso Cavour, 79, ☎ +39 075 572 9198, cavouresoterica@yahoo.it. Mon-Sat 10am-1pm/3pm-8pm. In addition to selling texts, the bookshop organizes various activities and conferences also visible on YouTube.
Modest prices
1 Gelateria Gambrinus, Via Luigi Bonazzi 3, ☎ +39
075 573 5620. Sun-Thu 11am-8pm, Fri-Sat 11am-midnight. Excellent ice
cream shop.
2 Punto di Vista (Bar), Viale Indipendenza, 12. Open-air
bar in summer. Nice cocktails and (as the name says) a great view.
3
Pasticceria dell'Accademia, Via dei Priori, 52, ☎ +39 075 573 4384.
4
Alphaville, Via Sant'Ercolano, 30, ☎ +39 333 473 9847. Mon-Sun
10:00-20:00. This bar offers smoothies, cakes and desserts with natural
ingredients.
Average prices
5 La botte, Via Volte della Pace,
31, ☎ +39 075 572 2679, info@ristorantelabotte.com. Restaurant and
pizzeria
6 Dal Mi' Cocco, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, 12, ☎ +39 075 573
2511. Restaurant with traditional Umbrian cuisine.
7 Pizzeria
Mediterranea, Piazza Piccinino, 11, ☎ +39 075 572 4021. It consists of
two rooms, the first with a brick oven and a buffet where an expert
pizza chef slides freshly baked pizzas onto the stone hearth. This
restaurant is always busy. Prices range from 5 to 10 euros per pizza.
The pizzas are also available to take away.
8 Osteria Il Gufo, Via
della Viola, 18, ☎ +39 333 189 2542. Tue-Sat 8pm-1am. An excellent
tavern with good green salads and decent prices. The homemade Limoncello
is a nice touch.
9 Il Settimo Seal, Via Ulisse Rocchi, 1, ☎ +39
0755724306.
10 Pizzeria La Romantica, Borgo XX Giugno, 9 (Next to
Porta San Pietro.), ☎ +39 075 372 1406.
11 Trattoria del Borgo, Via
della Sposa, 23/a, ☎ +39 075 572 0390. Good characteristic cuisine with
internal courtyard.
High prices
12 Ristorante Il Vizio, Via
Bruno buozzi, 1, ☎ +39 075 5171722, info@ristoranteilvizio.it. Il Vizio
is international cuisine and quality sushi in a refined and elegant
environment. Possibility of Sushi takeaway and home delivery.
13 La
Taverna, Via delle Streghe, 8, ☎ +39 075 572 4128. Excellent quality of
food. In summer you eat in a lovely outdoor alley.
Average prices
1 Hotel Astor, Piazza Vittorio Veneto, 1 (In the
main station forecourt), ☎ +39 075 500 6843. €57-70 (Oct 2017).
B&B
Le Naiadi, Via Bonazzi, 17 (In the historic centre), ☎ +39 333 7417408,
paola@beblenaiadi.com. The apartment that houses the B&B is on the
second floor of a recently renovated ancient building.
2 Tenuta dei
Mori, via XXIV Maggio, 17 (Villanova 15 minutes from Perugia), ☎ +39 075
87 87 121, info@tenutadeimori.com. Surrounded by greenery in a family
environment. It has four apartments, of various sizes, and one bedroom,
all recently renovated. The panoramic terrace and swimming pool are
available to guests.
3 Villa Nuba (Valuable Residences) (Str.
Eugubina,70), ☎ +39 0755725765, fax: +39 0755725765,
info@perugiarentals.com. Elegant residences for rent in a historic villa
a stone's throw from the historic center of Perugia - Every comfort -
salt water swimming pool, barbecue area, playground, aromatic herb
garden, Jacuzzi, wood-burning fireplaces and parking.
High prices
4 Sina Brufani, Piazza Italia, 12, ☎ +39 075 5732541,
sinabrufani@sinahotels.com. Five star hotel.
5 Best Western Hotel
Quattrotorri, Via Corcianese, 260, ☎ +39 075 5171722,
info@hotelquattrotorriperugia.com. Four star hotel and Conference
Centre.
6 Albergo Gio, Viale R. D, Via Ruggero D'Andreotto, 19, ☎ +39
075 573 1100. Hotel and conference centre.
The historic center of Perugia lies on a system of hills at a height
of approximately 450 m above sea level. At the highest point, Porta
Sole, the height is 494 m, a characteristic that makes it the most
populated Italian city among those located at an altitude above 250
meters. The historic center develops around this point and on the ridge
of the hills that branch off from it, forming an acropolis and five
medieval villages extended over five gates. In the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, a new and definitive 9 km long wall was added to
the original Etruscan walls, 3 km long, almost completely intact and
delimiting an area of 120 hectares. The historic city is therefore
mainly stretched along the ridges, with a major axis of 3 km between
Monte Ripido (to the north) and San Costanzo (to the south) and a minor
axis of 1.5 km between S. Francesco and Monteluce.
The historic
districts are: Porta Sole, Porta Sant'Angelo, Porta S. Susanna, Porta
Eburnea and Porta S. Pietro, which for centuries corresponded to the
respective segments of the rural territory, subject to the city since
the origins of the municipal government. Each neighborhood is based on a
main street or street on which the alleys converge; there are convents,
bell towers, basilicas, churches, oratories, chapels, noble palaces
(about a hundred), smaller palaces and terraced houses in the alleys.
The territory beyond the historic center descends all around to 280 m
above sea level. of Pian di Massiano. The territory of the municipality
reaches 170 m above sea level, touched along the course of the Tiber
river, which to the south marks the border with the municipality of
Torgiano.
Perugia is located in the hinterland of central Italy
at the widest point of the Peninsula. It is the largest city between
Florence and Rome, located in an intermediate position: about 150 km
away from Florence, Rome and Ancona, about 400 km from Milan, Genoa and
Naples.
The municipal territory has an area, among the largest in
Italy, of 449.92 km², the population density is 363.38 inhabitants/km².
It extends over the territory of its historic countryside, dotted with
hamlets, castles, villas and rural houses. It is divided into hills,
mountains and plains, has 85 neighborhoods and hamlets, over one hundred
school buildings, 54 cemeteries, approximately 3000 km of roads. The
contemporary urban area, which from the historic center and the first
suburbs today touches and incorporates the nearby inhabited centers
developed after the Second World War, conforms to a frayed and
discontinuous urban fabric, interspersed with cultivated fields and
countryside residues, approximately 20 km long from Villa Pitignano in
San Martino in Campo, from Taverne di Corciano to Ferriera di Torgiano
and Ospedalicchio, or effectively adding the neighboring municipalities
of Corciano (21,000 inhabitants), Torgiano (6,000 inhabitants) and
Bastia Umbra (22,000 inhabitants. ).
The Perugian acropolis seems
to be built on a single hill but in reality there are two: the Colle del
Sole and the Landone hill. The greatest depression between the two hills
extends from the Santa Margherita ditch, to the east, to the Cupa ditch,
to the west. The Etruscans chose this area as it was rich in water, but
it was soon realized that the terrain is also prone to landslides, which
over the centuries has given rise to powerful foundations and
fortifications which still require constant maintenance interventions in
several places.
The territory is part of the Nestore Valley, and
the municipality is watered by the Caina, the Genna, the Nestore and the
main Tiber, which in Marsciano collects the waters of the Nestore, into
which Genna and Caina flow.
To the north, Mount Tezio and Mount
Acuto separate it from the municipality of Umbertide, to the west a
strip of territory reaches the hills surrounding Lake Trasimeno. To the
east, the first hilly spurs of the Umbria-Marche Apennines divide it
from the municipal territories of Assisi and Gubbio.
«Enter
Tupino and the water that descends
of the hill chosen by the blessed
Ubaldo,
fertile high mountain coast hangs,
where Perugia feels
cold and hot
from Porta Sole; and in return he cries for them
due
to a serious yoke Nocera with Gualdo.
Of this coast, where it fringes
more his kindness, a sun was born into the world,
as this sometimes
does of Ganges.
But whoever speaks of this place,
don't say
Ascesis, because he would say short,
but Orïente, if you really want
to say so.»
(Dante Alighieri Divine Comedy – Paradise: Canto XI)
Perugia enjoys a temperate internal sub-coastal climate with an average annual temperature of just over 13°C. The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of 4.2 °C, the warmest July, with averages slightly below 23 °C. Annual rainfall is generally between 800 and 900 mm (850 mm for the period 1961-1990, distributed over 96 days). Sometimes in winter the precipitation becomes snowy. Below we report the most significant climate data recorded in the period 1961-1990. The city observatory is located at 520 m above sea level.
The toponym "Perugia" could be of Etruscan origin and was rendered by
the Romans as "Perusia" but a much older Indo-European attribution is
reasonable, attributable to the first Umbrian village, the initial
nucleus of that city subsequently re-founded by the Etruscan minority
who joined the first inhabitants. The result of Indo-European per-roudja
'reddish', derivation from Indo-European reudh 'red' (IEW 872) with
savina solution dj in 'z' and the semi-closed o (the vowel 'o' did not
exist in the Etruscan language) could be linked to the practice of the
ancient Umbrians of covering the log palisade to defend the treblo with
clay plaster, the fortified settlement on the top of the hill from afar
would therefore have appeared like a reddish band.
The oldest
attestation of the name appears to be in an Etruscan stele from the 7th
century BC. found in Vetulonia, dedicated to the warrior Irumina
Phersnachs (Phersna: Perugia and -ch: coming from, therefore the
Perugian). In the past the name Perugia was also derived from the Greek
"periousa", meaning "which is high", but the Greek origin of the name of
an Etruscan city seems unfounded.
In ancient times, Perugia was in a border position between Etruscan
and Umbrian peoples. The first known settlements date back to the 11th
and 10th centuries BC, with the presence of villages near the slopes of
the Perugian hills and starting from the 8th century BC. also on the top
of the hill where the city stands. According to Cato the Elder, Perugia
was originally the seat of the Umbrians, in particular the Sarsinati.
The urban fabric, however, is Etruscan, with the city nucleus forming
around the second half of the 6th century BC; the layout of the Etruscan
necropolises is indirect evidence of the expansion of the first urban
fabric.
Perugia's rapid development was favored by its dominant
position over the artery of the Tiber river. Perugia quickly became one
of the most important Etruscan cities and one of the 12 Lucumonias,
acquiring itself in the 4th century BC. of a city wall still visible
today.
With the battle of Sentino (295 BC), Perusia and much of the rest of
Umbria entered the Roman orbit, preserving the use of Etruscan,
documented in the city until the late Republican age and maintaining an
albeit limited municipal autonomy. During the Second Punic War the city
remained faithful to Rome and gave refuge to the Romans defeated in the
battle of Lake Trasimeno (217 BC).
Starting from the 1st century
BC, following the social war, Perugia integrated with Rome, with the
concession in 89 BC. of citizenship. The city is one of the scenarios of
the civil war between Octavian and Mark Antony's faction, starring the
latter's brother, Lucius. It was burned in 41 BC. during the Bellum
Perusinum. A few years later the emperor Augustus rebuilt the city and
allowed it to boast the title of Augusta Perusia. Remodeled according to
Roman styles, Perugia expands while maintaining the Etruscan road
structure in the central nucleus. In 7 AD it became part of Augustus'
Regio VII Etruria, also mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis
Historia.
In the imperial age the city developed beyond the
Etruscan walls. In the second half of the 3rd century AD. the emperor
Vibio Treboniano Gallo, born in Perugia, gave her the iuscoloniae.
In this period of the early Middle Ages, there were no significant
events in Perugia, not even for the citizens who lived there. An
important connection center between the Via Amerina and the Flaminia, in
493 Perugia was conquered by Theodoric's Ostrogoths. In 537 the
Byzantine troops of Belisarius clashed with the Ostrogothic troops of
Vitige right near Perugia. In 548 Totila conquered the city after a long
siege and killed the bishop Herculaneum. With the end of the Ostrogoths
and until the 8th century, the city remained under Byzantine rule,
except for two brief periods of occupation by the Lombards at the end of
the 6th century.
Starting from the second half of the 8th
century, Perugia entered the sphere of influence of the Papacy, which
was in turn linked in various ways to the Carolingian Empire, and was
governed in the following two centuries by an episcopal government.
Towards the end of the 10th century, the figure of Pietro Vincioli
appears, a noble Perugian abbot of the Benedictine Order, who worked for
the construction of the church and monastery of San Pietro.
In 1139 there was the first attestation of the Government of the
Consuls called Priors and of the birth of the Municipality. At the
beginning of the 12th century, power was divided between the Consuls, a
general assembly (the Arengo) and a minor council. In the second half of
the century Perugia had a wide sphere of influence in the surrounding
countryside, having expanded its territories towards Gubbio and Città di
Castello to the north and towards Città della Pieve, Lake Trasimeno and
Val di Chiana to the west-northwest. In 1198 the city accepted the
protection of Innocent III, remaining Guelph. In 1216 Pope Innocent III
died there, having come to the city to resolve some conflicts that had
arisen with Città di Castello and Gubbio. The conclave for the election
was held in Perugia, where nineteen cardinals gathered and elected
Honorius III as the new pope. From that moment it became one of the
seats of the papacy, being a much safer refuge than the capital, at the
time plagued by wars between nobles.
In 1286 there were 41 arts.
The 13th century was a great period for the Municipality, from an urban
planning point of view. The Etruscan walls, damaged by time, fires and
wars, were restored and raised. The homes of the nobles and those of the
richest bourgeois were equipped with towers. The city came to possess up
to seventy of them, as reported by some chroniclers, earning it the
nickname of Turrena. Over time they became an expression of the power of
noble and rich families. They served as defensive positions in the
turbulent political agonies of the time or as depots of weapons and
wealth.
Currently there are not many left, the greatest testimony
still intact of this period of expansion is the Torre degli
Sciri; other towers are still visible incorporated into the facades of
buildings. The Municipality extended its sphere of influence over Assisi
(1205) and Foligno (1289) and experienced an impressive urban
development that continued until around the middle of the fourteenth
century. The city was administered at the time by a mercantile
government, exercised by the Priors, elected from among those enrolled
in the arts, and based in the Palazzo dei Priori (13th-15th century). In
the second half of the thirteenth century Perugia was at the height of
its power as an autonomous state and controlled a territory that
extended across a good part of present-day Umbria and which explains the
considerable size that the province and municipality of Perugia presents
today. The power of the city and the municipal organization is
represented by the majestic fountain sculpted by Giovanni and Nicola
Pisano, which, since 1280, has been located in front of the buildings of
the civil and religious power of the city.
The Flagellants
movement, founded by Raniero Fasani in 1260, was also known as the
Crociferi. Raniero Fasani, a hermit, was the main promoter, practicing
self-flagellation with a sackcloth habit and discipline of thongs. The
movement quickly spread outside the city. This movement developed as a
means of atonement for sins, attributing the plague as divine punishment
for sins.
The judiciary of the priors was established in 1303.
«The Priory actually presents itself and acts as the pivot of a
completely new system born from a small revolution within the popular
regime; the Priors will remain active, apart from a brief interruption
in the years 1540-52, until 1816, a sign of the validity and flexibility
of the judiciary".
From 1305 the papacy was transferred to
Avignon and in 1378 it faced the great schism within Western
Christianity. Therefore the Church, the main obstacle to full autonomy
of the municipality of Perugia, is going through one of the worst phases
in its history. Consequently, the Umbrian city, which nominally belonged
to the lands of the papacy for about two centuries, continued its
expansionary policy until the mid-fourteenth century. In 1308 the
University was established, while in 1342 the Statute was drawn up in
the vernacular. Despite the Black Death and its victims, Perugia still
showed signs of strength in 1352 and 1358, when it first defeated
Bettona, destroying it, and then Siena and Cortona (Battle of Torrita).
In 1370, the management of the city of Perugia was divided between
two political factions: the Raspanti, in the majority, who represented
the city's arts such as exchange workers, shoemakers, artisans and
merchants, and the Beccherini, in the minority, who represented the
nobility. The common people had no representatives.
Pope Gregory
This legate had brought with him a contingent of 4000 knights and 1000
infantry with the aim of ensuring the submission of the city to the
Pope. The cardinal had also appointed 70 "proscribed" among the
Raspanti, who had to maintain a humble behavior or they would be exiled
. Cardinal Abate was extremely authoritarian and cruel. He had issued
severe sentences and prohibited gatherings of more than three people. He
had taken control of the Palazzo dei Priori, while the Priors had been
transferred elsewhere.
In December 1375, the city rebelled
against the authorities of Cardinal Abate and besieged the two forts
that he had built. The rebellion led to the destruction of connections
between the forts and other parts of the city. The rebels managed to
shore up the overlapping arches to prevent them from completely
collapsing. Ultimately, the Abbot abandoned the city in January 1376,
with the help of the mercenary captain Giovanni Acuto, who acted as
mediator between the conflicting parties. The Abbot's goods seized by
the people were subsequently returned.
In 1393 in Perugia, there were bloody fights between rival factions:
between the popular party called Raspanti and between the noble party of
the Beccherini. The latter were exiled and forced to retreat outside the
city walls to their country fiefdoms. A group of twenty-five priors took
over the government of the city and they asked Michelotti, welcomed with
all honors into the city, to preside over the government. It is in this
period that the first lordship occurred, remembered for its brevity but
also characterized by a period of important reforms. Biordo, concerned
with extending his possessions, confirmed the authority of the Priors
and municipal institutions.
On 10 March 1398 Michelotti's
lordship of Perugia came to an end with his life. The lord, after
marrying Giovanna Orsini, was murdered by some members of another
Perugian family fighting for power, the Guidalotti. In a short time the
lordship, which had extended its influence over a large part of the
current Umbria region in just a few years, fell apart.
His
younger brother, Ceccolino attempted to avenge him and, having gathered
his followers, returned to Perugia accompanying the entry of the new
lord Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1400. He, however, had the misfortune of
running into the fearsome Braccio da Montone, exiled by Biordo
Michelotti , whose services he had refused, who killed him, putting an
end to the family saga and favoring the return to power of the noble
Baglioni house.
Michelotti's death removed an important point of reference, the factions threatened stability inside and outside the walls. Meanwhile, the twenty-five worked to find an institution that could protect the city and repay a very high debt. On the part of the people, the requests for independence were no longer so pressing and in the fifteenth century the belief of having to accept a lord or master capable of guaranteeing the minimum subsistence requirements was common knowledge. The choice fell on the Duchy of Milan, and on 21 January 1400 Gian Galeazzo Visconti was proclaimed lord of Perugia for the voluntary dedication of the city. And he, on the embassy of ten that Perugia had sent to him, the debt of the Perugians was cancelled. His lordship did not last long, and on 3 October 1402, Visconti passed away.
In November 1410 Braccio besieged Perugia from Porta San Pietro,
without succeeding in his aim due to the tenacious resistance of the
population, but defeated the troops of Angelo Tartaglia and Ceccolino
Michelotti, who pursued him in his retreat towards Torgiano. The centers
of the countryside are so terrified by his incursions with fire and
sword that they surrender or pay large sums to avoid being attacked. In
April 1416 Braccio left Romagna and headed towards Perugia with a large
army. The first attack on the city took place on May 4th, but the city
managed to resist it. Faced with the tenacity of the Braccio army, the
Raspanti party, supported by the Pope, entrusted the defense to Carlo I
Malatesta, appointed Defender of the Perugians for the Holy Church. The
clash takes place on 12 July in Sant'Egidio, which ends with Braccio's
victory. So he heads to Perugia and settles outside in the Olivetan
Convent in Monte Morcino Vecchio. The Perugians had no choice but to
offer him lordship[10]. Braccio made his official entry into the city on
19 July, thus decreeing the end of the Raspanti government. The lordship
of the victorious leader was one of the great pages of Perugian history.
Braccio Fortebraccio did not reveal himself to be a despotic prince,
although he never felt satisfied with the conquest of the city. In 1417
he entered Rome with his militias and, under the pretext of protecting
it in the name of the pontiff, he settled in the Vatican, proclaiming
himself Defensor Urbis. He was forced to leave again due to the plague
that claimed victims among his army. Back in Umbria he urged the Pope to
confirm him in the role that he had practically already attributed to
himself. To achieve his goal, Braccio laid siege to the cities of
Gubbio, Assisi, Ancona, Todi, Spoleto, Orvieto, forcing Pope Martin V to
choose the lesser evil, appointing him his Vicar.
Upon his return
from Florence, where the leader met with the Pope to confirm his role,
Perugia welcomed him amid general jubilation. Braccio dedicated himself
to the creation of numerous public works, paying for the works thanks to
the huge sums looted previously and launching numerous public projects
such as, for example, Braccio's residence in the square, of which only
the loggias remain, or the Sopramuro. His stay in the city did not last
long. Martin V called him to reconquer Bologna, Alfonso the Magnanimous
wanted him at his side against Louis III of Anjou. Fortinbras was a man
of arms and not of politics, so his brilliant military successes were
echoed by an increasingly unstable and confused situation in his city,
subject to the oppression of those who governed in his place. The
situation again required his intervention, so he returned to the city
and got rid of the regents.
At the invitation of Alfonso and
Giovanna, he returned to Calabria, from which he returned, stopping at
the gates of L'Aquila. The city did not want to open its doors to the
heroic leader, who without thinking twice, decided to lay siege to it.
Fortinbras' stubbornness led him to a useless and dangerous battle. The
climate towards him was about to change, since both the Pope and the
Queen of Naples feared having to crown a new monarch, as cumbersome as
he was good and lucky in battle. His fortune is mentioned in
Machiavelli's The Prince.
Fortune abandoned him definitively when
a league made up of all the forces that had coalesced in the meantime
launched themselves against his army near Pescara. His war exploits
ended on 2 June 1424 outside the walls of L'Aquila, mortally wounded in
the head with a nailed club blow. Three days later he died and was
buried, by order of Martin V, in deconsecrated ground outside the gate
of San Lorenzo. Only eight years later did his son Niccolò obtain
permission to dig up his father's remains, returning with the coffin to
the city of Perugia with the utmost honors.
Under the Baglioni family between 1438 and the first decades of the
following century, the city established itself as an important artistic
center of the Umbrian Renaissance. The most important painters of this
era in the city were Benedetto Bonfigli, Bartolomeo Caporali, Bernardino
di Betto known as Il Pinturicchio and Perugino from Pieve who lived and
died in the city. Raffaello Sanzio, who created a Coronation of the
Virgin for the Oddi Chapel in San Francesco al Prato, and Pietro Aretino
who studied painting there and later attended the local university,
received their cultural education in Perugia.
Once Braccio da
Montone's exploits were over, a new noble government, the Baglioni,
began to emerge in Perugia. Malatesta who returned to Perugia following
Fortebraccio, healing his position as an exile. According to the
chronicles he was the first to enter the city after the battle of
Sant'Egidio and the last to abandon the field after the unfortunate
siege of L'Aquila. Malatesta I Baglioni died in Spello in 1437 and was
buried in San Francesco al Prato, among the remains of Biordo
Michelotti, the one who had taken his homeland away from him, and
Fortebraccio da Montone, the one who had given it back to him. The
Baglioni lordship was founded by Braccio I Baglioni. He worked in the
pay of Florence first and then of the pontiff, with whom he accumulated
honors and glory. He acquired great authority over the Perugian
judiciary, but always operated with caution without ever depriving the
people of his institutions. In Perugia as in Florence there was the
"occult Lordship". He ruled until 1479. The lordship passed to the
brothers Guido and Rodolfo.
At that time, the true inspirer and
"guardian" of the politics of the city of Perugia was Lorenzo de'
Medici, the balance of power of Italian politics. He took into great
consideration the importance of having that republic inserted between
the Lordship of Florence and the Church. The lordship of Guido and
Rodolfo Baglioni was therefore inspired by both the Medici and the
pontiff, entrusting the two with the task of ruling the city with equal
responsibilities. From the first years of their lordship, the internal
situation appeared unsustainable, characterized by increasingly violent
arguments and brawls which often resulted in actual crimes, of which the
victims were sometimes members of the Baglioni family, sometimes the
Oddi family, sometimes the Ranieri family. in eternal competition for
supremacy. Not even the intervention of Pope Sixtus IV was able to put a
stop to the numerous episodes of private revenge which could be
witnessed on an almost daily basis. Least of all did the lordship of the
two Baglionis, Guido and Rodolfo, prove capable of limiting such
episodes, which indeed often involved members of the family itself.
The divisions among the Perugian nobles reached their peak around
the middle of the 15th century, when two real factions were created, one
headed by Florence, the other by the Pope.
The two families most
hated among them were those of the Oddi and the Baglioni. The situation
worsened on 30 October 1488. The Baglioni barricaded themselves in the
center of Perugia, controlling the entire stretch from the Fontana
Maggiore to the current Piazza della Repubblica (today's Corso Vannucci)
from the loopholes. The Oddi family failed to surprise them in their
homes through the agreed opening of an entrance in via della cage, and
were forced to flee and retreat out of the city, after being targeted by
blows inflicted by the rival family.
While the two families
fought for supremacy in Perugia, diplomatic relations with the church
entered into crisis but thanks to the intervention of Lorenzo the
Magnificent, they were healed. It was therefore the work of the
Magnificent that the situation became more relaxed between Perugia and
Pope Innocent VIII, while the hatred between the Baglioni and the Oddis
remained smoldering under the ashes, between attempted sorties and hints
of skirmishes near the walls.
In 1492 Perugia lost its two
powerful protectors in one fell swoop, when both Lorenzo de' Medici and
Innocent VIII disappeared between April and June. His successor,
Alexander VI, however, had less time to dedicate to the Perugian
disputes, having to deal with the descent into Italy of Charles VIII, to
defend himself from which, he chose to take refuge in Perugia, entering
the city in 1495 accompanied by sixteen cardinals and an unknown
quantity of bishops. When Charles VIII concluded his adventure along the
entire peninsula, Alexander VI returned peacefully to Rome, leaving
Perugia once again in the intricate web of local factions.
The
Oddi did not resign themselves to their fate, they always tried to
reconstitute an army capable of forcing the resistance of the Baglioni.
Having gathered around six thousand men, they entered the city on 3
September, bribing one of the Ten of the Arbitrio, Lodovico degli
Armanni, who favored the revolt by having the entrances to the city
thrown open. The attempt failed and was bloodily quelled, with the
result of further strengthening the power of the Baglioni.
Apart
from the events in the city, the figure of Astorre I leader deserves
mention from the Baglioni family, who after strenuous resistance died
together with Bragadin in the siege of Famagusta which ended tragically
on 1 August 1571.
The sudden death of Malatesta Baglioni left a power vacuum, which
Pope Clement VII did not hesitate to take advantage of. He exiled him
far from Perugia and confiscated the assets of Baglioni's descendants,
without however completely resolving the Perugian question. The death of
Clement VII in 1534 left his successor Paul III with the problem of the
existence of a Lordship under the protection of the State of the Church.
The new Pope Paul III, born Alessandro Farnese, immediately proved
to be very attentive to events concerning the city of Perugia. He
visited there often, waiting to make decisions about how best to exploit
the situation. In 1540 the Pope, to counter the Turkish threat and the
Protestant and heretical movements that threatened the Church, decided
to impose new taxes.
The most odious provision par excellence was
the obligation to obtain salt exclusively from the pontifical salt pans,
which charged double the price compared to the Sienese, the usual
suppliers of the city of Perugia. The unjustified increase would have
crushed the Perugian economy. Perugia initially reacted to this act by
eliminating salt from the production of bread, and entrusting
twenty-five illustrious citizens with the task of managing resistance to
papal authority. The popular council convened by the Priors who declared
it inapplicable, decided to send ambassadors to Rome to protest against
the proposal deemed to be in conflict with the agreements already
established with the previous pontiffs. In response, on 17 March 1540,
despite the evidence of the abuse, the pontiff had the Bull of
excommunication of the Perugian population delivered to Aligero, papal
vice-legate and Alfano Alfani, head of the priors. In the meantime, the
Pope, determined to counter popular insubordination, recalled the legate
Jacovacci to Rome and during the consistory expressed his desire to
resort to armed intervention against the city of Perugia.
On
April 1, 1540, the papal militias led by Pier Luigi Farnese, Gonfalonier
of the Church, were sighted in the Perugian territory. His infantry was
under the orders of the field master Alessandro da Terni, and it is
thought that the historical rivalry between Perugia and Terni derives
from here, in fact, a Terni man responsible for the fall of Perugia. The
papal army mobilized by the Farnese (8000 Italians and 400
Landsknechts), began to devastate the territory of Foligno, Assisi and
Bastia, encountering little resistance. The Perugian army could only
count on the prestige of Ascanio della Corgna, a young Perugian leader.
Having failed the peace mediation undertaken by the Viceroy of Naples,
Don Pedro de Toledo, the Perugians still hoped in the support of the
Florentine duke Cosimo I de' Medici who was in open conflict with Pope
Paul III and in the love of country of the leader Ridolfo Baglioni,
former Lord of Perugia, hired by Duke Cosimo with a profitable contract.
On 16 May Baglioni, having returned to his homeland, was welcomed with
great enthusiasm by the entire population of Perugia. But rather than to
fight, Ridolfo returned to his homeland with the hidden intention of
negotiating the surrender of his city. The first attack of the papal
militias was led by Tomassoni, who first fought valiantly against
Ridolfo's cavalry and then headed to the siege of the castle of
Torgiano, located in a strategic position at the confluence of the Tiber
and the Chiascio. The castle of Torgiano had been protected by a
semicircular moat designed by Della Corgna. The proud leader from Terni
made up for himself by definitively defeating Ascanio della Corgna's
troops at Ponte S. Giovanni and Pretola.
The Papal troops, after
having devastated the inhabitants of the Perugian countryside, headed
towards the ascent of Perugia, reaching under the walls. Instead of
obstructing the enemy's advance frontally, Baglioni limited himself to
countering the Farnese militias with artillery shots fired from Porta
Sole. On 3 June in the Monastery of Monteluce, Ridolfo Baglioni with the
field commissioner Gerolamo Orsini negotiated the capitulation of
Perugia . The dissolution of the Twenty-five followed. The war ended
with the defeat of the Perugians and the loss of its civic freedoms and
its centuries-old autonomy in order not to accept the hateful salt tax
imposed by the Pope. In protest, they stopped salting their bread and
since then we have eaten bland bread. It once again came under the
direct control of the Papal States which forced the citizens to build
the imposing Rocca Paolina, where a papal garrison was established.
Alessandro Tomassoni da Terni, exploiting his knowledge in the field of
military fortifications, collaborated between 1540 and 1541 with Antonio
da Sangallo the Younger (1484-1546) on the reorganization of the area
where the Rocca Paolina would later be built, commissioned by the
pontiff on the site where the houses of the Baglioni and other important
people stood to reaffirm the city's submission to the Papal State. For a
long time, the Rocca Paolina was hated by the people of Perugia, as it
was a symbol of papal power and for having "taken away the sunlight"
from the populations involved.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the ecclesiastical state was consolidated throughout Umbria through the provincial governor of Perugia. Feudal jurisdictions such as the Baglioni State around Bettona disappear «while the events relating to the War of Castro end up overwhelming the duchy of Castiglione del Lago and Chiugi created by Julius III in favor of the Della Corgna nephews. The definitive inclusion of Perugia and its territory in the vast structure of the State of the Church determines an inexorable withdrawal of the city in on itself with its consequent exit from the Italian and international commercial traffic routes. The wealthy classes of citizens, who identified with the patriciate, increasingly link their interests to land ownership. Ultimately there are three characteristics of the Perugian patriciate: "absentee" management of the property, exercise of the legal profession, "visibly" noble lifestyle ».
Starting from the mid-16th century and until its reunification with
Italy (1860), Perugia experienced a long period of demographic and
economic stagnation, becoming similar to the rest of the pontifical
provinces. However, from an architectural and artistic point of view,
the city will continue to be enriched with valuable buildings and make
use of the work of a series of high-level professional artists. Many of
the patrician residences that today embellish Perugia date back to this
period (including the Donini, Della Penna, Gallenga-Stuart and
Conestabile della Staffa palaces) and some prestigious baroque churches,
first of all the one dedicated to San Filippo Neri.
The papal
dominion was interrupted with the arrival of Napoleon, who established,
on 4 February 1798, the Tiber Republic of which Perugia was chosen as
the capital and the French tricolor as the flag. After a month, on 7
March 1798 it joined the Roman Republic which fell in 1799, consequently
returning the city to the Papal States.
On 20 June 1859 the
so-called "Perugia massacres" took place, perpetrated by the Swiss
regiments sent by Pius IX against the patriotic citizens who had
rebelled against the rule of the Papal State.
On 14 September
1860 the Piedmontese troops, 15,000 men under the command of General
Fanti, managed to penetrate the city and conquer it, after having forced
the last garrison of Swiss soldiers barricaded in the Rocca Paolina to
surrender. Then, following the battle of Castelfidardo (18 September),
all the territories of Umbria and Marche were annexed to the Kingdom of
Sardinia. The annexation was made official with the plebiscite of 4
November 1860.
After the Unification of Italy (1861), the new
Italian State will favor Perugia as the capital of a vast province,
which extends as far as Sabina. Only a few decades later, in the 1920s,
this territory will be reduced in size: Perugia remains the capital of
the region, but the passage of Sabina to Lazio and the establishment of
the new Umbrian province of Terni are sanctioned, thus determining the
definitive geographical structure and administrative of the Umbria
region, still in force.
In 1922 the March on Rome was directed from Perugia, precisely from
the Hotel Brufani in Piazza Italia. In 1927 the original Province of
Perugia, which with the formation of the Unitary State in 1861 had
extended over the whole of Umbria including Sabina, was reduced by the
creation of the new provinces of Terni and Rieti. During the twenty
years of fascism, a series of public works and beautification
interventions were undertaken in Perugia. We remember the monument to
Perugino, the Church of San Francesco al Prato, whose façade was
restored in white and pink local stone, the great hall in the university
for foreigners, the Santa Giuliana stadium in 1937, still used today for
the marathons and concerts, the condominium buildings adjacent to the
Sant'Anna railway station, the Alessandro Cenci elementary school, the
fountain in via Maestà delle Volte in 1928, the Higher Institute of
Veterinary Medicine in 1925, the Madonna placed outside the Duomo of San
Lorenzo and other interventions.
During the Second World War, in
the period of German occupation and the Italian Social Republic,
clandestine rescue operations for persecuted Jews were coordinated in
Perugia by Don Federico Vincenti (1885-1955), parish priest of the
church of Sant'Andrea a Porta Santa Susanna, in connection with Father
Aldo Brunacci and DELASEM of Assisi. For this commitment of solidarity,
on 16 July 1997, the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem awarded Don
Federico Vincenti the high honor of the righteous among the nations. On
20 June 1944, a few days after the soldiers abandoned the area Germans,
the British allied troops enter the city from Porta San Pietro. On 24
September 1961, promoted by the anti-fascist intellectual Aldo Capitini,
the first Perugia-Assisi Peace March was organised. In 1970, for its
historical reasons, it was chosen as the capital of the Umbria region.
2000s
In 2017 it became the first Italian city to be entirely
wired with optical fibre.