Perugia
Historic Centre Of Perugia, An Etruscan And Medieval Hill City Holding The Galleria Nazionale Dell'Umbria And The Buried Rocca Paolina Fortress · Perugia, Umbria
Perugia is built on a ridge, and the strangest thing about it is how you get in: a series of escalators runs up through the buried remains of a sixteenth-century papal fortress, past streets and houses that were entombed when it was built over them, and delivers you into the middle of the old town. Up there is one of the best medieval public spaces in Italy, a square with a carved fountain at one end, a cathedral that turns its side to you rather than its front, and a town hall holding the national gallery of Umbria, which has Perugino and Piero della Francesca in it. The Etruscans were here first and left a gate so large the Romans simply wrote their own inscription over it. Two universities fill the place with students, there is a jazz festival in July that takes over every square, and the town makes the chocolate the rest of Italy eats. Almost nobody stays the night, which is the mistake: it is the best base in Umbria and everything else in the region is inside an hour.
Piazza IV Novembre, Perugia, Umbria, 06123, Italy
ALL TIMES UNVERIFIED FOR THIS ROW. Broadly: the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria opens daily with one weekly closing day and a last admission before closing, and the state-museum free first Sunday applies. The Collegio del Cambio keeps shorter and more irregular hours with a midday break. The cathedral opens daily with a long midday interval. The Rocca Paolina escalators run from early morning until late evening and stop overnight. The Minimetro runs a standard urban service. Corso Vannucci and the squares never close. Confirm before travelling.