My day in Perugia.

Saturday morning I started early and did most of the chocolate festival before the crowds really got going. By 11 I had amassed the collection of chocolate seen in the earlier post and it was time to see the sights of Perugia.

Perugia is a hillside Umbrian town with Etruscan roots. The “centro storica” sits at the top of the hill and looks down on the more modern city below. I never ventured outside the historic area other than the cabs to and from the train station. The historic area was full of narrow little lanes and staircases. It was very fun to wander around in but tiring for my legs.

First stop the tourist office. I basically saw that they were having a chocolate festival and decided Perugia for my weekend trip. I didn’t know what else the city had to offer. I was surprised to learn that Perugia has 10 museums. Not sure how many I would see, I went ahead and bought the city pass.

First stop the National Museum. It was an amazing collection of medieval and gothic art. If you like guilded triptychs then Perugia is the place for you. You ramble through an old palace with room after room of alter pieces. They do a good job of moving through time and mixing well known painters with local Umbrian work. There are a few by Raphael’ students (you can see his teachings in their work) and some by Felinpino Lippi.

You start off in a modern art room with just a few large Renaissance paintings and I thought I would blow through it quickly but then it got much better. There were some beautiful paintings. It also holds a lot of ornate church pieces like staffs and chalices. And of course what Italian museum would be complete without a few dozen relics. There is nothing like seeing old bones lovingly displayed in glass boxes or ornate pictures to make you love the Italians.

It took me much longer to go through the museum than I thought and I was starving by the time I was through. Having had nothing but chocolate so far I needed some real food. Thinking I didn’t have time to stop and sit down, I grabbed a tomato, basil and cheese bread thing (not quite a calzone but close) it was delicious. However when I got to the next museum it was closed till 2:30. I had 45 minutes to wait. Should have set down for lunch.

I saw a lot of people coming in and out of these huge doors and decided o check it out. It was the Cathedral San Lorenzo. It didn’t look like a church from the outside but it was amazing inside. The ceilings were all painted and the stain glass was beautiful. Of course there were a few beheading scenes in the paintings. I don’t know why it is almost always a women holding the head. The signs looked like they said no pictures but turns out it was just no flash. I got a few good shots.

From there across the street was another big door that seemed popular. It led to a meeting room with frescos all over the walls. I had viewed it from windows in the national museum but didn’t know it had a separate entry. It also had this pane of stain glass that was just red and pink circles. I loved it. My picture doesn’t do it justice.

I wandered around a bit more before heading back down to the Severo Chapel. It has the only surviving fresco by Raphael. He painted it early in his career before heading to florence. The chapel was tiny just one small room attached to a palace that is no longer all there. I sat down to view it (really to rest a bit) and was joined by the chapel kitten. She came in wrapped herself around my feet then set down on my shoes. She gave me an excuse to linger longer hated to disturb her.

From the chapel I went down in the Etruscan well. I have to say that it was creepy. I don’t know how long the stairs have been there but they were worn with wear. I was the first in my group and had to go to the end so everyone could walk out over the well. Then I had to wait till they were all finished to leave. You had to look hard to see the pool of water at the bottom. I was right up next to the wall and the cold water oozing through the walls was splashing on me and I was getting creeped out. Finally everyone was done and we headed back up. Probably took no more than 5 minutes but I was glad it was over.

I stopped at the house museum which wasn’t on my pass but was only 3 € so decided to do it anyway. It was a house that had been in the same family for years and they were all collectors. They had a crazy book collection the portion on display filled two room. They also collected dishes. These were people I would have fit in with. Maybe some day my collections will be in a museum. One of the later matriarchs was an American who loved to stitch. She opened a stitching school and Perugian cloth became a big hit from the 1930-40s.

It was a guided tour so I learned all about the family. The tour guide would say it all in Italian then switch to english for me. The others were a family and they didn’t seem to be that into it so the tour guide spent most of the time telling me about the art. The best piece in the museum was the chandelier in the dining room. It was murano glass from the 1890s. There were also some great views of the city from the back of the house. They allowed pictures so there are several included in this post.

From there I wandered around trying to find the other places on my map and trying to avoid the festival crowds. I shopped a little and brought I nice necklace hand painted with decorations from a painting in the museum, a scarf (green with white polka dots) and something little for my mom.

I finally found another museum that was attached to the church that didn’t look like a church. It was mostly artifacts from the church. It did have some nice illuminated manuscripts and more alter pieces. The best part is that a lot of it was displayed in the catacombs under the church so you got to see the stone structure that was holding up the enormous building. Though parts looked like a good blow could knock it down. I am sure there is nothing to worry about the building has been standing for centuries.

Figuring I had done enough for one day I started hunting a place for dinner it was about 7 and most places were closed. I finally found something open but there were no seats. I should have just waited there but you never know if the people plan to be there all night or not. I couldn’t find anything else so I decided to just eat at my hotel but it didn’t open till 8. I had a few beers while I waited. Dinner was much fancier than I expected and I am sure I surprised them when I ordered a metzo litre instead of a quarter litre of wine. It took me a while to drink it so I ended up just prolonging my dinner. I had zucchini lasagna with white truffle sauce. It was really good and well worth the splurge. Though how big of a splurge could it be when the first thing they set on my table were some lays potato chips. I don’t know who thinks chips belong at a nice place is beyond me. It wasn’t bad enough that they were sitting on the table you could here other guests crunching on them.

After dinner I stumbled up to bed and said buonanotte to my day in Perugia.

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