Perugia, the Regional County Seat of Umbria, is a town definitely worth discovering for the magnificence of its streets, squares, fountains, as well as the snaky alleys reaching far beyond the Corso, i.e. Main Street, named after Pietro Vannucci, the painter who is universally known as Perugino. At both ends of Main Street rise the highest urban areas: Colle del Sole (Sun Hill), where you will enjoy a breathtaking view on the town walls (some 9 km / 5.5 miles long, partly overlapping with the Etruscan walls); and Colle Landone, now turned into Carducci Park (Giardini), overlooking the Medieval quarters, and landscapes that the sunset will paint in rich hues of red. The relevant difference in height (493 meters, some 1,500 feet) between the hill zone and the plain has been overcome by works of engineering like escalators and elevators, embedded in an environment of great historical significance.
First founded by the Ancient Umbrians, in the sixth century BC Perugia became one of the Etruscan “Twelve Cities,” then was finally defeated by the Roman troops of Octavian Augustus. The sign of his victory, the words Augusta Perusia, can still be seen on top of the Etruscan Arch, amazingly well preserved and recently restored.
Piazza IV Novembre (from November 4, 1918, the end of WWI), the main square, is a gem still enclosing its original Medieval monuments, such as the Great Fountain, the Palace of Priors with its Sala dei Notari, (Hall of Notaries), Saint Lawrence's Cathedral, and the Loggia of Braccio. But the “Great Square,” as it was once called, also hides treasures that cannot be discovered on the surface. From the Chapter Museum of the Cathedral, in fact, you may go down and see Perugia underground: through a maze of passages, the tour crosses the centuries, telling us about Etruscans, Romans, Byzantines, as well as Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Other impressive underground places are the Rocca Paolina, the remains of a fortress willed by Pope Paul III in the mid-16th century in order to fully and forcibly incorporate Perugia in the Papal States; and the Etruscan Well.
