First Day: discovering Perugia
Piazza IV Novembre is the heart of the city, with the splendid Fontana Maggiore, a masterpiece by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, which tells its history from its foundation to the communal era, and Palazzo dei Priori, the seat of judicial and administrative activities in medieval times.
Inside, you should visit the Sala dei Notari with its rich thirteenth-century pictorial decorations; the Nobile Collegio del Cambio, with the Chapel of San Giovanni Battista and the Audience Hall with frescoes by Perugino; and the Nobile Collegio della Mercanzia, with the wooden stalls of the Audience Hall. From the palace, you can access the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, which houses a true anthology of Italian painting from Duccio di Boninsegna to Piero della Francesca. Just a few steps from the square, with its main facade facing Piazza Danti, is the fifteenth-century Cathedral of San Lorenzo, on whose staircase stands the statue of Pope Julius III, much loved by the people of Perugia because he restored their communal freedoms. Inside are works by Signorelli, Benedetto da Maiano, and Domenico del Tasso.
In Piazza Danti there is also the Etruscan Well (4th-3rd century BC), 35 meters deep and 5 meters wide, which was intended to supply water to the city even in case of siege. Not to be missed, in Piazza Raffaello, is the Oratory of the Church of San Severo, with frescoes of the Trinity by Raphael Sanzio (1508) and of the Saints by Perugino (1521). The center still offers many monumental stops, including the Etruscan Arch (3rd century BC); the Church of the Olivetani, Palazzo Gallenga, home of the University for Foreigners, the Etruscan Walls, the early Christian Church of San Michele Arcangelo (5th-6th century, one of the oldest in Italy), the Torre degli Sciri, and the Oratory of San Bernardino.
Second Day: visit to Orvieto
Perched on a large tuff cliff that rises suddenly from the gentle lines of the surrounding countryside, Orvieto reveals its heart in Piazza del Duomo, a suggestive space, surrounded by ancient palaces and dominated by the 13th-century silhouette of the Cathedral, whose facade, wonderfully sculpted, shines with mosaics and polychrome marbles. Inside are housed pictorial masterpieces such as “The Stories of the Antichrist,” “The Resurrection of the Flesh,” “The Reprobates and the Elect,” and the “Last Judgment” (in the Brizio Chapel) by Luca Signorelli, and the Angels on the ceiling vaults by Beato Angelico.
An experience not to be missed is the climb to the top of the Torre del Moro, where the gaze can freely wander beyond the city rooftops, over the wonderful countryside.
Must-see museums are the Archaeological Museum, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, and the Claudio Faina Museum, all housing interesting segments of the so-called Civic Collection. But the beauty of Orvieto is also amplified by the presence of two Etruscan necropolises, located at the base of the Cliff (San Martino-Orvieto Scalo area) and the underground part of the city, expanded during the Middle Ages and used for various purposes until it became a genuine agglomeration carved into the mountain. This city is now visitable through the “Orvieto Underground” itinerary together with the Well of St. Patrick, built in the sixteenth century by Antonio da Sangallo for Pope Clement VII.
