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 the foundation to the communal era, and the Palazzo dei Priori, which in medieval times was the seat of judicial and administrative activities.
Inside, you should visit the Sala dei Notari with rich 13th-century pictorial decorations; the Nobile Collegio del Cambio, with the Chapel of St. John the Baptist 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 National Gallery of Umbria, which houses a true anthology of Italian painting from Duccio di Boninsegna to Piero della Francesca. A few steps from the square, with its main façade facing Piazza Danti, is the 15th-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 meant 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 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 seat of the University for Foreigners, the Etruscan Walls, the paleochristian church of San Michele Arcangelo (5th-6th century, one of the oldest in Italy), the Tower of the Sciri, the Oratory of San Bernardino.
Second Day: Visit to Orvieto
Perched on a large tuff cliff, which rises suddenly from the gentle lines of the surrounding countryside, Orvieto opens its heart in Piazza del Duomo, a suggestive space, surrounded by ancient palaces and dominated by the 13th-century shape of the Cathedral, whose façade, 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 Fra Angelico.
An experience not to be missed is the climb to the top of the Torre del Moro, where the gaze can freely range beyond the city roofs, over the wonderful countryside.
Museums not to be missed are the Archaeological Museum, the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, and the Claudio Faina Museum, all housing interesting pieces 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 becoming a real cluster carved into the mountain. This city is today visitable with the “Orvieto Underground” itinerary together with the Well of St. Patrick, built in the 16th century by Antonio da Sangallo for Pope Clement VII.
