Our first two weeks in Perugia have been a true mix of magical and mundane. On the magical side, we’re living in a charming apartment on the top floor of a 17th century building with rustic wood beams and a stunning view. The history of Perugia goes back to the Etruscans (300 BC) and the streets and architecture still reflect the medieval period. On the mundane side, we experienced near-constant wifi challenges our first nine days here, the weather has been occasionally chilly and rainy, and we’ve had to work a lot (that isn’t Perugia’s fault, just timing). 

We’ve taken two exceptional day trips that fell on absolutely beautiful fall days. I’ll do separate posts for each of those, Assisi and Siena, as well as any day trips we take in our final two weeks. They were each quite magical. But thinking of them reminds me that I’ve fallen behind on this blog again. I still need to do a summary of our time in Tirana and recount our journey across the Adriatic Sea and up the coast from Durres to Bari to Ancona. But in the meantime, here’s why we’re loving Perugia so far:

Our Apartment

We spent a little more than usual on our apartment ($64/night) because it really seemed ideal with two bedrooms (one a perfect office for Chad), two bathrooms, and a fantastic kitchen. However, when we arrived we learned that the more modern bathroom had to be shut off due to leaking into the apartment below, ruining their ceiling frescoes (only in Italy). But the view and the kitchen mostly make up for it.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, the fiber wifi did not work for our first nine days. After a technician came out on day five unable to fix it, we asked the host if they could use an old phone to get a sim card to act as a hotspot, and that worked well for days 6 through 9. Not the fastest but we were able to Zoom and stream, including a Liverpool match. The next technicians who came on day 10 fixed it in about 30 minutes and the fiber has worked great ever since. But for the first few days, the experience of not having reliable wifi was very stressful, especially with our current workloads. Luckily the hosts live right across the street and I was able to use their study for my Zooms prior to getting the hotspot phone. Because of this experience we’ve gotten to know them as well as any hosts we’ve had and they’re really lovely people. They even picked us up from the train station when we first arrived!

The apartment is so comfortable, cosy, and well-equipped (especially the kitchen), we’re enjoying some nice times in, including creating our own aperitivi spread of local meats, cheeses, veggies, and olives. Perugia is known for its chocolate, so we’ve enjoyed trying that, especially the bessos (kisses). I’ve also been enjoying a 1000 piece Miss Marple jigsaw puzzle I bought.  

A Charming College Town

We picked Perugia because it sounded a lot like Padua, where we stayed in northern Italy in 2021. Perugia is a bit smaller at 125,000 residents, but like Padua has a very old university. The University of Perugia which was founded in 1308 (almost 100 years after Padova). Perugia is also home to the University for Foreigners, which is on our block. 

The city is built on a hillside and they are layers of streets running every which way at different levels. No city grid here! The architecture reflects the history and walking the narrow streets is incredibly atmospheric, especially when there’s a bit of mist in the air. Chad was a little worried about finding a place to run because the park near our house, Parco Sant’Angelo, is up a huge hill and actually not as big as it looked on our map. However, there are nice windy streets up to the park and through the campus, so he’s been able to create a circuit he really enjoys. And the park is a great place for picnics when the weather cooperates.

There are all the expected Italian restaurants and cafes and we’ve enjoyed a couple of nice meals out and a few rounds of aperitivi, the Italian tradition of a late afternoon drink accompanied by a free bar snack. Chad has become obsessed with amari (the plural of amaro, which means bitter), an Italian herbal liqueur with a million different varieties. The flavor is very distinctive. He’s been attempting to try all the main ones, tracking his reactions on a spreadsheet. We hope to bring a bottle or two of the favorites home.

Our highlight meal in Perugia so far was dinner at a restaurant mentioned in the Michelin guide for at least the last three years. It was also Umbrian regional cuisine but made slightly upscale. We had a really fantastic meal of cheese souffle (a first for us), mixed salad with fennel, chickpea soup, wild boar stew, and gratin vegetables, paired with a couple of glasses of Montefalco wine, including the famous sangratino. It was a wonderful splurge and we enjoyed it a lot.

Our Lone Sightseeing Day

Because we front-loaded our daytrips, we’ve only had a single afternoon of sightseeting in Perugia. We were able to check out the underground streets in the fort called Rocca Paolina, constructed in the 1500s.

Then we went to an art museum in the historic Palazzo della Penna. It had a permanent exhibit of the Futurist (an early 20th century movement) artist Gerardo Dottori and a temporary exhibition called Japanese Pop, which had a lot of anime. The architecture is beautiful and interesting and we enjoyed the art.

After, we went to check out Perugia’s cathedral, Cattedrale di San Lorenzo, from the 1400s. Its big claim to fame is possession of a ring associated with the wedding of Mary and Joseph. As far as relics goes, this one sounds pretty unlikely to me (similar to the idea that they’d have been able to find Jesus’s manger, which we saw in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome on our last visit). The ring on display is a replica. The original that was “discovered” in the late 1400s is kept in a locked box with 14 keys held by local dignitaries behind an iron gate in a silver cloud above the altar, behind the red curtain. They bring it out for veneration twice a year. We enjoyed the quirk of this relic. And the church itself with its art and stained glass is quite lovely.

We have plans for a couple of additional local sightseeing days in the second half of our stay, likely weekend afternoons. 

Summary

So far we’re really enjoying our time in Perugia, despite all the rain and all the work (which I try to never complain about since the work is what allows us to keep traveling!). Italy remains without a doubt one of our top five favorite countries.