I posted my Perugia: We’re Home post over six months ago and it has been nearly that long since we left that wonderful Italian town. My first post covered our first two weeks there and so this one will stick to the other two. Six months later we still look back so fondly on our time there. It is a special and magical city that we will never forget. My first post did a pretty good job of explaining why, so this one will include a main activities (besides all the day trips that were their own posts) that we did on the second half of our stay and share more pictures of that incredibly photogenic town.
Assisi Truffle Hunt
Our final Christmas gift to each other for the year had the categories Tour/Food/Italy, so we chose a truffle hunting tour booked through Airbnb Experiences. It was really great. We learned a lot about the famous truffles of the region, white and black, enjoyed seeing the truffle-hunting dog Santi do her work, and came away with a couple of small truffles to try, which we shaved over scrambled eggs. We happened to have a $25 off coupon from Airbnb so the total cost for us was just $45 per person, which felt like a good value. We were with a small group of two other couples. Our guide spoke English well and was great at explaining the history and importance of truffles in Italian cooking. Aside from the tour, it was also nice to be out in nature, tromping through the woods. We really had a great time.
Because the tour was out of Assisi, we took the train there. The guide picked us up at the train station and delivered us there at the end. It was a bit damp but not too rainy to enjoy ourselves. The guide drove us with the others in the group and his dog, Lordy, to a place in the woods outside Assisi. We hiked down a hill and along a dry stream bed and he told us about his family’s long history with truffle hunting, how Lordy was trained, and about the special accreditations they have and tools they use.
We found a few truffles as a group and Chad and I got to take the two smallest ones home. We arrived back at the train station with time to enjoy a drink and snack, which was great because the train station bar had an amaro that Chad wanted to try. At the recommendation of one of the other couples, we decided to use our truffles on some scrambled eggs for dinner a couple nights later. It was very good, though we’re not really crazy for truffle flavor. But it was still fun to try! The truffle hunting tour was definitely something we’ll remember and made eating truffle-flavored items all the more meaningful.
Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria
The big Perugia attraction we visited in the second half of our stay was the National Gallery of Umbria, which is located in the city’s historic municipal palace, Palazzo dei Priori, which was the seat of government in earlier times and dates back to 1292. The museum is free on the first Sunday of each month and we decided to time our visit with that to save the 12 euro each entry fee. We reserved our timed entry slots on the website for 2 p.m. for a nominal charge (2 euro each). We didn’t find the museum to be too busy, especially because November is more of a shoulder season in Umbria as the weather turns cooler. The collection was wonderful with many impressively old religious pieces and several works by regional masters. It was definitely a must-visit no matter how long your stay in Perugia is.
Etruscan Well
The final attraction we visited was Perugia’s Etruscan Well, the Pozzo Etrusco, from the 3rd century BC. It is a short and simple attraction but we really enjoyed learning about Etruscan hydraulics and building technology in the short video and little museum before entering the well. The well itself was really cool and impressive. The cost was reasonable at 4 euros and seemed worth it for such a close up taste of unique history. It took us around 30 minutes to view the video, enter the well, and look at the few artifacts in the museum.
Perugia Vibes/Summary
Other than those activities, we spent our last two weeks in Perugia enjoying the amazing quality of life we had in Italy. We remained very happy with our Airbnb (review below), especially since there were no other wifi issues and our host was kind enough to take us to the train station when we left. Perugia was a great home-base for a month in Umbria. We always fondly remember our time there.
The weather continued to be reasonably good for fall throughout our time in Perugia, with a little rain intermixed with nice days. By the time we left in early November it was definitely starting to turn a little cooler. On nice days, we enjoyed several picnics in various parks and gardens including Giardini della Canapina near downtown and Parco della Pescaia near the train station. We also spent a lot of time walking and enjoying the architecture and ambiance of the town, rain or shine. That was probably our favorite part of being in Perugia. As I said in my prior Perugia post, it is incredibly atmospheric. And photogenic!
Because of all the time that has past and how behind I am on the blog, I’m just going to throw all my remaining photos here and hope they’re enough to jog our nice memories.
Airbnb Review – We had a wonderful four-week stay in Roberto and Mary Jane’s apartment. They are very kind and communicated well with us before and throughout our stay. We had some bad luck with the new fiber internet company having an outage but they were kind enough to get us a hotspot to get us through for a few days until it was fixed and called the company daily until it was. After it was fixed, the wifi was entirely fast and consistent. Unfortunately the en suite bathroom wasn’t available during our stay and the other shower didn’t have a curtain, so that was a challenge. But the location is perfect, the view from the windows incredible, and the apartment is so charming. The kitchen was very well equipped and a pleasure to cook in. We’d definitely stay here again if we return to Perugia.