"Musei di Perugia" and General Hikes About the Town
8/27/2007 10:49 AM
I have been in Perugia for more than a week now. The Italian course is
great fun and I am picking up more useful Italian phrases everyday. I
am sure that I will at least sound like an educated tourist in Roma,
rather than just another crazy American tourist.
My
apartment in Perugia is. The view out of my window
encompasses a lovely garden and then over the valley, I can see the
medieval town of Assisi. I live with two other
students who are attending the Comitato Linquistico. One of the
students is from Portugal and the other one is from Australia. I
have
learned new English phrases right along with the Italiano. I am
sure
it would be a riot listening to us speak in broken Italian, Spanish and
English.
The historic center of Perugia is about a 5 or 10
minute walk from my apartment, depending on how you get up the
slope. It takes 10 minutes to walk to the main bus terminal and
then take 5 sets of escalators up through the medieval foundations
under the main piazza called Piazza Italiano. The second was is a
bit quicker, you simply walk down my street, the Via XIV September, to
the elevator under the mountain. This route isn't as
aesthetically pleasing, but most of the people who live in Perugia all
year use the elevator.
This weekend, I explored the two
biggest museums (i musei) in Perugia. The Nazionale Dell'Umbria
which is the national, i.e. regional, museum of Umbria. Perugia
is the capital city of the region of Umbria. It is a wonderful
museum, all arranged chronologically from about 800 C.E. to the
present. The whole first three floors, however, exhibit a lot of
Madonna col Bambino (Mary and Child). The other museum was the
Archeological Museum of Umbria. It was also very well presented,
full of very interesting artifacts from the Greece and Roman periods of
Umbrian development. Most of the exhibits are of burial chambers
that have been found in and around Perugia. After visiting the
museums, I headed up to the main Piazza, Piazza Iv Novembre, to explore
more of the twisting lanes around the central Duomo. If I didn't
have a map with me at all times, I am sure I would get quite
lost. There are no straight streets in Perugia. All of the
streets meander up and down the steep slopes away from the main
piazza. Going to the grocery store, which is located in a small
piazza just off of the main piazza, means a ride up the slope in an
elevator, then climbing two flights of stairs. Coming back, I
usually take a slightly less steep route, but I still have to walk down
several flights of short stairs (refer to pictures below).
I
head back to Roma on Friday. I will catch a bus very near to the
Comitato Linguistico, then its a two hour ride, but the buses are
supposed to be quite comfortable.
The Main Piazza, Piazza IV Novembre
The Stairs, the least steep way to the Main Piazza and Citta Centro.
The Archeological Museum of Umbria, Housed in part of the old Cloister
of San Dominico, Perugia
