A contemporary view of Perugia
Resuming my “open letter” to my brother and sister-in-law which contains my suggestions for two weeks in Italy.
My previous posts to Joe and Sue are suggestions for the first week. They boil down to this: fly into Rome, pick up a car and drive north. Rent a self-catering rental in central Tuscany for the first week so you can easily drive to Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Siena and other beautiful places. Now I’ll make suggestions the second week of a first trip to Italy. There are two scenarios described below, each of them filled with fascinating places to experience. Normally, Saturday is the end of a self-catering week and the day to make the move to a new location. That gives you a week to fill before flying home on the following Saturday. I suggest you divide your time, leaving the latter half of the week for Rome. Here are two suggestions for the first part of the week:
Driving south from central Tuscany, near the border with Umbria, there are three places I would recommend to you and others. For those who love classical European art, Assisi and Perugia are the best choices. The interior walls of the basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi are covered in very early paintings (frescoes) that serious art-lovers should see at least once in a lifetime. The artists Perugino and Raphael were natives of Perugia. The churches and the art museum (Galleria Nationale dell’Umbria) here will interest the art lover. Peruggia is a beautiful small city, filled with ancient stone buildings and a lively populace.
Another charming place in the same general vicinity, known to those who have read Under the Tuscan Sun (or who have seen the movie) is the town called Cortona. Although it has more shops for tourists since Francis Mayes made it famous, Cortona is still a beautiful small Tuscan city. It’s the town at the highest altitude in Tuscany, making the ride into town lovely.
After a day or two exploring this region, you can drive south into Umbria, visiting many charming villages there. Among the better known are Orvieto, Spoleto, and Todi. Umbria has many un-famous villages too. As it’s a bit less touristy than Tuscany, spending time in Umbrian villages and its countryside will give you a good sense of how Italy has been for centuries.
Because you won’t be spending an entire week, it will probably not be possible for you to find a self-catering place to stay, but you may wish to investigate some of the many farm house hotels called “agriturismo,” the Italian country version of B&Bs. Here you can find a daily or weekly rental that includes a lovely place to rest in the countryside and often home-cooked dinners as well. I just googled “Umbria agritourism” and the map that popped up showed a great many places to investigate. Don’t plan to just turn up at one of these places at bedtime, though. Always make reservations in advance.
The other option, of course, is to find a hotel in any of the cities you visit. If you go in April (as I suggested earlier) it won’t be necessary to make reservations and you’ll probably find better prices by simply inquiring in the early evening.
The second recommendation I have for the first half of your second week is to go south of Rome and Naples to the area called the Amalfi Coast. The city of Sorrento is a beautiful town on the cliffs above the Mediterranean. It’s been a popular tourist destination for more than 100 years, so there are many hotels there. It’s a great base to explore the famous, vertical seaside towns of Amalfi, Positano, Sorrento as well as the Isle of Capri, which lies just off shore. Pompeii is a short train ride from Sorrento and is good place to spend most of a day. (Nearby Herculanium is smaller and easily navigated if you want to see a town recovered from the lava dumped in 79A.D. by Mount Vesuvius, but don’t have an entire day to devote to it.)
Because Tuscany and Umbria are quite similar, visiting the rugged, exciting coastline south of Naples will be a change of pace, giving you a different experience of Italy — and a beautiful one! I don’t recommend touring Naples. It’s chaotic and confusing and you won’t encounter many English-speakers. Best to save that for another trip. I do, however, strongly encourage you to end your trip in Rome. My next post gives you a bit of advice about that.
Libbie
Here are some pictures I’ve taken in Umbria — hope you enjoy them!
