Situated high up on the ramparts, Perugia has a small park with a view out over the buildings below and over the valley to the mountains.
TOWN HALL
In the historic center is an attractive town hall and museum with on one side sculptures of a griffin and a lion, both symbols of Perugia. Inside the hall is another pair of these animals, at least one dating to the 13th century.
Perugia town hall
Early griffin sculpture
PIAZZA AT DUOMO
In front of the duomo is a very famous fountain. This fountain was at one time key to the town’s water supply. It also has scenes around its base for each month. One shows the harvesting of figs, an important crop and food source.
Piazza in front of duomo
Fountain with elaborate sculpting
UNDERGROUND PERUGIA
Perugia also has an elaborate underground system of tunnels and passageways. From the park level where we were, they were reached by escalator. People arriving in Perugia at the parking lot, by tour bus or car, take a different escalator down to reach this underground network.
Parts of temples discovered underground were built in the 6th century BCE; in the 16th century, homes and other structures were built on top of them when Roman noble families were battling with the pope. Walking through them today, the space is high in volume with lots of arches.
PARK WITH FOUNTAIN
Lastly, here are two images from another park set away from the ramparts area which has a small fountain and an impressive statue of Italy’s first king, Vittorio Emanuele II.
Vittorio Emanuele II
Our guide again today was the extremely well-informed and delightful Werner!
Yesterday we traveled from Rome to Perugia via Orvieto. It was a pretty ride and a combination of winding country roads and some time on the highway. We spent several hours in Orvieto, focusing mainly on the striking 14th century Duomo di Orvieto.
This cathedral, unlike others of gray stone, has beautiful mosaics on the front façade. The side exterior walls and the inside have a striped appearance from alternating layers of white travertine and blackish basalt.
Travertine & basalt on side walls
Mosaics on facade of Duomo di Orvieto
In style, this cathedral is Italian Gothic. Dedicated to St. Mary, its history is related to transubstantiation, the transfer of the element of communion into the actual blood of Christ. A traveling priest found that his Host was bleeding so much it stained the altar cloth. This cloth is now stored in one of the cathedral’s chapels.
It is one of the most distinctive and loveliest large churches I’ve seen anywhere. It sits high on a volcanic or lava neck on a small piazza.
Column in duomo interior
We also stopped by the original church here. Orvieto was a poor town surrounded by farms and the church was small. It has been rebuilt to some extent, but the contrast between this building and the duomo funded by the Vatican is great.
Chiesa di Sant’Andrea with separate bell tower
PERUGIA
Cafe scene Perugia
From Orvieto, we went on to Perugia, capital of Umbria, where we will stay for several nights. Here we enjoyed drinks at one café and then dinner at another, both in the center of the main thoroughfare. Compared to Rome, it was wonderfully calm and less touristy. At one end of the street were a crowd of people and some classic race cars; occasionally a low slung car rumbled by on one side.
Locals and others strolled past and it was fun to people watch. We even engaged with a young man masquerading as a cow. We didn’t why, but he and his cohorts provided some entertainment. Later we learned it may have been part of a graduation exercise.
Young people on the street
FOOD
In Italy, almost all restaurants and cafes serve only Italian food. Not other cuisines. We’ve had several pizzas, ranging from good to so-so, and pasta dishes. Most noteworthy for pasta for the Chief Penguin and me has been the tagliolini with truffles. In one case, a mix of black and white truffles, and yesterday at lunch, pasta generously dressed with black truffles. White ones are not fully in season yet.
Our other treats were roast lamb or lamb cooked over a wood fire and gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce for the C.P. I indulged in vitello tonnato, paper thin slices of veal covered with a tuna sauce (consistency of thin mayonnaise) topped with capers, and served cold. I first had this dish in Rome more than 40 years ago and for me, it’s a must at least once every trip.
Today we had another tour with guide Liz from yesterday and concentrated on examples of contemporary architecture in Rome. Rome as a city is not always open to contemporary architecture, and it is even hard for Italian architects like Renzo Piano, to get their projects funded and then built. Many building projects take years and years as funding is available, then dries up and construction is halted, and then started up again in fits and starts until completion.
One of the first buildings we viewed this morning was the Museo dell’Ara Pacis designed by American architect Richard Meier. This white mostly unadorned structure was built around an earlier building that houses the Ara Pacis, a sacred altar built to celebrate the return of Emperor Augustus from Spain and Gaul in 7 BCE. Meier’s very contemporary building stands out midst more classical architecture and was unpopular with some for this jarring juxtaposition. It opened in 2006.
Old style architecture near Meier’s museum
AUDITORIUM
We were eager to see Renzo Piano’s work here. The music auditorium (Auditorium Parco Della Musica Ennio Morricone) designed by him opened about 20 years ago. It’s the largest performance space in Europe (or was) and it includes a cafe, a large bookstore, and three raised auditoriums, each of a different size. Their exterior shells are black and look insect-like; they have been called scarabs by some.
The building is of reddish brick using thin bricks as were used in ancient times. We were able to see some of the interior and walk the exterior promenades while admiring the use of columns, staircases, glass, and open space.
MAXXI
Of equal interest was Zaha Hadid’s curved and angular building, MAXXI, Museum of Art and Architecture. Hadid was a noted British-Iraqi female architect born in Baghdad who practiced around the world. MAXXI is the first Italian public museum of this type incorporating not only gallery space for exhibits, but also a research “hothouse” for dialogue between design, fashion, cinema, art and architecture.
Its periscope like protrusion from the top front has a screen reflecting neighboring buildings. Inside are a variety of curved staircases layering and crisscrossing one another.
The information desk is curved, some public seating is curved couches, and there are also stretches of glass broken up by metal strands. It was all very striking and to me, most appealing.
MUSIC BRIDGE
Lastly, we visited the Music Bridge which was built to someday accommodate trams. It was designed in 1999 by Armando Travajoli. Today it was just a quiet pedestrian bridge crossing the Tiber to a sports stadium. No teenagers were in sight skateboarding in the park underneath. I found its simplicity most attractive.
This morning the Chief Penguin and I had a guided tour of some of the architecture of the Fascist period in Rome, ranging from a post office to train stations to the grand buildings of the EUR area. This is architecture from Benito Mussolini’s time in power, roughly 1922 to 1942. Our guide, Liz, a transplanted American, married to a Roman, has lived in Rome for 33 years. An architect focusing on historic preservation, she was knowledgeable and friendly and easy to engage with questions.
Interior of 1924 post office
Our first stop was a striking post office building in the Testaccio area from 1924. Designed in the Rationalist style, it looks strikingly modern, especially compared to the nearby ornate, castle-like firehouse built the same year.
Classic firehouse, 1924
The interior was equally majestic with curves and pendant lights. What looked strange was the rows of chairs with people waiting to be served. You take a number (and perhaps a seat), just like in the DMV offices in some U.S. cities!
Waiting for your number
We also checked out an early train station that took folks from Rome to the beach in Lido on the Tyrrhenian Sea. With regular train service, the Lido community greatly expanded in size. From the outside, this station looks quite simple. Inside is another matter entirely with some lovely sculptural scenes on the stone.
Elaborate wall art
Next we visited the voluminous Roma Ostiense train station built in 1938 and designed to commemorate an upcoming visit from Adolf Hitler. Part of the façade is pushed out to allow a hidden space for a car to arrive (carrying an illustrious visitor) and for the dignitary to exit and immediately enter an elaborate presidential room. Unfortunately, that room is reserved for special functions only and not open to the public.
Facade of Roma Ostiense train station
We were able to appreciate the many black and white mosaics on the floor portraying historic events along with bas reliefs on the exterior walls. Also inside were two large rectangular panels of lovely green marble on each end wall, one with an eagle on it
The metro wasn’t running today, due to a strike, which gave us a few transportation challenges for the second part of the tour. After some delay, we three did get a cab to the southern edge of Rome to the EUR district. Named after the planned 1942 Esposizione Universale di Roma (EUR), which never happened because of the war, it includes a number of monumental buildings designed under Mussolini’s regime to showcase the grandeur of Italy to the world.
“Square Colosseum”, EUR
Probably the one we found the most stunning was the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana, informally known as the “Square Colosseum,” with its many arches within arches and its sheer size on its long raised base. Classic sculptures of Romulus and Remus flank either end in addition to two bronze pieces, one a pyramid shape and part of a special exhibit.
Blue sky shows through the end arches
Since the world exposition didn’t occur, other buildings didn’t get built, and this one never was used for its original purpose. Somewhat ironically, I’d say, today it is the headquarters of Fendi, the Italian fashion designers. Usually, the public can enter this building, but not today!
I think she meant business!
This tour was a fascinating way to spend the morning, and we both learned a lot and enjoyed it!
