Last week friends asked me to join them on a ‘Perugia Underground’ tour. I am very glad I did!
The tour starts in the Museo Capitolare Perugia, which is behind the Duomo right in the main piazza of Perugia (behind the fountain). You will not believe your eyes!
Perugia used to have a square of 100 by 70 meters right where the Duomo is now. Since hills are not naturally a good place for squares, the Etruscans had to built one. Under the duomo they have been digging up the old foundations of this square. Impressive.
The end of the tour however beats anything!
You are in front of the outside of this square, looking up against a huge and high wall, with the old road still in front of it. A Roman road (in the picture … which was kindly sent to me by the museum because you are not allowed to make pictures during the tour).
It is impossible to imagine from reading this (clumsy) explanation how impressive this is and what Perugia must have looked like all those years ago. A hill with on top a huge and high square and on top of the square the colorful temple.
Interested in doing this tour? You can book at the Museum, call 075 5724853. Most days at 11 hrs they will do a tour. It is in Italian, so try to find somebody who can translate for you, but it is also worth it without, just looking and imagining.
This sounds amazing. I cannot wait to do the tour when I get back to PG! Thanks!