Perugia, Italy - is it worth visiting for any reason ?

If you have to ask, you probably shouldn’t.

Unlike other cities founded by the Etruscans 9 centuries BC, Perugia lacks of any interesting to tourists.

Travellers have more time and they could find something worth seeing here: https://www.umbriatourism.it/scopri-la-citta?municipality=Perugia

Thousands around the world come to Perugia in July for this great festival (Bob Dylan is a headliner this year) :
https://www.umbriajazz.it/en/

I was in Perugia last June. This is what I wrote in my trip report for that city. I’m planning to try to get back to Umbria in 2024.

Perugia:
The Etruscan civilization of ancient Italy covered Tuscany, western Umbria and some sections of northern Italy. Their peak was in the 6th century BC. I wanted to see some of the exciting Etruscan remaining sites to see in Perugia! First, I walked north to see the Etruscan Gate - wow! It gave me a vibe of Rome’s Pantheon. Then going to the far south of the city center, I started up the theme song of Indiana Jones in my head! After researching it months ago, would I be willing to go into this very cool (both temperature & just the excitement) underground area alone? Would I find a lost historical artifact? Will I ever be seen again? : ) Luckily, I did find a few other people in there and no bats or snakes! The Etruscan arches into where the Rocca Paolina fortress was built over the wealthier Perugians properties was an amazing area to explore! Bagliona was the wealthiest Perugian, and the route through there was named after him.

My last activity my final day in Perguia was a museum workshop I found on TripAdvisor in March. It’s a historical museum/studio of painting on stained glass. I emailed the studio to see if they would be open during their short opening schedule on Tuesdays. I was expecting to see examples of the outlined painting on glass seen in several churches in stained glass scenes with faces. I love stained glass, so this was going to be a very nice museum/studio to visit. Instead, this was extraordinary artistry! The Museum Laboratory, Moretti Caselli Studio was like walking through a time warp of DaVinci’s workshop! It’s housed in the one building of the Baglioni family that survived the salt tax war repercussion. The lovely lady in her 80 ’s, a direct descendant, was excited to show me every detail when she saw my level of interest in each aspect. She had studied languages, and her English was impeccable. She walked me through numerous rooms that housed shelves of chemistry study books, shelves of ancient vials of colors used, photography experimentation equipment, ancient wood mannequins (her sister & her tore off some of the fingers when they were young playing in the room!) & armor used to drape cloth & see shadow vs. light, rooms filled with gigantic sketches, etc. created over the years, etc. The highlight of the entire studio/laboratory was the stunningly beautiful 5’ painted stained glass her great great grandfather made of the Queen Margherita Savoy in 1881 to promote his skills! It could have easily been displayed in any elite art museum!

What made it even more astonishing, was the opportunity to be seen as a whole with the sketches & beautiful paintings of the subject in the same workshop room that he had created just in preparation for this painted stained glass masterpiece! The glass looked like an actual painting! If touched, I would have thought I would feel the soft texture of velvet on the pillow holding a crown. The pearls looked real; the wallpaper formed a beautiful pattern which hid all traces of lead or copper structure supporting the glass.

(Cont.)

Perugia cont.)
Another Highlight: Her grandmother’s two sisters continued the skills and were commissioned to make a painted stained glass of The Lord’s Supper for a cemetery in Los Angeles. It was painstaking work with each piece being painted & fired three times. A few pieces that cracked were on display. (Earlier she had shown me a scene with the Lindbergh airplane that had cracked during the three painting/3 kiln firing processes.) Later Italy wanted the same one made “since it should be in Italy”. Fortunately they still had the huge sketch that would fill the walls of a room! During the war, the finished product of several panels was probably lost…. Then one day Rosa & Cecilia were contacted because someone found crates of stained glass, which was still almost all unbroken! So now their Lord's Supper is displayed at a church in Sansepcro. It’s still an active family business with her niece who I met and other family members still restoring & creating more beautiful works. It was a fascinating individual 2-hour tour - very special because of the subject but also the sweet woman sharing her family! Don’t miss it if you’re in that area!

For Perugia, I stayed at a modern hotel, Locanda della Posta Boutique Hotel. I slept very well there, and they were very conscientious about Covid cleanliness at their wonderful breakfast, timed for lots of space between diners. The gelato shop next to the hotel puts a topping on your gelato - their famous chocolate hazelnut sauce that’s similar to hot fudge - delicious!

Perugia’s mini metro - the auto-boxes similar to a funicular on the ground were so handy to get from the train station up into the historic city! This hotel was easy to walk to from the last mini metro station.