Sybilla Oritur

July 15, 2009

I spent most of Wednesday reading Persuasion on the grass outside Templo San’Angelo, planning day trips and cooking. This seems like the perfect opportunity to provide an overview of the guided tour led by an art historian affiliated with the Universita per Straniere that I was privileged to tag along for on Tuesday.

We met inside the Universita per Straniere where I tried to follow conversations in Italian even though the foyer was bustling with forty or more voices. Luckily, two Natalias and an Annie were very helpful and Bryan is no slouch himself. Once we headed outside we stopped to look at the Etruscan arch. Although some of the Etruscan city still remains, we have lost the original name of this city – when Rome finally conquered it – it was supposedly set aflame and when refounded given a new name: Augusta Perusia. The arch dates back to the third century BCE.

We walked along the Etruscan wall and although the road we walked stayed level, the wall plummeted down below – built in the twentieth-century and necessitating the demolition of a number of houses, the street eventually had us dozens of feet about the medieval quarter and the medieval aqueduct which, although no longer functioning, is still intact as a pedestrian walkway.

We wandered through the streets, taking the trouble to stop and note which buildings were constructed when and their importance in Perugian history. We heard about the conflict between the Franciscans and the Dominicans (Assisi was a rival city-state) that made the construction of San Bernardo so very difficult. Perhaps my favourite story is a rather bloody one: One leading Perugian family had married into an alliance with the powerful Colonna of Rome. On the night of the festivities, the competing family entered the abode of the drunken revelers and massacred them as they slept. Bryan straddled the “steps of blood” down which, supposedly, the river of blood spilled.

Our tour ended in a familiar part of town – Piazza dei Priori with its palace, fountain and cathedral. The fountain is a Pisano brother creation of the 13th century that was attached to the medieval aqueduct and the palace houses the Umbrian National Gallery, among other things. I cannot account for why it appears that I have been photoshopped in, but the large white tent to the left is the main stage for the free concerts at the Umbria Jazz fest. We returned to the steps on which this photo was taken around 10pm to drink beer, eat kabab and otherwise enjoy a balmy evening.