Tourism: Corso Vannucci, the National Gallery, Rocca Paolina, Umbria Jazz
A medieval and Etruscan acropolis around Corso Vannucci: Fontana Maggiore, Palazzo dei Priori with the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, the Collegio del Cambio, the Rocca Paolina, the Etruscan Arch and Well. Low visitor numbers except Umbria Jazz (July) and Eurochocolate (autumn); UNESCO-listed Assisi twenty minutes away, Gubbio, Spello, Trasimeno, Todi and Orvieto for day trips.
Sections: Attractions · Museums · Nature · Itineraries · Excursions · Accessible visits
- Corso Vannucci and Piazza IV Novembre: the Fontana Maggiore (1278), San Lorenzo cathedral, Palazzo dei Priori with the Sala dei Notari, the Collegio del Cambio frescoed by Perugino and the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria (Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelico, Perugino, Pinturicchio); the Giardini Carducci for the view.
- Underground and Etruscan city: the Rocca Paolina, a sixteenth-century fortress built over the Baglioni quarter and crossed by the escalators; the Etruscan Arch, the Etruscan Well, Porta Marzia; the Volumni Hypogeum and necropolis at Ponte San Giovanni; the National Archaeological Museum of Umbria at San Domenico.
- Churches and quarters: San Pietro with its cloister and view, Sant'Angelo (early Christian temple) and Porta Sant'Angelo at the end of Corso Garibaldi, the Oratory of San Bernardino, San Severo with the fresco by Raphael and Perugino; the via dell'Acquedotto on foot.
- Chocolate: the Perugina Casa del Cioccolato in San Sisto, with museum and tour of the Baci factory.
When and how
The Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria is the main museum, at Corso Vannucci 19; state museums are free on the first Sunday of the month. Perugia is uncrowded for most of the year: the two peaks are Umbria Jazz, ten days in July with concerts in theatres, gardens and on free stages in the centre, and Eurochocolate, the chocolate festival in autumn, when accommodation and parking must be booked. In April the International Journalism Festival fills the halls of the centre; in June Perugia 1416 re-enacts the medieval city.
Day trips and UNESCO
Assisi, with the Basilica of Saint Francis and the other Franciscan sites on the UNESCO list, is twenty minutes away by train or bus; also within a day, Gubbio, Spello, Spoleto, Todi, Orvieto, Montefalco, Deruta (ceramics), Torgiano (wine) and Lake Trasimeno with Castiglione del Lago, Passignano and the Isola Maggiore. There are no UNESCO sites within the municipality of Perugia; in Umbria they are Assisi and, within the serial Longobards in Italy site, Spoleto and the Tempietto del Clitunno at Campello sul Clitunno.
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Reviewed: 10/23/2026 · by piero.avolio · rev. 1 · Period: → 2027-10-31
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