Arriving in Perugia

Sunday October 18 was a travel day.  Another beautiful day as we headed to the Bologna train station.  We are going to Perugia, Umbria  for eight days.  We have never been to Umbria but have had it on our travel list for a while.  We caught the 11:21 a.m. train which left on time.  We were due in Terontola - Cortona at 1:28 p.m. and then had to catch a 1:41 p.m. train to Perugia, another 45 minutes away.  

Unfortunately, the train was delayed at one of the earlier stops and we arrived in Terontola-Cortona five minutes too late to catch the train to Perugia. The next train was in two hours.  Fortuitously, a man who was getting off the train overheard us talking and offered to take us and another woman he had been talking to on the train to Perugia.  Giovanni lived in Perugia and had left his car in Terontola-Cortona, knowing that the train connections were not always the best.   Perugia was only a 30 minute drive away (less time than the train).  Giovanni turned out to be a writer of novels and narrative non-fiction.  His latest book was about the Italian Fascists' role in the Spanish Civil War. We had a very interesting chat about the Spanish Civil War which I have read quite a bit about and did a paper on in University.  He dropped us off at a square close to our Airbnb.  We are staying in the Monteluce district of Perugia.

Former hospital, now police station at Monteluce square, beside a church.

Giovanni and me after drop off at Monteluce square

We only had a six minute walk from the square to our Airbnb.  The host's lovely mother, Gioia, met us outside the building and showed us around the apartment.  She only speaks Italian, but we managed with Google Translate.  It is a stylish 1940s apartment, fully renovated in 2025, in a Liberty-style  (Italian Art Nouveau) building.

We are on the main floor of this house.

Bedroom with original fresco above the headboard and very cool original patterned tiles.

TV room between kitchen and bedroom

Well equipped kitchen-- there is also a clothes washer and a dryer!

Large bathroom with walk-in-shower with rainfall head. 

We have sole use of the garden with entrances off the bedroom, TV room, and kitchen.

View from the street in front of the apartment

As it was a Sunday, there was not much open near our apartment.  Gioia said that a small local  Rosticceria about 5 minutes away was just closing but they could put a package of chicken and lasagna together for us to pick up.  The restaurant did not reopen until Tuesday. Gioia took us there and the restaurant staff had the food packaged up.  About 22 euros for what ended up to be two dinners for us.

Outside of Serenella & Alfredo Rosticceria-- a historic neighbourhood rotisserie
and informal eatery operating since 1979.

We decided to walk to the historic centre of Perugia.  It was about a 20 minute walk, all downhill.

On the way to the historic centre

Views

Hills of Umbria

View from the hilltop

Passed these strange sculptures 

Miles Davis roundabout--- Umbria has a large Jazz festival every July.  It has been running for 53 years with a brief hiatus from 1977-1982.  There are two roundabouts named for jazz musicians who had performed at the festival-- Miles Davis and Gil Evans.  We only saw the Miles Davis roundabout.

We got to a spot where our google map was not being helpful. It turned out we had to take an elevator up one level, which we did.

The small elevator to go up one level.

There was a small park and then the entrance to the mini-metro, which takes one to different parts of the city.  We did not have to use this means of transport during our stay.

Small park area at elevator exit

Very pretty small park

Olive tree with a memorial plaque in memory of Peppino Impastato and all the journalists killed at the hands of the mafia.  Dated April 20, 2010.  Under the main plaque it read that 'we carry on with Peppino's ideas and his courage" (dated March 2023).

There was an entrance to the mini-metro, but beside it was an escalator that we decided to take.  It turned out there were three levels of well-lit escalators which led to the entrance of the historic city.

Three escalators to the top

We emerged onto one of the main squares of the historic centre- Piazza Matteotti.  We found a small tourist office that was still open and got some maps to orient ourselves.  We were tired, so decided to walk back to the apartment while it was still light.

First glimpse of historic centre- Piazza Matteotti

View from the small park near the elevator

It was a very steep climb back to the apartment.  We decided that we would take buses for the rest of our stay. Tickets can be purchased at any Tabacchi shop for only 1.50 euros a ticket.  They are 2 euros if one pays on the bus.  

Alonso made dinner from the food we had purchased earlier in the day, along with a few provisions we had picked up at a small grocery store near the Tourist Office on Piazza Matteotti.

On Monday October 19, we will start our exploration of Perugia.