Fascinating Perugia

Sun-Ling writes:

We came to Perugia, capital of Umbria, because we wanted to use it as a base for visiting Assisi and Gubbio, and were pleasantly surprised.

By now we thought we have seen some hill towns, but Perugia is vertical. The flat area at the top has just enough room for two parallel streets about barely 500m long. When you arrive at the bus terminal, there are a series of underground escalators to whisk you uphill, as if you are emerging from a metro station. If you arrive at the train station, there is self driving light rail, named Minimetrò, with tiny cars as if you are going around in an airport.

However, the coolest place is the Rocca (Fort) Paolina. The idea is so strange to me that I had a hard time locating it. The top of is a plaza/park that marks one end of the two streets, making a very nice belvedere. The fort was built in the 1500s, over existing houses and streets, some are still visible. The escalators connecting the bus terminal and city center go through it. I was totally captivated by this time/space compression.

Our route for the day: Urbino to San Sepolcro by bus, to Perugia by train; this all-in-one coach+loco with ugly exterior but clean windshields.


And you can watch the engineer. Bonus!


Looking to the lower part of Perugia.


Walking from our hotel to the top of the hill.




Escalators inside the hill.


Some views of the Piazza at night.




The very elegant stairs down to our hotel.


Again, looking to the lower town...


...where there are remnants of the old aqueduct.


Porta Maria, one of the entrances to the underground passages of Rocca (Fort) Paolina.


Rocca Paolina.




Heading to the train station (to go to Spoleto) on the Minimetrò.