Situation
Perugia, capital of its province and of the region of Umbria, lies on a hill between the Trasimenian Sea and the Tiber valley. The town is worth visiting not only for the beauty of its setting but also for its fine old buildings. It is the see of an
archbishop and a university town, with a University for Foreigners.
History
The ancient Perusia, one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan federation, came under Roman rule in 310 B.C., and in the middle of the third century A.D. was raised to the status of a military colony under the name of Augusta Perusia. Considerable sections of the Etruscan walls, which extended for 2,800m/3,063yd round the town, have been preserved. In 547 Perusia was captured by the Ostrogothic king Totila. In the 13th and 14th centuries it was the most powerful city in Umbria. From 1534 until the unification of Italy in 1860 it belonged to the States of the Church.
Art
Perugia is renowned as the principal center of the Umbrian school of painting, the leading members of which, Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino (1446-1523), and Bernardino Betti, called Pinturicchio (1455-1513), both worked here. The young Raphael worked in Perugino's studio until 1504.
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