«Wandering through these complicated, steep, humpy streets, through these precipitous galleries, with their loose bricks, crossed by curbs to slow down the feet, amidst these strange buildings … » — H.A. Taine, Voyage en Italie, I, Paris, 1866
With its Etruscan walls, a gorgeous Medieval center, Perugia is not only a city for the gluttonous (re: chocolate), but for artists and art lovers alike.
More well-known, though, is old Perugia, surrounded by two perimeter walls. The exterior of the two, from the Medieval Age, remains intact over an expanse of a few kilometers, and along it one encounters several different entrances or portals, including the Cassero di Porta Sant’Angelo.
The interior wall is the Etruscan perimeter (the Etruscans built seven different portals through which to enter), characterized by the large masses used in its construction. Nevertheless, not many monuments dating back to this ancient epoch actually remain, and most of the older urban core that is still extant harks back to the Middle Ages.
The historic center, in fact, is a certified 14th-Century borgo, and one of the prettiest in Italy.