Inside Perugia, Italy at Christmas

This is a very cool town to get lost, walk around, walk up hills. We're in Umbria. This is the heart of Italy. This capital city of central Italy stands out for its still visible Etruscan history We're in Perugia in Umbria, adjacent right next to Tuscany, which is hugely popular. Player plate is meats and cheeses. This is the Umbrian style right here. When in Umbria, have truffle. This is big. And small travel. We are in Perugia in Umbria, Italy. Perugia is located halfway between Florence and Rome. We started our journey in Florence. We are at Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. We are going to Perugia. Now we thought our train was cancelled, but it's not. Remember, when you're taking a train, always validate your tickets. And we're off to the train. To Perugia. Perugia is in Umbria. This is a new region for us. We're very excited. And again, on the Italian trains. Perugia is a medium-sized city of about 170,000 people. Perugia has a mini metro. And if you can see, it's very mini. But they come very often to go up the hill to get into the old town. The hill is behind. You have to get a ticket. We're going to hop on here. We got a 5-10 minute ride to the railway station, the train station. Very smooth. Let's go. And we're in the old town. Perugia. We're not staying very far from the center. Kind of this little back street here. And yeah, we've got it. We're here and enjoying. Perugia overlooks the Umbrian and central Tiber Valleys. This is Perugia. It's a city on a hill. So you do get sweeping vista viewpoints, which are beautiful. Perugia. This is a very cool town. Perugia is an enchanting maze of hills, stairs, wine bars, chocolate shops, and more. It's Perugia, not Perugia. We're in Umbria. This is the heart of Italy. So where the main cathedral of Perugia sits right behind me has long been a very sacred area. This is where the first temple of the Etruscans was built. Possibly all the way back to the 6th century B.C. The main shopping street here in Perugia. This is Corso Venucci. And this is quite a strip of shops. You have a lot of family owned shops. And interesting places here in the heart of Umbria. The Etruscans created the first great civilization in pre-Roman Italy. Their architecture, art, and love of wine were highly influential on the Romans. Palato! Ciao! Time for hot chocolate. Chocolata colda. Look at that. This is not powder. This is dark chocolate melted down. Sugar and a little latte. It's so rich. I don't know if I can do all of this. Where do we go? We can't go too long without getting coffee. Espresso lungo, which means a long espresso. But this place behind me, Perugina of Perugia, this is why this town is known for chocolate. Why is Perugia the chocolate town? It comes down to the company Perugina, who actually make the bocce. And they started here in Perugia. Mostly started by a woman from Perugia here. And from that company the chocolate scene really exploded. And there's actually a chocolate festival here every year. This company, Perugina, was founded in 1907. Unfortunately in 1988 it was bought by Nestle. I'm going to try the chocolate right now. This is the coffee one. This town is also known for an Etruscan gate behind me, which dates from the 3rd century B.C. This gate dates from the 3rd century B.C. The Etruscan gate. Etrusco, as they say in Italian. I think we found another Etruscan gate. This is Archegilli. This is one of five Etruscan gates. And it dates from the 13th century. We are here just in time for all of the Christmas stuff. So that's why you see Santa and a lot of these stalls. It was time for some local food and wine from Umbria. Wine from Umbria. Half truffle. This is an egg with truffle on top. On potatoes. Simple but rich. Now the tagliare plate is meats and cheeses. This is the Umbrian style right here. The Umbrian edition. We are in Umbria. We're going to enjoy. This is a simple radicchio salad. And we also got... Pork ribs. With paprika and more. And rosemary. Very, very good. And these potatoes. We are here. It's a wine bar but they actually have really great food. Highly recommend it. Whether you want dinner or just a few appetizers. Buonissimi. One of Italy's most popular celebrations is the Umbria Jazz Festival. Founded in 1973 in Perugia by Carlo Pagnetta. It is one of the most important jazz festivals in the world. Pinocchio who is Tuscan. He's not quite Umbrian. He's saying he doesn't like chocolate. And you know what Pinocchio does. He lies. Before the end of the day. Walked around Perugia. Apartment tour. Chocolate. Because we're in the chocolate town. This is Perugia. Hot tub. This is the best part. This is why we are here. For the location and the hot tub. Accommodation. Good morning. The architectural style here you'll get is Roman, Etruscan, Gothic. Always a way to get water. I don't know what to say. Perugia has been another nice surprise here in Italy. In Umbria. Our first time in Umbria. This is adjacent right next to Tuscany. Which is hugely popular. But this is one of those provinces in Italy. Which is going to be discovered. Let's go. Why do we say Perugia? So us English speakers. Want to say Perugia. But it's actually just Ja. Like J-A. So when you see the G-I-A. Say it. Ja. That's where I want to go. Oh yeah. This is where we're going right? Wow. The town of stairways. This is the ancient aqueduct. Here in Perugia. It dates back to the 1200s. You do not get these aqueducts looking so cute. And still functional. Within a town. Well not so functional. Functional for walkways. No water running through here. You cannot find towns that look this postcard ready. But Perugia is one of them. I don't know. I'm speechless. Very well maintained. Considering it's age. You have buildings here dating to the 3rd century B.C. And this was settled by the Etruscans in the 6th century B.C. We are searching for a home here in Italy. This one looks pretty good. It's nice and spacious. What? Think we can afford it? We are in Perugia. A city founded as early as the 6th century B.C. By the Etruscans. Behind me is Rocca Polina. A fortress. A fortress symbolizing the power of the popes. You're going to see Etruscan gates all over the city. This is one of them. And it became the Rocca Polina fortress in the 16th century. It looks like we can go inside and be under the city. This is how the city walls along where the town is. There are underground Etruscan tunnels in the city. The main Etruscan town here in Italy. Because it's an Etruscan settlement. That porta, that gate. You can kind of just wander around inside here in the old fortress. This looks like we're underground. Actually here in Perugia. Settlements on top of each other. How many places can you take an escalator to a fortress? We're actually in a fortress. The salt. Why salt? And the salt war was against the papacy, the pope who imposed the tax. So they built a wall and a fortress. And this dates from the 1500s. The fortress is actually all free. So just come in through that gate and walk around. We're going to go get some coffee and chocolate now. Just your espresso, which Big loves. Perugia's cutest residence. Absolutamente si. This right here is the Sagrantino. This is a local Umbrian wine. And it is bold. And this is a selection of just pristine. It looks quite good. All local ingredients and I have a different Umbrian wine. This is the griffin. You're going to see it all over. It is the symbol of Perugia. So we're continuing to eat. This is spiadini. It's just cheese and salami, mostly. And we got it here at this little stall. This Etruscan well is a hydraulic for the time in engineering marble. 3rd century B.C. Can you believe that? And it's actually still founded by three springs here. And it holds a lot of water. It's very cool. This Etruscan well is considered a genius marble of the Etruscans. And not a lot or not enough is said about the Etruscans who came before the Romans. Yes, this is just a well. It's a very quick trip. A quick stop. But we think it's worth it. It's very interesting. This is one of those wells and this was restored in the 1970s because they do have springs that are still active. That's where we are right now and look, this comes with the drinks. Classic bitter Campari Spritz. We small got a wine, a local wine. Some crostini. You have some polenta, fried olives. Something with pate. And this is Gorgonzola. A great aperitivo dish really. All comes with the drinks. When in Umbria you are not going to get Chianti. If you want to learn more about Chianti wine you can watch our video here. The Sagrantino grape is originally from the Umbrian region. But I'm having a local Umbrian wine. It's nice and light. It goes very well with our aperitivo food here including fried olives. If it's a Saturday night you usually need reservations so we ended up getting sandwiches at this lovely shop. Trying to pick a sandwich. What do we have? It's a truffle. Our last day in Perugia. Perugia time. People talk about the Italian breakfast all the time. What is it? It is usually what we say a pastry here, well US English which is a cornetto croissant. Here they call it cornetto and coffee and I'm having a double espresso. I'm having a cappuccino. Let's follow Small. So there's usually a market here, right? Yes, but it is Sunday so I guess there's no market on Sunday. We're actually here on the first Sunday of the month so we should be able to get into the National Gallery for free. We're going to see. We've made it to the National Gallery of Art here and this is the main collection here with St. Francis and being close to Assisi you definitely see it in the religious iconography here. You're going to see a lot of fountains and in the Middle Ages a lot of the great sculptors would come here to Perugia to create some works for the fountains like some that you're seeing right now. This was actually part of the Fontana Maggiore which is in front of the museum as we're showing you. The Adoration of the Maggi made by Perugino, the Renaissance painter from Perugia. This is in the center of Perugia. I say a must visit if you're in Italy and want to see a very interesting historical small town. Of course there's a ton in Italy but this is a good one. As we've said, a lot of university towns in Italy. This is one of the world's oldest university towns and it's a stunning university here. We just happened to walk through it. We found the key to the city too. No matter what you hear about Italy, you'll hear that it's an old country but there are many university towns in Italy. Off the top of my head there's Pisa, Bologna especially and we're in one as well and you really feel it. It feels like one big student art project within a medieval Etruscan city. Let's keep going. Perugia Cathedral consecrated in 1345 but it was not completed until 1490. It is a Gothic style cathedral. From the 1560s, this masterpiece of Italian mannerism is by Federico Barocci. This is the end of the road here for this trip here in Umbria. Thank you for watching. It's the end of our journey in Perugia. Don't forget to validate your tickets. Thank you for watching. Please subscribe. Let us know if you've been to Perugia. Ciao