Perugia

Perugia, an ancient city located in the center of Umbria, is the biggest town in the region. The historic center is located on the high hills that flank the right bank of the Tiber. It is of Etruscan origin and was a flourishing Roman municipality known as Augusta Perusia.
Perugia has an immense cultural and artistic heritage fruit of its glorious past. In every corner of the city and in its squares you can see monuments that bear witness to centuries of history, art and culture. There is the Etruscan Arch also known as the Arch of Augustus, a monumental gateway set into the Etruscan city walls which were later restored in Roman times. There is also the Etruscan well, and Marzia gate which is the second Etruscan gateway incorporated into the front of the Rocca Paolina bastion, built by Pope Paul III in 1540.
Piazza IV Novembre is one of the most beautiful squares in Italy. It faces the Palazzo dei Priori which is an elegant Gothic building that incorporates the National Gallery of Umbria where some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian art from the Middle Ages to the 18th century can be found, such as Piero della Francesca, Benozzo Gozzoli, Fra Angelico, Pinturicchio and Perugino. There is also the Sala dei Notari and the Collegio del Cambio (the old money-exchange and the arts and crafts guild of Perugia) with a prestigious series of paintings by Perugino inside, and also the chapel of St. John the Baptist with its 16th century frescoes. Then there is the Collegio della Mercanzia, the cathedral of San Lorenzo with the adjoining Museo del Capitolo, and finally the beautiful 13th century Fontana Maggiore by Fra Bevignate from Perugia, with bas-reliefs by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano.