IN the Umbrian capital of Perugia, smart-suited accountants emerge from Gothic doorways. Young executives drop by Madonna della Luce for a lunch time prayer. A design studio occupies a vaulted undercroft, Max Mara a Renaissance palazzo. The captivating fusion of ancient and modern is what makes Umbria, and Perugia in particular, such an attractive place to live. Yes, Monte Castello di Vibio may feel a little over-neat, the shops in Assisi too touristy (although pilgrims have been buying St Francis souvenirs for 800 years), yet there’s nothing precious about the way life continues among the medieval fabric, nothing jarring about the escalators stitched into steep slopes alongside worn stone steps. The juxtaposition is encapsulated in Perugia’s Via dei Priori, which cuts down from one of the great Gothic town halls of Italy between towering medieval houses bridged by flying buttresses. Here, the independent butcher, grocer and electrical shop squeeze in between porticos, chapels and secret alleyways.
Built on a series of rocky spurs, Perugia is a city of layers spanning 2,000 years. Descend beneath the cathedral cloister into a labyrinth of ancient structures and walk along a subterranean road scored with Roman wheel ruts. Just when you think you’ve grasped the layout of the acropolis and its temple, medieval brickwork crashes into an Etruscan wall, setting off in a different direction. (For outstanding remains from Antiquity, visit the Archaeological Museum in the cloister of San Domenico.) Later layers include the bulwark of the papal fort, Rocca Paolina, with medieval Via Baglioni, still a busy thoroughfare, subsumed within.
Denne historien er fra June 28, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra June 28, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
