History:
Most recently famous for the Amanda Knox trial, Perugia was an Umbrian settlement but first appears in written history as Perusia, one of the twelve confederate cities of Etruria; it was first mentioned in Q. Fabius Pictor's account, utilized by Livy, of the expedition carried out against the Etruscan league by Fabius Maximus Rullianus in 310 or 309 BC. In 216 and 205 BC it assisted Rome in the Second Punic War but afterwards it is not mentioned until 41-40 BC, when Lucius Antonius took refuge there, and was reduced by Octavian after a long siege, and its senators sent to their death. A number of lead bullets used by slingers have been found in and around the city. The city was burnt, we are told, with the exception of the temples of Vulcan and Juno— the massive Etruscan terrace-walls, naturally, can hardly have suffered at all— and the town, with the territory for a mile round, was allowed to be occupied by whoever chose. It must have been rebuilt almost at once, for several bases for statues exist, inscribed Augusto sacr(um) Perusia restituta; but it did not become a colonia, until 251-253 AD, when it was resettled as Colonia Vibia Augusta Perusia, under the emperor C. Vibius Trebonianus Gallus.
It is hardly mentioned except by the geographers until it was the only city in Umbria to resist Totila, who captured it and laid the city waste in 547, after a long siege, apparently after the city's Byzantine garrison evacuated. Negotiations with the besieging forces fell to the city's bishop, Herculanus, as representative of the townspeople. Totila is said to have ordered the bishop to be flayed and beheaded. St. Herculanus (Sant'Ercolano) later became the city's patron saint.
In the Lombard period Perugia is spoken of as one of the principal cities of Tuscia.[14] In the 9th century, with the consent of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, it passed under the popes; but by the 11th century its commune was asserting itself, and for many centuries the city continued to maintain an independent life, warring against many of the neighboring lands and cities— Foligno, Assisi, Spoleto, Todi, Siena, Arezzo, etc. In 1186 Henry VI, rex romanorum and future emperor, granted diplomatic recognition to the consular government of the city; afterward Pope Innocent III, whose major aim was to give state dignity to the dominions having been constituting the patrimony of St. Peter, acknowledged the validity of the imperial statement and recognized the established civic practices having the force of law.
In 1832, 1838 and 1854, Perugia was hit by earthquakes. Following the collapse of the Roman republic of 1848-49, when the Rocca was in part demolished,[18] it was seized in May 1849 by the Austrians. In June 1859 the inhabitants rebelled against the temporal authority of the Pope and established a provisional government, but the insurrection was quashed bloodily by Pius IX's troops. In September 1860 the city was united finally, along with the rest of Umbria, as part of the Kingdom of Italy.
Markets
There is a covered market held daily off Piazza Matteotti, Tuesdays and Saturdays there is a market on Via Ercolane, Saturday a market is held at Pian di Massiano
Don't Miss:
- Best Gelato ever!!! (according to Megan and Chris Zacher): Di Carloni Matteo & C. Snc, Via Luigi Bonazzi, 3, 06121 Perugia, Italy, +39 075 573 5620 View Map
- - Shopping on the grand Vannucci Street is Perugia’s best- it has plenty of fashionable boutiques offering a great variety of famous brand names. Numerous shops, restaurants, pizzerias, pubs and cafes can also be found on this street. As a general rule most shops will open Monday to Saturday from 09.00 and close at 13.00 for lunch, reopening at 15.30 until 19.00.