Perugia sits on a ridge at around 490 metres, holds about 165,000 people, and is the capital of Umbria, the one Italian region with no coastline. It is a genuinely old city: the Etruscans walled it in the third century BCE and one of their gates, the Arco Etrusco, still stands with a Roman inscription cut above the Etruscan stonework and a Renaissance loggia stuck on the side. That stacking of three eras in a single doorway is what Perugia is like generally.
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The practical thing to understand before you arrive is the vertical. The historic centre is on top of the hill and everything else, including the railway station, is at the bottom. Perugia solved this with an automated people mover called the Minimetro and with a network of public escalators, several of which run up through the Rocca Paolina, a papal fortress built in 1540 on top of an entire demolished district. The escalators pass through the buried streets and cellars of the old neighbourhood, lit and open to the public. It is the best free thing in the city and it is also simply how you get to the centre.
This guide covers the city, its two large festivals, the seasons, safety and the full packing list.
The City, and the Buried District
Perugia is small enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes, on the flat, once you are up on the ridge.
The centre of it is Piazza IV Novembre, with the Fontana Maggiore in the middle: a fountain of 1278 by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, carved with fifty panels of saints, the labours of the months, Aesop's fables and the founding of Rome, and worth ten minutes of walking slowly round it. Behind the fountain the Cathedral of San Lorenzo presents an unfinished side wall to the square, because the facade that was meant to face it was never built.
Opposite is the Palazzo dei Priori, the medieval town hall, which houses the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria. This is the serious collection: Perugino, who trained Raphael, and Pinturicchio, both Umbrians, along with the Sala dei Notari with its painted vaults. The Collegio del Cambio next door, the old money changers' guild hall, is frescoed by Perugino throughout and is often empty.
Corso Vannucci runs the spine of the centre and is where the entire city walks in the evening. Perugia has one of Italy's oldest universities and also the Universita per Stranieri, a university for foreign students, so the passeggiata here is younger and louder than in most Umbrian towns.
Then there is the Rocca Paolina, which is not really a fortress visit but an underground city walk. Pope Paul III built it after crushing a local revolt over a salt tax, deliberately flattening the district belonging to the family who led the rebellion. The Perugians tore the fortress down in 1860 and left the substructure, which means the streets and house fronts of the destroyed quarter are still standing inside it, underground, with escalators running through.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Umbria Jazz, Chocolate, and Assisi
Two festivals dominate the Perugia calendar and both change what the city is like to visit.
Umbria Jazz runs for about ten days in July and is one of the most significant jazz festivals in Europe, with paid concerts in the Arena Santa Giuliana and free stages in the piazzas all day. It is excellent and it fills every bed in the city, so book far ahead or stay outside and commute in.
Eurochocolate happens in October. Perugia is the home of Perugina and of Baci, the hazelnut chocolates with love notes wrapped inside, and the festival brings a very large number of people into a very small hilltop centre. If crowds are the thing you travel to avoid, these two weeks and Umbria Jazz are the ones to dodge.
Perugia also works as a base. Assisi is about twenty-five kilometres away and reachable by regional train in half an hour, and Gubbio, Spello, Todi and Lake Trasimeno are all short trips. Umbria is compact and Perugia is the middle of it.
When to Go, and What the Hill Does to the Weather
May, June, September and early October are the best months. Winter at this altitude is properly cold and August is hot.
Perugia's elevation makes it cooler than Rome year round and noticeably colder in winter, when highs sit around 8 to 10C, nights drop to or below freezing, and the hill catches wind that the valley does not. Snow is occasional rather than reliable. Spring and autumn give comfortable walking weather in the high teens and low twenties, with rain most likely in November and in spring.
Summer reaches the low to mid thirties in July and August, and the inland position means the heat sits rather than moves. That combines awkwardly with a city built on a slope: the walk up from a lower gate in afternoon heat is real work. Use the escalators, which are free, and keep water with you.
The food is Umbrian, which means lentils from Castelluccio, black truffles, wild boar, torta al testo, a flatbread cooked on a stone and split for filling, and strong local reds from Montefalco and Torgiano.
Is Perugia Safe for Women Travelers
Perugia is a safe, well policed university city, and the ordinary precautions of any Italian city are the whole of it.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Italy. Its guidance concentrates on petty theft in crowded tourist areas and on the ZTL, the limited traffic zones in historic centres that catch drivers out with automatic fines months after the trip.
The centre is busy into the early hours during term time and there is no district a visitor should avoid. Pickpocketing is the realistic risk and it concentrates in Piazza IV Novembre, on Corso Vannucci and around the escalator entrances, where crowds funnel. The station area at the bottom of the hill is duller and quieter at night than the centre at the top.
The more likely problems here are physical. This city is steep and its surfaces are medieval: worn stone, cobbles set on a slope, stepped lanes that are slick after rain. Footwear matters more in Perugia than in a flat city. The escalators and the Minimetro have operating hours and stop in the evening, generally around 9pm for some sections and later for others, so check the last departure before you plan to ride back down after dinner, because the alternative is walking a long steep road in the dark.
Healthcare is excellent and the reciprocal arrangements are worth understanding before you need them. A UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident, which is not the same as free and does not cover repatriation or a private clinic. Travel insurance sits on top of it rather than instead of it.
The Perugia Packing List
Base layers, for a cold hill in winter
Perugia's altitude gives it a real winter, and the pattern of the day here is a cold windy ridge, a warm museum, a cold street again. Merino handles that swing better than cotton because it insulates when slightly damp and does not chill you when you stop climbing. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron and 160gsm with no synthetic blend, and a merino wool base layer for women is the layer to build on from November through March.
Mid layer
A fleece mid layer for winter, and for spring and autumn evenings, which on this ridge cool off quickly once the sun is off the stone.
Rain and wind
A packable rain jacket for women. Wind is the specific reason: the hilltop takes it and the piazzas are exposed.
Footwear, which is the one thing to get right
Walking shoes with grip, and treat this as the priority item rather than an afterthought. Perugia is steep, its paving is polished stone, and wet cobbles on a gradient are how people fall. Smooth-soled shoes are a bad idea here. Merino wool socks for warmth in winter and for blister resistance on the climbs.
Sun and summer
Umbrian summer sun on an exposed ridge is stronger than it feels with a breeze on you. Pack high SPF sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses, and carry water for the walk up.
Winter, and the small things
A merino wool beanie from November to March, because the wind on the ridge is the part people underestimate. A scarf, modest enough for the cathedral and the Collegio del Cambio, where shoulders should be covered. And a daypack rather than a shoulder bag, since your hands are better free on stepped streets.
Essential Resources for Women in Perugia
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Non-emergency police: the Carabinieri on 112 and the Polizia di Stato on 113. Report a theft in person to obtain the denuncia your insurer will require.
Tourist police: no separate force. The Polizia Municipale handles the historic centre.
Main hospital or clinic: the Azienda Ospedaliera di Perugia, Ospedale Santa Maria della Misericordia, at Sant'Andrea delle Fratte outside the centre, with a 24 hour emergency department.
Official health authority: the Italian Ministry of Health, salute.gov.it
US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Official tourism authority: the Italian national tourist board, italia.it
Solo women safety assessment: Perugia is an easy and safe city to travel alone. It is a university town with two universities including one for international students, which keeps the centre populated and used to visitors into the early hours, and there is no neighbourhood to avoid. Pickpocketing in the crowded spots, Piazza IV Novembre, Corso Vannucci, the escalator entrances and the festival crowds in July and October, is the only common crime and a zipped bag worn in front deals with it. The real hazards are the terrain and the timetable. This is a steep city paved in worn stone, and wet cobbles on a slope cause more trouble here than crime does, so grippy shoes are a safety item rather than a comfort one. Check the closing times of the escalators and the Minimetro before an evening out, because missing the last one means a long dark walk up or down the hill. In summer, the climb in afternoon heat is genuinely tiring, so carry water and use the escalators rather than proving a point.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Italy travel guide for women. For why merino suits a cold windy hilltop better than cotton, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
