Around us: Art and Culture

Assisi in Italy stretches out on the slopes of the Monte Subasio, above the plain where the Topino and Chiascio rivers flow.

Assisi’s oldest nucleus, which is protected by a defensive apparatus made up of eight fortified entrance portals and a long belt of town walls, which are still perfectly preserved, is topped by two castles on peak of the mountain: the Major Castle, reconstructed by the Cardinal Albornoz in 1367 and the Minor Castle.

Apart from religious buildings too important to not be considered solely the heritage of Assisi such as the basilica of St. Francis, the tourist can also visit the churches of St. Clare and St.Peter.

Main city of the region Umbria, Perugia is placed on the top of a hill and dominates the Valley of Tiber.

With its Etruscan walls, a gorgeous Medieval center, Perugia is not only a city for the gluttonous (re: chocolate), but for artists and art lovers alike.

Visitors should be sure to see Piazza Matteotti as well, with its 15th-Century Palazzo dell’Universita Vecchia, and Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo. Then, one of Italy’s most important, Piazza IV Novembre, is the city’s monumental social hub.

On this central piazza sits Palazzo dei Priori, the symbol of governmental power; the cathedral (religious power) and; at its nucleus, the Maggiore Fountain, completed in the 1200s and fed by the aqueduct originating on Monte Pacciano.