When you want to do nothing in Perugia Italy, but hang out
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So this probably isn’t the first city on everyone’s list when they travel to Italy, however Perugia is a special kind of town that’s nearly free of tourists. Perugia is located in the region of Umbria, with Tuscany to its west and north and Marche to the East with Lazio to its south. Umbria is famous for its greenery and world heritage site-the town of Assisi , among many other gems.
When I told people I was heading to Umbria, I was met with,
“There’s only green there”
“Yeah and that’s exactly what I intended to do-be in the greenery.”
I took the train up from Naples to Perugia with a transfer in Rome.
1st day
Check into the Hotel Gio Wine e Jazz Area. This hotel is a nice rustic theme of jazz and wine (hence the name)..,.and it’s about a 15-20 minute walk from the center of Perugia. Their outdoor dinners can best be described as pretty romantic.
I booked a room with a bath, but that’s just me and I spent my first night scouring the little shops right next door for some chocolate. That was my first day of just ‘hanging out’ in Perugia.
Perugia is known for its Perugina chocolate company as well as their EuroChocolate festival running from the 15th to the 24th of October each year. Perugia is also known for its jazz festival as well, which happens every year from July 9th-18th. Definitely something worth visiting. Also for my fellow journalist and journalism students, Perugia hosts the International Journalism Festival every year in April (unfortunately this year of 2021 it was cancelled.)
2nd day
On my second day of just hanging out. I chose to head to the center for a bit of shopping as all the shops are nearby one another, plus look at views, and just wander through the alleyways admiring the street art. It was a beautiful day just to eat outside and roam the alleyways.
3rd day
On the third day of Umbria, I went cycling.
Well about 10 cars and its drivers in Italy, know me as the girl who accidently cycled on the highway (I’m going to blame google maps and not my lack of direction). Any who head over (by car or taxi) to the bike rentals near Lake Trasimeno for some empty back roads and bike trails along the lake, plus beautiful sunflowers. I spent about 7 hours cycling and accidently ended up in Cortona Tuscany. I didn’t realize there was an actual bike trail next to the lake-I found it 4 hours later. The bike trail was beautiful, but also those back roads that lead into Tuscany take you through some gorgeous scenery.
Okay fine so the third day, I didn’t hang out, unless hanging out counts as cycling. However for those wanting to hang out and not exert much muscle, the e-bikes are pretty popular here.
Insights:
Bike rentals:
https://www.cctbikerentals.com/en/rent-a-bike-umbria-bike-rentals-italy
https://www.trasimenoturismo.com/
Festivals
EuroChocolate festival:
October 15th -24th
https://www.carnifest.com/the-eurochocolate-festival-of-perugia-2021/
Umbria Summer Jazz Festival:
July 9th to 18th
https://www.carnifest.com/umbria-summer-jazz-festival-2021/
Journalism Festival
April 6-10 (2022)
https://www.journalismfestival.com/
Don’t ever ask me for directions, my future cycle tours can best be described as “come get lost with me”.
Last words: The Umbria region is better if you have a car, because taxi’s can get pricey in Italy. However Italy’s railway system is pretty amazing (I know it get’s some flack for delays…but it takes you places-which some other countries just don’t have.) The humans here are quite friendly and it has a nice small town vibe, I hope to visit Umbria many times more to update this piece for longer visits and check out Spello, Assisi, and many more towns!
