Isola San Lorenzo - The Saint Lawrence "Island"

Underground Perugia is the very heart of an “immersed” city, an archaeological area where a real Travel in time through centuries is possible, seeing an Etruscan/Roman road, a Roman domus, the original acropolis built on top of the Etruscan walls and the layers of the foundations of the sacred buildings that have followed in time. The path is about one km long under two cloisters getting to the area under the Abs of the Cathedral.   

The Museo del Capitolo (Chapter Museum) founded in 1923 has gone a total renovation for its 100 years of age. The new Museum itinerary follow a thematic criterion telling the link of the territory with its Cathedral, the important XV Century commissions of Agostino di Duccio and Luca Signorelli, the popular tradition and devotion through the art works of Bonfigli and Caporali, the presence of the Popes in Perugia and all the vicissitudes of the Santo Anello (Holy Ring). Each room tells a tale linked to the art works there, to their artists, theirs time and contest, meeting and talking with the contemporary man.

The Cattedrale of San Lorenzo is right in the heart of the historic centre of Perugia. Built between 1300 and 1400, outside shows a coating with local white and red stone, but only along the inferior facade of the building, as the remaining part of the coating was never finished. The Dome inside has a slender figure in pure Gothic style and is divided in three naves of same Hight by huge octagonal pillars (Hallenkirche - “hall church”). The XV century aspect has been almost totally lost, due to the numerous refurbishments along the centuries. In one of the pillars in the centre of the nave the painting of the Mater Gratiae, object of deep worship for the people of Perugia, from about 1515 and attributed, by some scholars, to Perugino, to one of his pupils, Giannicola di Paolo, by others. In the Cappella di San Giuseppe is the “Santo Anello” (Holy Ring), a jewel of the I Century that tradition says to be the nuptial ring of St Joseph and the Virgin Mary.