Another Perugina history lesson (and a new restaurant)

This morning we explored Rocca Paulina.

This is a massive fortress built in the mid-16th century at the behest of Pope Paul lll. It seems that the church wanted to raise more money for the war in the Holy Land. So, as Sunday collections were down, they decided to up the price of salt. Now, this upset your average Perugian massively, as they didn’t understand the damage salt can do to your heart.

A series of uprisings were finally quelled by the Pope’s army and to establish his authority, the Pope built this massive fortress. In the process, they knocked over many fine houses, churches, gates and monasteries. Developers have never been popular.

Today we walked on many of the old streets including the underground extension of Via Baglioni which is still one of the main streets of the city.

A surprise was a sizeable gallery space deep under the fortress with many fine, mostly abstract contemporary art works.

After a quick pastry snack from our favourite pasticciera, we headed off on a longish walk to inspect the gardens near the Abbizia de San Pietro, a 10th century Benedictine abbey. The buildings are now a faculty of the Perugia University.

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Pre-dinner drinks in the piazza

Dinner tonight was at La Taverna, located a good distance away from the main piazza eateries. Chef Claudio Brugalossi seemed to have many good reviews.

The menu looked inviting. For entrees, Sally tried the Calamaretti fritti and I had the Terrina di campagna con pistacchi e tartufo nero.

For secondi, we had Parmigiana di melanzane, e patate e zucchini for Sally and Carre di agnello alle erbette for me.

The wine was a delicious Umbrian 2017 Montefalco Sagrantino.

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P.S. Today we discovered the Scala Mobile, an underground escalator from a small piazza just around the corner from our house. This leads to a walkway through the 800 year old Rocca Paulina (see above) to another escalator to the top of the main city piazza. Almost zero walking up stairs. Only took us three days to find it. Go figure.

Tomorrow Assisi.