Perugia is the capital of the Umbria region, in the central part of Italy. Barely 164 kilometers separate it from Rome, so if you have time to take a walk from Rome, other than the classic cities of Florence or Venice, Perugia may be your new option.
Perugia has Etruscan roots, it was one of its cities, and it is also a rich medieval city so the list of charms and attractions is very rich. Among all the medieval places that we can visit is the Collegio del Cambio, one of the rooms of the Palazzo del Priori, headquarters of one of the local guilds. The building dates from the mid-XNUMXth century and the living room is beautifully decorated with many valuable works of art such as the one we see in the photograph above.
This special room is the entrance to the museum. Once rented by the legal guild, in 1611, the beautification work began and the woodwork was carried out by a genius craftsman named Gianpiero Zuccari. There were other powerful guilds in Perugia and it was their wealth that ensured that this palace and its halls became really luxurious places with lots of wood, frescoes, murals and terracotta statues.
The Nobile Collegio del Cambio is accessed through a long and narrow room known as the Legislative Hall. Then there is another room, the Sala delle Udienze, with the best of renaissance art. A beauty: wood carvings by Domenico del Tasso, wooden doors by Antonio Bencivenni, frescoes on the walls by Pietro Vannucci or Perugino, a side chapel dedicated to San Giovanni with more wood carvings and paintings.
Si you want to visit the Nobile Collegio del Cambio write down this practical information:
- Hours: from April 1 to October 31, it opens from Monday to Saturday from 9 am to noon and from 2:30 to 5:30 pm. On Sundays and holidays it does it between 9 am and 1 pm. In winter it has more or less the same hours.