UMBRIA

Those arriving in Umbria for the Pintoricchio exhibition will soon realise – with considerable pleasure – that they have entered into a region that, to paraphrase Cesare Brandi … reminds one of a board game in which visitors follow a determined route where each stop reveals a fascinating surprise.
Each town, Church or Piazza has a story to tell; the villages and towns proudly guard the treasures of their artistic heritage, together with local knowledge and the flavours of local traditions.
Visitors will discover that each stop along the way reveals museums that contain testimonies to the rich and various cultures of centuries past: from the Umbrians to the Etruscans, the Romans to the Longobardi, from the masterpieces of the Renaissance to the Maestri of the 1900s.
With over 150 artistic and cultural destinations, Umbria has an extremely high density of museums, archaeological sites and monuments, many of which - thanks to the financial support of the Regional and National Administrations and the European Union - have been restored in recent years and returned to be displayed before an ever more appreciative public.

In many of the Museums the collections are housed in buildings that, themselves, are of significant historical and architectural interest. Notable among these are those at: Bettona, Bevagna, Calvi, Cascia, Castiglione del Lago, Città di Castello, Foligno, Gubbio, Gualdo Tadino, Montefalco, Montone, Narni, Nocera Umbra, Norcia, Spello, Spoleto, Terni, Todi, Trevi and Umbertide.
In addition to the Galleria Nazionale dell’ Umbria in Perugia and of particular charm are the Collegio del Cambio and the Collegio della Mercanzia, in Pintoricchio’s home region visitors can also discover some of the Grand Maestri of the 1900s: the work of Alberto Burri in Città di Castello, the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Spoleto, the lavagne di Beuys or l’aeropittura di Dottori in the Palazzo della Penna in Perugia and the Emilio Greco Museum in Orvieto.

The region’s cultural heritage includes a vast network of ecclesiastical museums that aim to maximise appreciation of objects of faith and popular religion. Among these are the museums of: Assisi, Città di Castello, Gubbio, Orvieto, Perugia, Preci, Spoleto, and Terni.

The archaeological Museums of Perugia, Terni, Orvieto, Amelia, Assisi and Gubbio, relate to numerous archaeological sites and monuments, including: Orvieto, Carsulae (Terni), Otricoli, Cannara e Baschi and particular itineraries such as “Orvieto Undergorund” and “Narni sottoterra”.

There are also various Museums of Scientific and Naturalistic themes, including: the Ornithological Museum of Pietralunga, the Documentation Centre of Parrano sulle Tane del Diavolo, the Botanic Paleontology Centre for the fossil forest of Dunarobba ad Avigliano, the Vulcanology Museum of San Venanzo, The Historico-Naturalistic Museum of Monte Cucco in Costacciaro, the Scienze and technology Workshop in Perugia, the Geolab- Laboratory Museum of the Science of the Earth in San Gemini and the Museum of the Umbrian Apennines in Polino.

Historical Museums include the Museum of the Wall, Perugia, the Documentation Centre of Tuoro su Annibale and the Battle of Trasimeno, The Capitani di Ventura Umbri Museum in Alviano and the Emigration Museum in Gualdo Tadino.

There are also numerous themed museums, such as: The Ceramics Museum in Deruta, the Fish Museum in Magione on Lake trasimeno, The Oil Museum in Trevi, The Wine Museum and the Olive Museum in Torgiano, The Laterizio Museum in Marsciano, and the museums dedicated to “peasant culture” in Alviano, Campello, Todi, Montecastrilli and Montecchio. Finally there are a number of workshops opened to the public where visitors can see traditional production of: fabrics in Città di Castello (Tela Umbra) and Perugia (Giuditta Brozzetti), embroidery in Panicale, Tuoro and Valtopina, glasswork in Perugia (Vetreria Moretti Caselli) and typography in Città di Castello (Grifani Donati) and in San Giustino (Pliniana).