Perugia, the Smarter Alternative to Florence and Rome

Guests planning a trip to this part of Italy nearly always ask us the same question at some point: should they build in a day for Florence, or one for Rome? Our answer is often a third option. Perugia gives you the history and the food without the queues, and after enough years of sending people there instead, we've stopped treating it as the consolation choice.

Best time to go: Mid-to-late November, when Eurochocolate takes over the historic centre. In 2026 the festival runs from 13 to 22 November — ten days when Corso Vannucci and Piazza Italia fill with stands, workshops and chocolate sculptures large enough to need scaffolding. Perugia has been Italy's chocolate capital since Perugina set up here, and the festival, running every autumn since 1994, is the city at its most unguarded and most itself.

Eurochocolate comes to Perugia from November 13th to 22nd, 2026

Why we send people here instead

Florence, for all its brilliance, can feel like moving through a queue of masterpieces with everyone else's elbow in your ribs. Rome has scale on its side but asks a lot of your patience in return. Perugia asks less and gives back plenty: a walkable hill town with proper Etruscan bones, a university that keeps it lively, and a food culture that doesn't need translating for visitors who've come to Umbria specifically for the food.

None of this makes Perugia a secret. It's the regional capital, home to two universities with real international reach, and plenty of people already know it well. What we've found is that most travellers pass through too fast, treat it as a lunch stop on the way somewhere grander, and miss what a full day or two actually offers.

Photo by Yc Liao on Unsplash

What a good day looks like

Start with the Rocca Paolina — the 16th-century fortress with a medieval quarter still sealed beneath it — then work up toward Piazza IV Novembre for the fountain and the Palazzo dei Priori. If you're there for Eurochocolate, give the festival the whole afternoon: the tastings and demonstrations along Corso Vannucci are worth lingering over, and the workshops book up, so decide in advance if there's one you want. For dinner, our current favourite is Wood, a slow-smoked kitchen at Piazzale Bove that's started turning heads for a genuinely unusual combination: Umbrian ingredients cooked the traditional way, over a wood fire, with something closer to a Texas pitmaster's patience than a typical Italian grill. Their own line sums it up better than we can — "cuciniamo al fuoco di legna secondo la tradizione", we cook over wood fire according to tradition — but the results taste like nothing else we've had in Perugia.

from @wood_slow_smoked on Instagram

One thing to plan around: Wood closes for the whole of August and reopens in September, so it lines up neatly with an Eurochocolate trip but not with a high-summer visit. Check their Instagram for what's currently on the menu and whether they're taking bookings, see their Tripadvisor page for recent reviews, and take a look at the menu before you go.

Getting there from Altabella

It's only about 45 minutes from the Niccone Valley, and during Eurochocolate we'd suggest arriving early — parking near the centre fills up fast once the festival opens, and the queues for the more popular workshops build through the morning.