Trifter

Most of Umbria’s museums were locked to the public until the end of the twentieth century due to faulty and unsafe conditions. The thirty-plus museums that opened in the late nineties opened a casket of beauty kept hidden for too long. For tourists and Umbria’s inhabitants, to access restored museums like the Burri Museum in Citta di Castello and the Umbrian Appennines Museum in Polino, a city southwest of Perugia, was an artistic gift. The history of Umbria’s museums, both public and private, can be traced to the Etruscan’s influence centuries ago, who along with linguistic contributions, brought with them collections of sculpture, paintings, and other aesthetically decorative and physically poetic additions to the region of Umbria. The best collection of Etruscan paintings and artifacts can be found at the National Archaeological Museum of Umbria in its capital city of Perugia.

Today, Umbria is home to archaeological, religious, and contemporary art collections. The National Gallery of Umbria, also in Perugia, exhibits the work of artistic masters like Piero della Francesca and Benedetto Bonfiglio, both of which were acclaimed for their gothic paintings. A trip to Assisi requires a stop at the Basilica of San Francesco where St. Francis is buried and is a fresco-laden two-tiered church first built in 1228 displaying both Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Modern visits invite visitors into its walls of arches and buttresses which lead to the showcase of work by artists like Pietro Lorenzetti, Cimabue, and Giorgetti. Specialized museums like the Ceramics Museum in Deruta, the Wine Museum, and the Olive and Oil Museum in Torgiano, comprise the alternative scene to the classically themed exhibitions in Umbria. But those interested in experiencing the brilliant duality Umbria is famous for, the hybrid of past and present in its rich culture and beautiful landscape, have over one hundred options from which to choose.

Among them are The Chapel of San Brizio, displaying fifteenth century paintings, the Archaeological Museum of Amelia, host to the famous bronze statue Nerone Claudio Druso known as the “Germanic” having been excavated in 1963, and the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Spoleto. The marvelous facades and the historic pieces enclosed in Umbria’s museums paint a picture of a on-going appreciation and panorama for some of the richest art in the world. As if placed in the very paintings one views while visiting these museums, Umbria’s visitors and inhabitants witness the landscape of artistic contributions in the form of palaces, churches, galleries, and museums that come alive in Umbria.