Perugia

5th Nov, 2015

skyline from wall museum.jpg

old and new accessibility infrastructure.jpg

City Visit, 30th October - 2nd November

Perugia was first introduced to me as a relevant precedent for my project back in November 2014, when I was specifically concerned with the role of the University within L'Aquila. Of course, Perugia is a very successful example of an Italian university city. I was next told to visit Perugia as a precedent because of its excellent connectivity; Perugia is an ancient hill town, but contemporary interventions have meant a series of escalators and lifts make the entire city accessible. Plus, these modern devices interact with the medieval fabric, in what I have been told was a smart way; and interesting as a design precedent for intervening in historic buildings.

So I visited to understand how the city and the university work together, and to get a look at these famous ascensori e scale mobili. In fact, I think those people who recommended Perugia to me were playing it down. Not only is it breathtakingly beautiful, but it really does 'work'. The lifts and elevators mean the entire historic centre is much less daunting to scale and explore, and I can imagine it would make living here significantly easier. And this accessibility extends to the peripheries, too; Perugia has a fantastic bus service and also the MiniMetro - little pods on an elevated track which whiz up and down from beyond the train station to the centre. The MiniMetro might look like a 1970s vision of the future, but it is extremely efficient and cheap.

minimetro perugia.jpg

The most spectacular example of the escalator system can be seen in La Rocca Paolina, a fortress to the south of the historic centre, where the escalators from the main street descend into an underground warren of ancient streets and palazzi, which feel like a sort of medieval Pompeii. The combination of old and new is quite surreal, but the system keeps a continuous flow of pedestrians through the underground streets and makes the ancient place feel very much alive and an intrinsic function of the city.

two rocca paolina shots.jpg

The University is one of the many factors that makes Perugia an attractive city. There are the obvious stream of tourists, too, but these aren't so conspicuous as bus loads of groups on guided tours, and the shops aren't geared specifically towards tourism so that tourists become diffused into city life and everyday processes. The students certainly add liveliness, and they are tightly woven into the historic fabric of the city so that one sees University buildings scattered everywhere, as in Cambridge, and therefore the students spread their diversity to all corners. In fact, I think it is the way in which they are so deeply incorporated into the historic centre and its functions that makes Perugia as a University town so successful; were the departments spread to the peripheries, this sense would be lost.

perugia market life.jpg

But, is this a relevant precedent for L'Aquila? At the moment I would have to say: no. Unfortunately, L'Aquila just isn't at that stage yet, where they can plan to become a city such as Perugia, when at the moment there is no city centre to speak of. They are so far away from being able to consider new elements to their city, such as improved accessibility, as they are entirely focused (somewhat justifiably) on the reconstruction of the built fabric. However, it is a widely acknowledged problem here that the 'walkability' of the city is poor, and in addition to the very bad public transport it does leave something to be desired. There are certainly lessons that can be learnt from places such as Perugia and they need to be implemented as soon as possible to become an intrinsic part of the development trajectory of the city, whilst this still has the capacity to change. But will that happen any time soon? Highly unlikely. Best to keep Perugia in the back on one's mind...

skyline perugia from porta.jpg

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Origin

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Trace

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