The Main Cloister

The big open space you presently find yourselves in is the "heart" of the Saint Lawrence Island. This in fact is its 18th century cloister, around which do rise Saint Lawrence's Cathedral (you can see its polygonal apse and part of the bell tower), the former houses of the Canon priests of the Cathedral, and the rooms of the Chapter Museum. This place was part and parcel of the acropolis of the Etruscan town already in the seventh century B.C. (from Greek akros, i.e. upper, and polis, i.e. town). The upper area of a town was usually devoted to worshiping the gods.

The area of the Saint Lawrence Island has been, from the very start, the most important area of the town: the place where the people have always tried to get directly in touch with the godhead. This sacred hill has never changed this its function, so that layers of religious structures, from ancient Etruscan temples to the current cathedral, lie precisely under your feet.

You are about to experience a true travel in time. Going 50 feet (15 meters) down under this floor will mean traveling back through time, while walking again uphill will make you cross twenty-five centuries of history, till you will resurface at the starting point, the geographic and chronological apex of our voyage.

But, why did the Perugia acropolis become an underground area?

The reuses and changes, as well as the fact that people kept building here show the importance of the place. On top of the acropolis lies the Insula Sancti Laurentii – a set of buildings, a sort of little castle at the town's core, that was created by taking advantage of the natural room and differences in height in the hill. The whole of these centuries-long changes has given rise to the monumental complex called "Saint Lawrence Island." Here lived, and still live, the Canons, that is the priests who used to manage this place and celebrate the Mass in the cathedral.

This archaeological site is an extended, complex route some 800 meters (2,500 feet) long. During the tour you might happen to lose orientation, so please have a look, before, at the glass window on the floor of the gallery in the cloister, on the right. It will work as a point of reference, a "polestar" you will be seeing again during your underground tour. It will show that your uphill walk is almost completed, and therefore let you orient yourselves while still inside the acropolis hill.