The Hill towns of Central Italy: Perugia, Assisi & Deruta Private Tour

With a pristine medieval centre and an international student population, Perugia is Umbria’s largest and most cosmopolitan city. Its centro storico (historic centre), seemingly little changed in more than 400 years, rises in a helter-skelter of cobbled alleys, arched stairways and piazzas framed by solemn churches and magnificent Gothic palazzi (mansions). Reminders of its lively and often bloody past are everywhere, from ancient arches and medieval basilicas to Renaissance frescoes by the likes of Perugino and Raphael.

Crowned by a ruined castle, Assisi spills downhill to its famous Basilica of St. Francis, named after its hometown boy who made very, very good. Francis' legacy is now Assisi's basic industry, and mementos of his days in Assisi are everywhere — where he was baptized, a shirt he wore, a hill he prayed on, and the church where a vision changed his life. While this beautifully preserved Umbrian town bursts with flash-in-the-pan Francis fans in summer, even just a block or two off the main drag you can find pockets of serenity that, it's easy to imagine, must have made Francis feel at peace.