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In Città della Pieve the Perugino was born, the '' divin painter '' champion of the Renaissance

Anyone goes to Umbria cannot avoid to pass for Città della Pieve. It would be like going to Rome without entering into the Cappella Sistina, or to study the History of art without knowing the works of Rafael, to draw the Italian culture and without knowing who is Leonardo da vinci. At Città della Pieve all these elements find a point of meeting and contact, producing a short circuit illuminating the Renaissance, one of the periods of maximum flowering of the Italian culture appreciated in every part of the world. The line of union is Pietro Vannucci, the Perugino, who was born in Città della Pieve, he was Rafael Sanzio's teacher, friend of Leonardo and author of '' The delivery of the keys'', masterpiece among the masterpieces of the Cappella Sistina. From this brief description it's understandable the greatness of the character, that is placed in the fulcrum of a movement that continues to fascinate. Visiting the places and the works of the divin painter is so possible to breathe some good Renaissance air, simply walking for the streets of Città della Pieve. Not often happens to be able to turn a corner, entering into an Oratory, the one of Santa Maria dei Bianchi for instance, and to find there a fresco, '' The adoration of the Magi '' that leaves dumbfounded. It's the most important work of the Perugino remained at Città della Pieve, finished in 1504, after his re-entry from Florence. After the ecstatic abduction to the grace and the sweetness of the represented figures, in the work a marvellous panorama can be admired, a landscape that, who has turned at least once the look to the Trasimeno lake and to the Valdichiana knows very well. The tradition wants that in the painting there is the hand of its most famous student, Rafael, recognizable in the figure of the Virgin and the little dog at her shoulders.

In the Cattedrale dei Santi Gervaso and Protasio, the ancient parish around which toward the VII century rose the whole city, the Perugino painted two tables representing '' The Baptism of Christ '' of 1510 and the  '' Madonna in glory with saints '' of 1514. But other two works are miss to complete the itinerary: one is the '' The deposition from the cross '' realised in 1517, damaged but of which meaningful fragments remains, in the Church of Saint Maria dei servi. The other one is found in the San Pietro Church and represents '' Sant'Antonio Abate tra i Santi Paolo Eremita e Marcello '', perhaps of 1508, but in precarious conditions.

The artistic concentration in today's museums doesn't even return a small part of the value and the charm that a work admired in the place in which was thought and realized. In Città della Pieve Pietro Vannucci has left numerous works and a name to be proud untill the values expressed by the Renaissance and the beauty will have a place in the world.

It's more and more rare to admire a masterpiece where it has always been, in the place in which was set for the first time and its natural context. Widening the discourse, it can be affirmed that the whole city is the natural context of the work of the Perugino and every road, house, plaza or building, add something to the understanding of its artistic message. Città della Pieve has been the crib of the divin painter, his first source of inspiration, of its first memories. To judge from the results we have to conclude that it has been an excellent muse.

The same charm and the same suggestion involves the visitor who comes in the motherland of the Perugino, and it seems almost to see him coming from the corner of a road, uncombed and with the briefcase full of sketches hold under the arm. Nothing seems to be changed since then. Everything appears as if the time was stopped and the clock had put back the hands of 500 years. But the reality is that of a magnificent present where fortunately the past has not passed entirely, but daily relives. The city becomes animated of people, of visitors, tourists and passer-bys, all pushed by the same desire, that to live an intense emotional experience in one of the most beautiful cities in Umbria.