Perugia (pārōō´jä), city (1991 pop. 144,732), capital of Umbria and of Perugia prov., central Italy, situated on a hill overlooking the valley of the Tiber River. It is a commercial, industrial, and tourist center. Manufactures include chocolate, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and machinery. Perugia was inhabited by the Umbrians and the Etruscans before it came under the control of Rome (c.310 BC). It became a Lombard duchy in the late 6th cent. AD In the 12th cent. it attained the status of a free commune and gradually gained hegemony over other Umbrian cities. Although nominally under papal control, it was in fact ruled by strong tyrants until 1540, when it was conquered by Pope Paul III. To help control the city Pope Paul built an imposing citadel (designed by Antonio da San Gallo and dismantled in 1860). Perugia was the artistic center of Umbria. The Umbrian school of painting (13th–16th cent.) reached its greatest splendor with Perugino (1445–1523), the teacher of Raphael, and with Pinturicchio (1454–1518). Points of interest in the city include the imposing Palazzo dei Priori (13th–15th cent.), which houses the National Gallery of Umbria; the marble Great Fountain (13th cent.), with sculptures by Nicolò Pisano and his son Giovanni; the Collegio del Cambio [exchange hall], with fine frescoes by Perugino and his followers; the Gothic cathedral (14th–15th cent., with later baroque additions); a large Etruscan arch (with Roman and 16th-century additions); the Church of San Pietro; the Gothic Church of San Domenico, which houses an archaeological museum; the Renaissance-style Oratory of San Bernardino; and well-preserved medieval quarters. Perugia is the seat of a university founded in 1308. Nearby is an Etruscan cemetery comprising ten chambers carved out of rock.

Perugia City on the Tiber River, central Italy; capital of Perugia province. A major Etruscan city, Perugia passed to Rome in 310 bc. The Lombards captured it in the 6th century ad, and it became a duchy. Perugia was the scene of various power struggles, before subdued by the papacy in 1540. In 1860 Perugia joined a united Italy. The artistic centre of Umbria, tourism and commerce dominate Perugia's modern economy. Its chocolate is world-renowned. Pop. (1999) 156,673.

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PERUGIA

PERUGIA, city in Umbria, central Italy. The Perugian statute of 1279, decreeing the expulsion of the Jews from the town, is proof that a Jewish settlement had previously been in existence in Perugia. It seems, however, that this measure was never put into effect and in succeeding years there was an active Jewish group in Perugia, mostly engaged in moneylending. The artist Matteo di Ser Cambio, who acted as "procurator" of the Jews of Perugia in 1414, illuminated a Hebrew manuscript there about this time. The creation of the *Monti di Pietá (1462), in conjunction with violent anti-Jewish preaching by the Franciscans, had dire consequences for the Jews in Perugia, and they were banished in 1485. Though later readmitted to the town, they were banished again in 1569 by the bull Hebraeorum Gens of *Piusv. Under *Sixtusv (1587) they returned temporarily, but in 1593 were banished finally by *Clementviii. A few Jews graduated in medicine in the University of Perugia between 1547 and 1551, including David *de'Pomis. In the 1920s and 1930s many foreigners (including some from Ereẓ Israel) studied there, receiving moral support in the home of Bernard Dessau, the professor of physics and a father of wireless telegraphy, and his wife, the artist Emma Dessau. There is again a handful of Jews living in Perugia, affiliated to the community of Rome, and services are held irregularly.

bibliography:

A. Fabretti, Sulla condizione degli ebrei in Perugia dal xiii al xvii secolo (1891); Scalvanti, in: Annali della Facoltá di Giurisprudenza… di Perugia, 8 (1910), 93–125; rmi, 25 (1959), 151ff.; Roth, Italy, index; Milano, Italia, index; Luzzatto, in: Vessillo Israelitico, 45 (1897), 81ff.; Momigliano, ibid., 65 (1918), 384–7; Narkiss, in: ks, 23 (1968), 285–360.

[Ariel Toaff]