The Soundscape of Perugia

by Debbie Guyol

Our 2024 Italy workshop is called A Feast for the Senses, and we’ll focus on one sense per day.

On the first day of our workshop in Perugia we’ll focus on sounds. We’ve never been to Perugia ourselves, so we can only imagine the sounds it will surround us with. Well, we can also consult the almighty internet. Where people who’ve been there can tell us about the sounds that impressed them. And where youtube can give us sound samples. We’re pretty sure that when we’re all gathered there, we’ll come up with many more.

Of course we can (but don’t have to) imagine the birds.

We’ve all heard the bells in other cities, in Europe and at home. Here are some from Perugia.

Italians are famous, justly or not, for vocal exuberance, and Kia Dunn, a student at the Umbra Institute, wrote vividly about these sounds: “Perugia sounds like footsteps and Italian banter at 3 in the morning. . . . Drunk college students singing and Italian couples yelling directly below my window are sounds that are a part of my new Italian life.” (Our lodging is on the outskirts of the city so hopefully our writers will not be awakened at 3 AM!)

For more soothing sounds, think of water flowing – or trickling, as in this sample from Perugia’s Etruscan well. For a more robust water sound, check out the Fontana Maggior (This video has more than just water sounds!)

Let’s not forget the quintessential Italian mode of transport, the Vespa, but we’ll let you find its sounds on your own.

Finally, here’s a clip of street sounds in an unidentified Italian city, just to get you in the mood: 

We’re eager to hear all these sounds – and more – in person, in Perugia. Perhaps while eating chocolate, drinking wine, or both.

And okay the video below is a compilation. But hey, who can’t use a little Italian restaurant music to listen to while you write?