Umbria - Italy - page 196

The Perugia Jazz Fest
Virtually every major jazz musician has played the Perugia Fest, from Dizzy
Gillespie to Herbie Hancock to Miles Davis. The event remains one of the most
electric in the world of jazz as dozens of performances occur all over town, virtu-
ally 24 hours a day. It's not unusual to see staggering fest-goers exit late-night
jam sessions as the morning's entertainment is being set up in the piazze. Tickets
range from € 10 for late-night bar performances, to € 100+ for front row seats to
the big-name events. The most popular events do sell out, but you can still arrive
sans tickets and see a lot of jazz. What you can't do, though, is show up in town
without hotel reservations and expect to get a room; it's absolutely mobbed dur-
ing the festival, so make travel arrangements far in advance (and expect to pay
higher rates). Even if you can't book something in the center, it's worth commut-
ing for a day to Perugia if you're anywhere in Umbria during the festival.
For more information, see www.umbriajazz.com, or contact the box office (a
couple of months before the festival) at % 039-800462311.

You'll also want to visit that mecca for chocoholics, the Perugina Chocolate
Factory

9

(E45 Hwy. Madonna Alta exit, end of San Sito Rd.; % 075-5276796;
free admission; Mon-Fri 8:30am-1pm and 2-5:30pm), about 20 minutes outside
of Perugia. It's a Willy Wonka-like experience as you take a guided tour around a
huge plant processing tons of chocolate in every size and shape that pours off
dozens of assembly lines. (The only downer: The pre-tour instructional video in
English is a long corporate advertisement; watch the animated presentation for
kids in Italian—it's much more entertaining.) The factory museum boasts a hol-
low replica of the world's largest piece of chocolate (2.1m/7 ft. tall, weighing 6
tons) wrapped in foil. It also has photos of famous Perugina spokespeople, from
Joe DiMaggio to Frank Sinatra, and an odd picture of Mussolini visiting the fac-
tory about a year before it was bombed to the ground in World War II. The tour
is free (and so are the samples!) but phone ahead for reservations, especially as the
workforce is prone to 1-day strikes. Note: The staff gets quite testy if you take pic-
tures during the tour. Perugina also has a shop at 101 Corso Vannucci in town.
If you'd really like to dip into the world of chocolate, The Eurochocolate
Festival (www.eurochocolate.com) is a yearly bacchanalia devoted to all things
brown and sugary. Organizers say they attracted a mind-boggling 900,000 visitors
to a recent 10-day festival. The event has featured over 100 booths of interna-
tional chocolate makers, exhibits on “crucial periods in chocolate history,” chef
demonstrations, and a “choco-reality” show. (I swear I'm not making this up.)
Local producer Perugina plays a big role in the happenings.
Dropped to the third division of Italian soccer (Serie C) following a bank-
ruptcy, AC Perugia is still a team with a glorious history and strong fan base.
Going to a game is a way to experience the Italian passion for soccer. And with
the team's recent weakening, it may be easier to get a ticket than for one of the
big-city Serie A games. The season runs from about September to June, and home