A picturesque village surrounded by walls and clustered around its squares
The city-castle of Panicale overlooks Lake Trasimeno on one side and the expansive Nestore Valley on the other.
It has a circular layout and a dense network of buildings. Three squares arranged in an axis, one above the other, provide visitors with essential points of reference along a journey through history that culminates in the airy reaches of the sky.
Panicale was actually sacred to the god Pan and the Etruscans settled here. It would be virtually impossible to assess the damage the town was subjected to due to its strategic importance.
Of its more ancient structure the town still retains its defence wall, towers, the Perugia and Florence Gate, the church of San Michele Arcangelo, Palazzo Pretorio and Palazzo del Podestà.
A must-see is the famous fresco by Perugino in the church of San Sebastiano depicting the Martyrdom of the Saint. A more modern monument worth visiting is the Cesare Caporali Theatre. The painter Masolino, the mercenary captain Boldrino, and the sixteent-century poet and writer Cesare Caporali were all born here.