Lunacy & Death, Eugubian Style
Via dei Consoli runs downhill out of the west end of Piazza Grande past medieval palazzi to Largo del Bargello and its Gothic Palazzo del Bargello (1302), the city's first medieval town hall. At the tiny square's center is the Fontana dei Pazzi (Fountain of the Crazies): You can become a certified Eugubian lunatic if you run around the fountain three times -- sticklers will also need to draft three locals to splash water on them as they run. You may pick up your patente da matto ("certificate of madness") from any of the surrounding shops.
Speaking of odd habits, in the palaces along these streets you'll notice many bricked-up openings that look caught between being a door and being a window. Usually near the main entrance but a few feet aboveground, these are known as porte della morte ("doors of the dead"). Tradition holds they were used strictly to convey corpses on their final journey out of the house. Whether this was indeed one of the purposes of these doorways -- which show up across northern Umbria and nearby Tuscan towns such as Cortona, as well as in the south of France -- is unknown. But the fact that behind them is usually a narrow stair leading directly up to the first floor (American second floor) suggests the doors more likely served in times of defense, when the main portal was blocked off.
