Perugia is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about 164 km (102 mi) north of Rome and 148 km (92 mi) southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, now generally known in English as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.