We could certainly count ourselves lucky. We happened to visit the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria in Perugia on the first Sunday of the month, and it turned out that the museum could be visited for free on that day. Since 1878, the Galleria Nazionale is housed in the Palazzo dei Priori,…
Perhaps the most beautiful monument in all of Perugia can be found out in the open, on the Piazza IV Novembre between the cathedral of the city and the Palazzo dei Priori. The Fontana Maggiore dates from the end of the thirteenth century. Although its bronze parts have probably been…
The Duomo of Perugia, also known as the cathedral of San Lorenzo, is an excellent example of a church of which the exterior is more interesting than the interior. ‘Exterior’ in this case mostly refers to the left flank of the building, as the façade at the front was clearly…
The curious circular church of Sant’Angelo in Perugia, dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel, has often been compared to the Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome. It should be noted that the Sant’Angelo is a couple of decades younger. It probably dates from the end of the fifth or first half…
The small church of San Severo in Perugia is dedicated to Saint Severus, the fourth-century bishop of Ravenna. Until well into the thirteenth century the church and adjacent monastery were administered by the basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe. The monastery has always been associated with the Camaldolese Order, a branch…
Bevagna is a charming Umbrian town with a predominantly medieval appearance. If you want to get the best view of the town available, drive to the sixteenth-century sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie, which is situated on a hill just outside town. Bevagna has roots in Antiquity and was then…
The church of San Francesco in Montefalco was built between 1335 and 1338. A monastery was constructed next to it. More than five centuries of Franciscan presence in the town were ended in 1863 when the complex was transferred to the municipality, which in 1895 established the civic museum here.…
Benozzo di Lese di Sandro, who is currently best known as Benozzo Gozzoli (ca. 1421-1497), was a young and talented artist when in 1449 he was summoned to Montefalco to paint frescoes there. Gozzoli was in his late twenties and had gained some experience as a goldsmith by assisting Lorenzo…
In the year 1205 Franciscus of Assisi was praying in the small church of San Damiano when suddenly the crucified Christ began speaking to him. Christ told Franciscus that his house was being destroyed and that Franciscus should go out and rebuild it. At first, the future saint took the…
The church of San Pietro cannot boast of any fantastic works of art, so why visit it? What the church does have, is a nice façade that – rather surprisingly – turns out to be incomplete. The dome of the San Pietro also warrants closer inspection. Especially at dusk, when…
The posts on this website often cover museums, churches and convents. Castles and ruins are also frequently discussed. If It is very special, I will dedicate a post to a square in a city. However, this must be the very first time that a post is all about a water…
Orvieto was once a place of refuge for popes who, for whatever reason, were temporarily unwelcome in Rome. This is still visible in many places in the city. Pope Urbanus IV (1261-1264), for instance, resided in Orvieto for a while and a cardinal he created, Guillaume de Bray, was buried…
There can be no doubt that the Duomo of Orvieto is the most beautiful and famous building in the entire city. Visiting Orvieto, but skipping the cathedral, is simply not an option. Visitors gladly pay the admission fee, as the Duomo is, in one word, splendid. The splendour starts on…
There can be no doubt that the church of Sant’Andrea was extremely important once. It is therefore a bit of a pity that the (old?) plaque in the colonnade on the left side of the building is mostly a mine of misinformation. I do not know whether Pope Innocentius III…
The church of San Domenico can be found in the quiet northern part of Orvieto’s city centre. Not much remains of the original church from the thirteenth century. In the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, parts of the church were demolished and the building was basically truncated like a piece of…
Some tourist attractions are so new that they are not yet mentioned in any travel guide. This was the case with Spello’s Villa dei Mosaici, which opened its doors to the public as late as March of 2018. The great thing about Italy is that one just has to stick…
The early history of Spello is poorly documented. The area of the town, which started as a settlement of the Umbrians, has been inhabited since at least the seventh century BCE. During the Roman era, Spello was known as Hispellum. It cannot have been more than a village, likely highly…
No one knows when exactly this lovely little temple on the river Clitunno was built. One thing is certain though: it is not really a little temple. The Tempietto is and has always been a Christian edifice, probably a church (there is an altar), but perhaps a mausoleum as well.…
The Italian region of Umbria is a modern creation. Historically, the region where the Ancient Umbrians lived, ‘the oldest of the peoples of Italy’[1], was both much smaller and much larger. It was smaller because the western part of modern Umbria was in the hands of the Etruscans, who lived…
Gubbio’s Piazza Grande, a gigantic platform supported by walls and arcades, offers a panoramic view of the surrounding area. From the square one can for instance see the churches of San Giovanni Battista and San Francesco in the lower part of town, and the Duomo higher up the slope of…