Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250) can be counted among the greatest monarchs spawned by the European Middle Ages. He was King of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, but also a crusader and a patron of arts and sciences, to name but a few of his other activities. His birthplace Jesi…
Opinions about the cathedral of Palermo are quite divided. Some people think that the building is magnificent, and that the mixture of architectural styles presents us with an intriguing summary of the various phases in Sicilian history. Others, however, believe that the cathedral is simply hideous and lament what later…
The church of San Francesco turned out to be a pleasant surprise. In many churches in Palermo visitors have to buy a ticket. The money you pay is then used for maintenance of the church building. The church of San Francesco d’Assisi, however, does not have an admission charge, which…
“Signore, fiori?” On my way to the famous church of Santo Spirito in Palermo I was asked that question at least five times: whether I wanted to buy flowers. The question is not that odd, as the church is situated in one of the largest cemeteries of the city, that…
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,…
The splendid church of San Fermo Maggiore is also known as the church of Santi Fermo e Rustico. Fermus (or Firmus) and Rusticus were according to tradition Christians from Bergamo who were martyred in Verona in the year 304. The execution supposedly took place on the shores of the river…
The richly decorated church of Sant’Antonio dei Portoghesi is dedicated to Saint Antonius of Padova (1195-1231). As I have written previously, the saint’s real name was not Antonius and he was not from Padova either. He had in fact been born as Fernando Martins in the Portuguese city of Lisbon.…
People standing in front of the church of Sant’Eusebio on the Esquiline Hill will probably find it hard to believe that this is really a very old church, with roots in Late Antiquity. The church façade, which has recently been restored, mentions the year 1711 in Roman numerals. The medieval…
Together with Franciscus of Assisi, Dominicus de Guzmán can be counted among the most important church reformers of the thirteenth century. He was born around the year 1170 in the kingdom of Castile, now part of Spain. At the end of 1216 Pope Honorius III (1216-1227) approved his new Order…
The Castello dell’Imperatore was built on the spot previously occupied by a stronghold of the local Alberti family. In the eleventh century the settlement that had sprung up around this Castrum Prati was merged with the village of Borgo al Cornio, and that is how the city of Prato was…
It is clear that the church of San Francesco, which adjoins the eponymous square in Prato, wants to welcome foreign tourists: most of the information panels in the building are in both Italian and English. The church furthermore has an excellent and well-structured website, which contains a lot of information…
Rules are rules, and sitting on the steps of the cathedral is not allowed in Piacenza. It was a clear message that a cyclist who happened to be passing by conveyed to my better half and myself. It was a hot day and the sun was out in force. We…
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…
Saint Peter’s Basilica is the largest Christian church in the world. Although it is not the cathedral of Rome, it is arguably more famous than the church that does have the honour of being the cathedral: the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. Together with the San Giovanni, the San…
As the name of the church of San Paolo inter vineas suggests, it is located outside the city walls of Spoleto, ‘in the vineyards’. It is part of a ring of very old churches on the eastern and southern edges of the city, a ring that includes churches such as…
“Of all the Roman monuments at the end of the thirteenth century, the most Roman was, paradoxically, the double basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, the mother church of the new order of Franciscan friars”.[1] I can only agree with this assessment by Giotto expert Francesca Flores d’Arcais. The Basilica…
By far the most important object kept in Assisi’s cathedral of San Rufino is the baptismal font that was used during Saint Franciscus’ christening in 1181 or 1182. It was also used for the baptism of Chiara Offreduccio (ca. 1193/94-1253), the future Saint Clara of Assisi, and perhaps for that…
It is an easy 15 minute walk from Assisi’s Porta Nuova to the church and convent of San Damiano down in the valley. Visitors looking for great art and architecture are likely to be disappointed here, but the place is of immense spiritual importance. In 1205, Franciscus of Assisi was…
The church of Sant’Antonio di Padova, known as Il Santo to locals, is not just any church. It is in fact the second most important church of the Order of the Franciscans, after the Papal Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. It is huge, but not as large as the…
The Santa Maria del Popolo is located on the edge of Rome’s historical city centre (centro storico) and only just within the third century Aurelian Walls. It is right next to the Porta del Popolo, the former Porta Flaminia. The present church was built in the fifteenth century, replacing a…