|
Umbria
- during
a tour, one can see clearly the
presence of man starting from the Etruscans, or
the Umbrians, to the Romans and their whealthy
villas, the Middle Age with its many fortresses
and castles, the Renaissance and its fabulous
paintings and the elegance and eurhythmy of its
courtyards.
Umbria is a region in the middle of Italy.
The
beauty of this land, the endless green of its
holm-oak groves, its millenary history, its
flavours, its unicity should belong to us only
and be something only the resident population
should be entitled to enjoy. A territory which
is characterized by hills warm as the ploughed
land, green as the Mediterranean bush,
embellished with urban centres small, but all
perfect as for city planning, and their burden
of history.
Assisi
-
the
town of St Francis:- full
day
A visit here means seeing some very fine
churches: the Basilica of San Francesco is the
great monument to the Saint and was started
after he was canonized in 1228; it has frescoes
by Giotto, Cimabue and Lorenzetti.
•
Three more churches merit your attention:
the Cattedrale di San Ruffino and the
Basilica
di Santa Chiara. The third church is
the
Basilica degli Angeli, built over and around the
little chapel, the Porziuncola, where the angels
visited St Francis. Besides its many churches,
Assisi also has some fine secular buildings:
there is a fine Piazza del Comune with a
torre
and a Palazzo del Comune, and a Palazzo del
Capitano del Popolo.
Top
Perugia
& Gubbio
Called
by Henry James the "city of the infinite
view." Perugia's stunning medieval
municipal palace overlooks the main square
graced by the Fontana Maggiore (Pisano
masterpiece of Gothic sculpture and Perugia's
pride and joy) and the cathedral.
Our tour will include Etruscan city gates, the
massive 16th c. Papal fortress (which
encompasses the medieval quarter of Perugia),
Renaissance masterpieces of Perugino and the
magnificent frescoed Notaries' Guild Hall.
We'll
leave this town of "medieval elegance"
to head up to Gubbio for lunch followed
by a memorable tour. Picturesque medieval
backstreets will lead us to the splendid Gothic
civic palace, with stops on the way to see the
works of talented local artisans and to taste
Umbrian delicacies in a gourmet food shop.
Top
Cortona
is one of the oldest cities in Tuscany and was
founded by the Etruscans whose work can still be
seen in the foundations of the town's massive
stone walls.
The city was a major seat of power during the
medieval period, able to hold its own against
larger towns like Siena and Arezzo; its decline
was followed the defeat by Naples in 1409 after
which it was sold to Florence and lost its
autonomy.
Cortona’s narrow streets and alleyways give
you the impression of how it must have been in
these small isolated towns in the medieval
period, and you’ll realize how much history a
little town can contain. Cortona has been made
famous by the book Under the Tuscan Sun by
Frances Mayes.
Top
Deruta
is a picturesque hilltown in the Province of
Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy. Long
known as a center of refined majolica
manufacture, Deruta is still known for its
ceramics, which are exported
worldwide. The local
clay was good for ceramics, whose production
began in the Early Middle Ages, but found its
artistic peak in the 15th and early 16th century,
with highly characteristic local styles, such as
the "Bella Donna" plates with
conventional portraits of beauties whose names
appear on fluttering banderoles with flattering
inscriptions. In the 16th century Deruta
produced the so-called "Rafaellesque'
ware,
decorated with fine arabesques and grottesche on
a fine white ground. Deruta produced some of the
finest Italian majolica.
Top
Todi
Commune
in the province of Perugia, founded by the Umbrians,
15.907 inhabitants. Monuments: S.Maria
della Consolazione, Palazzo dei Priori,
Cathedral of S. Maria Annunziata, Palazzo del
Capitano.
Almost
all main medieval monuments — the
co-cathedral church (Duomo), the Palazzo del
Capitano, the Palazzo del Priore and the Palazzo
del Popolo — front on the main square on the
lower breast of the hill: the square is thus one
of the most picturesque in Italy and is often
used as a movie set eg The Agony &
Ecstacy with Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison. The whole
landscape is sited over some huge ancient Roman
cisterns, with more than 500 pits, which
remained in use until 1925.
Top
Spoleto-
Discover a monastery founded by San Francesco on
hilltop Monteluco. Spoleto
has shepherd's
trails and panoramic high pastures of grazing
sheep, through thick forests teaming with
wildlife including eagles, hawks, song birds,
roe deer and wild goats.
Ancient olive groves and past abandoned
farm houses overlooks the majestic
13th-century
Ponte delle Torri, once a Roman aqueduct and
Spoleto's magnificent 14th-century hilltop fortress Rocca
Albornoz, built during by the
rule of the Papal States.
Discover
Spoleto's Roman and Medieval sites
on a casual
tour of the town.
Spoleto
was the Roman town Spoletium,
colonized in 241 B.C., on the important Roman
road the via Flaminia, and it is still well
equipped with evidence of the Roman era.
Spoleto's Duomo has beautiful
frescoes by Fra Lippo Lippi in the
apse; the painter is also buried in the church.
The
Eroli Chapel in the rear of the
church has frescoes by Pinturicchio, the
Cappella dell' Assunta, has a 15th
century frescoes by Jacopo Siculo.
The Museo Dicesano is now
reopened after repair of earthquake damage and
is just around the corner from the duomo.
It
has an interesting collection of artwork, but
its best feature is the church of St.
Eufemia, an early twelfth century church
that has been restored to something like its
original design (minus nearly all the original
frescoes) despite being on the receiving end of
some of the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune through the centuries. It
preserves the matronei, raised
galleries which was reserved for women in
churches of the period.
The
Rocca Albornoz, a medieval
fortress built by Cardinal Albornoz in
the 14th century to exert papal control over
Umbria, stands above the town. It was
used until recently as a prison, and looks
like one, too. Now it is open to the
public and being converted to other uses.
Via d. Ponte goes around
the Rocca to the south and leads to the Ponte
delle Torre, a remarkable medieval
bridge over the Tessino.
There is an extensive network of footpaths
and dirt roads accessible from the far end
of the Ponte delle Torre where
one can admire the beautiful view.
Top
Orvieto,
where you’ll be able to visit two of
Renaissance Italy’s masterpieces: the town’s
spectacular cathedral and Luca Signorelli's
impressive 16th century frescos of the Last
Judgement, which are in the cathedral.
A
city boasting over 3000 years of history and
seemingly suspended between the earth and the
sky, has revealed yet another of its many
treasures that make it unique and exceptional: a
maze of caves dug within the silent depths of
the cliff.
•
A
guided tour called “Orvieto Underground”
offers you an exciting opportunity to
experioence the newest discovery of a city rich
in cultural heritage and artistic “jewels”.
Parting daily fron the tourist information
office in Piazza del Duomo 24, experienced
guides accompany visitors of all ages through
two of the largest and most diversified caves of
Orvieto.
This
exciting and unique trip takes you straight to
the heart of Orvieto where Etruscan, medieval
and renaissance times are intricately woven
together creating an amazing tapestry of
historical heritage to be explored in an
outstanding journey through time.
Top
Terni
Old
Terni
Starting
from St.Francis Square with its beautiful
church of the same name, continue along Via
Fratini and Via 11 Febbraio until you arrive
at Piazza Duomo, where, obviously apart from
the Duomo, (Cathedral), the Roman amphitheater
is well worth a visit.
Turning
back taking the pretty Via Roma and skirting
the old tower Barbarasa, Palazzo Spada is to
be found, in front of which the beautiful
small church of St. Salvatore is situated.
Arriving in Piazza della Repubblica you'll see
the Old Town Hall, now seat of the
Bibliomedioteca. Continue in
direction of the Corso Vecchio, where in
Piazza Carrara you'll find the church of St.
Peter with its marvellous apsis and the church
of St. Laurence.
Modern
and Ridolfian Terni
The
architect Ridolfi has been of the greatest
importance for the urbanistic and
architectonic development of Terni.
Parting
from Piazza della Stazione - dominated by the
"Great Press" a storical example of
of Terni's steel-works machinery and, at the
time, the world's largest press - and
continuing along the Via della Stazione you'll
arrive at Piazza Tacito, realized by Ridolfi.
Continuing along the Corso, you'll find the
Largo Villa Gloria, also work of the famous
architect. Further on, one reaches the Piazza
del Popolo,which was planned, along with its
buildings and the Corso del Popolo again by
Ridolfi. Situated at the end of the Corso del
Popolo, you should not miss the l'obelisque
"lancia di luce", a work of art by
Arnaldo Pomodoro.
Top
Gubbio
Once
we get to Gubbio,
our first stop will be at the convent of
Saint Francis at the lower part of the
village, where the Spadalonga received the saint
when he fled from his father's house.
We will not miss the opportunity to take in the
rest of the town and especially Ranghiasci
park and the Palace of the
Consuls with the Piazza Grande.
And Gubbio and the city of the wolf? What became
of them? According to popular tradition, the
wild beast liberated by Saint Francis lived for
a long time in peace with the citizenry and at
the end of his days was buried just where they
found a skeleton (via Savelli della Porta)
during the excavations of 1872: the skeleton of
a wolf.
Top
|
