A Gazetteer of Umbria

Assisi and its surroundings: for now mostly Roman stuff, but also St. Francis's hermitage in the woods 4 km away at Eremo delle Carceri
[ 6/10/99: 10 pages, 24 photos ]

Orvieto: one of the great Gothic cathedrals of Italy; but also a stunning location, a major Etruscan necropolis that is also a beautiful place (the two don't necessarily run in harness), many smaller medieval churches, and several rather unusual old structures make the town a must-see for any visitor to Umbria.

Spello: the old Roman town of Hispellum, with 26 medieval churches in addition to its 6 Roman gates and a particularly beautiful stretch of Roman wall. This will eventually grow to a very large website in its own right: for now just the Roman amphitheatre, some of the gates, 4 churches, a page on heraldry, a local resources page and a bibliography.
[ 5/4/98: 28 pages, 71 photos ]

Terni: the capital of the southern province of Umbria strikes one as a new town, mostly because it is one of the more industrial places in the region, having long been the Italian railroads repair center. As a result also, it was badly bombed in the last war. Yet it has a Roman amphitheatre and its share of medieval churches, and is a pleasant, lively place.

The church of S. Simeone near Stroncone: a beautiful building damaged by earthquake, vandalism and art theft.
[ 2 pages, 9 photos ]

Todi and its surroundings: I walked hundreds of miles and visited and photographed almost every town and village within a 30‑mile radius of Todi: most are interesting; some are stunningly beautiful.

Trevi: another old town with Roman walls and an assortment of medieval churches. I've started with some of the churches: S. Donato • S. Emiliano • S. Francesco • S. Martino
[ 6/23/99: 12 pages, 17 photos ]

The Via Flaminia was a major factor in the development of some of the cities of Umbria and is the quintessential Roman road of the region, traversing it from south to north as it connects Rome to the Adriatic at Rimini.
[ 6/10/99: some potholes still, but approx. 25 pages, 50 photos
— plus Rome and Rimini ]

Perugia and the Ipogeo dei Volumni: The city is celebrated for its museum of Umbrian art and several beautiful late medieval palazzi; but there is no shortage of Etruscan and Roman remains, and some of its churches are splendid. My favorite is the 5c church of Sant' Angelo. For now, the website covers just the Etruscan hypogeum of the Volumni.
[ 1/23/98: 2 pages, 5 photos ]

San Brizio: this massive early medieval church, built in part of Roman stone with inscriptions and pieces of ancient altars everywhere, is a gem of Romanesque art. It also has an attractive and extremely rare cosmatesque pavement made of brick and some particularly fine Renaissance stonework: but it needs a spot of fixing rather soon — not only surface work on its beautiful frescoes fissured in the recent earthquakes, but major structural repairs.
[ 2/22/98: 6 pages, 17 photos ]

My text is minimal for the moment, and the site is generally under construction, but the state of the church needs to be given wider publicity.

The little town of S. Giovanni Profiamma near Foligno runs quietly along a single street, parallel to the modern highway that bypasses it: the driver in a hurry heading north to the Adriatic will miss it entirely. That little street was once the Via Flaminia, the superhighway from Rome to the same sea; and the town was the important center of Forum Flaminii, where the Flaminia Vetus and the Flaminia Nova met again after branching out over Umbria. Even now though, you really shouldn't miss the town: there's a wonderful ancient church with chunks of Roman stone, a crypt, and an 8c ciborium (baldacchino if you prefer) covered with sculptures. . .
[ 1/24/98: 2 pages, 14 photos ]