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Preci (Perugia province)

A town of central Umbria: 42°52.5N, 13°02E. Altitude: 604 m. Population in 2003: 800.

[A very small triangular public space bounded by a three-storey building on the left, a two-story building in the background, and in the foreground by a stone retaining wall with a wrought iron railing, overhanging a narrow street sloping sharply away from the viewer. Wrought-iron balconies and trees in terracotta pots complete the décor. It is a view of the piazza in front of the town hall of Preci, Umbria (central Italy).]

The piazza Marconi in July 2000:
notice the scaffolding as the town rebuilds from the 1997 earthquake.

The village of Preci lies in an isolated mountainous area 18 km north of Norcia. As small as it is, it was famous in the 14c‑18c for its surgeons, much sought after thruout Italy for their skill in extracting gallstones, and as oculists: for details, see the Comune's excellent page.

Today, there are two churches in town well worth seeing: S. Maria, with an attractive Romanesque door in its Gothic façade; and the ruined S. Caterina: more Gothic, and a belfry with columns supported by lions.

In the frazione of Todiano there are several medieval churches of interest; but the best church in the comune is the 12‑13c abbey of S. Eutizio about 4 km away, with a 14c cloister, a handsome wooden choir enclosure, and many works of art.

A proper website will eventually appear here, since I've been to Preci and walked much of the surrounding area. In the meanwhile, you should thus find it useful to read the July 13, 2000 entry of my diary, with a good photograph of S. Eutizio; for further information, see the websites linked in the navigation bar at the bottom of this page.

Frazioni

Like most of the comuni in Italy, Preci includes in its territory some smaller towns and hamlets, of a few hundred inhabitants if that, with a certain administrative identity of their own: as elsewhere in Italy, these are referred to as the frazioni of the comune (singular: frazione, literally a "fraction"): a complete list of them follows. Although I've walked a fair amount of the area, even crossing a couple of these towns, I've never actually visited any of them in any detail, so any links are likely to be offsite.

Abeto • Acquaro • Casali di Belforte • Castelvecchio • Civitelle • Collescilli • Corone • Saccovescio • Valle

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