The Church of S. Bartolomeo di Camporeggiano

As It Was Being Restored in 2004

[image ALT: What appears to be an L‑shaped three- or four‑story stone building with an open courtyard; it is fenced in. In the foreground, piles of sacks of cement under a plastic tarpaulin, some re‑bars, and other construction materials. It is the medieval abbey of S. Bartolomeo of Camporeggiano near Umbertide, Umbria (central Italy).]

The abbey of Camporeggiano in April 2004: closed. A major restoration was clearly underway, although it appeared to have been on hold for some while, judging by the rust on signs, fences and gates. The buildings we see here are the conventual annexes; the church is offscreen left.

Of some interest in the otherwise disappointing scene above, the bags of concrete and the re‑bars. Many medieval churches in Italy present a surface of hoary antiquity but at some point have been thoroughly gutted within recent memory, to be reinforced with these modern materials.

The abbey was founded in the mid‑11c by St. Peter Damian, who, though born in Ravenna and closely associated with Faenza, spent a good deal of time in Umbria and the Marche, and has thus left traces thruout the region. According to the TCI Guide to Umbria, the crypt of S. Bartolomeo is beautiful and has interesting carved capitals. I'm hoping the abbey will be restored — or even open, good enough for me — by the time of my next stay in Umbria.

[image ALT: The lower 5 meters of a cylindrical stone structure, with a similar but much smaller attached structure, in a pit carpeted with vegetation. It is a partial view of the apse of the church of S. Bartolomeo in Camporeggiano, Umbria (central Italy).]

The apse of the church.

[image ALT: A small cylindrical tile-roofed stone tower, with behind it a somewhat larger stone structure with a pitched roof, from the lower part of which projects a narrow bell-tower with two open arches, of the type known as a 'campanile a vela'. It is a partial view of the apse of the church of S. Bartolomeo in Camporeggiano, Umbria (central Italy), with its belfry.]