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Pierantonio

A town in western Umbria, a frazione of Umbertide: 43°15.8N, 12°23.8E. Altitude: 221 m. Population in 2003: 880.
[image ALT: A plain at the foot of a range of low hills, with a small town strung out along a single street parallel to them. It is a view of the town of Pierantonio, Umbria (central Italy).]

A view eastward of Pierantonio and the floodplain of the Tiber.

The busy farming community of Pierantonio, a frazione of the comune of Umbertide just 9 km to the NW, is the lowest point in the entire Upper Tiber Valley subregion of Umbria.

It is also one of the newest towns in the area, as both its location and its name suggest. Pierantonio is a man's name, Peter Anthony: which man and why, I've been unable to discover, but very likely the owner of a large farm around which the town eventually coalesced; names of this type date back no farther than the 16c, and very probably only to the 18c or 19c. The location, in the defenseless valley right along the Tiber, is that of a town founded when it was safe to do so: in the dangerous Middle Ages it would have been imprudent.

[image ALT: A 2‑lane asphalted street with a parking lane on either side: on the left, a long wall behind which there seems to be a garden; and on the right, a succession of modest two- and three‑story buildings, with a square belfry, about 15 meters tall, in the background. It is a view of the main street of Pierantonio, Umbria (central Italy).]

Looking north into the center of Pierantonio, along its main street. The belfry, built in 1906, is not attached to its church: S. Paterniano (q.v.) is across the street, not visible here. At the end of the row of cars on the left, you can just make out this madonnina:

[image ALT: A niche in a large vertical plastered wall, containing a plaster statue of a robed woman standing on a stylized crescent moon: the niche is glassed in and the glass further dovered by wrought iron grillwork; it is flanked by a pair of very thin columns supporting a pediment. To the right, a majolica plaque on the wall, with an inscription given below on this page. It is a shrine to the Virgin Mary in Pierantonio, Umbria (central Italy).]
Passa passeggero
La testa inchina
Saluta la Madre di Dio
Che è nostra regina.
As you pass by, traveler,
Bow your head
And salute the Mother of God
Who is our Queen.

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SEE ALSO: [Onsite link]
Edicole
of Umbria 		[Onsite link]
Edicole
of Italy
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Page updated: 22 Feb 07