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Porano (Terni province)

A town of central Umbria: 42°41N, 12°05.5E. Altitude: 444 m. Population in 2003: 1800.

[A low 2‑story stuccoed building with a stone escutcheon over the main arched door; in front of it a very small piazza with the statue of a robed monk carrying a book. It is the Piazza del Comune in Porano, Umbria (central Italy).]

The town is very proud of its connection with S. Bernardino di Siena, whose statue stands in front of the Town Hall on the Piazza del Comune, seen here.

Umbria's smallest comune by area, at less than 14 km2, Porano is a medieval walled village on a height just 6 km south of Orvieto.

Its principal monument is the 14c‑15c parish church of S. Biagio, the modern façade of which doesn't tip the visitor off to the good frescoes of the Orvieto school.

Small as it is, the territory of the comune has a number of interesting sights too: just outside of town, the 18c Villa Paolina, the venue for an important yearly equestrian competition in late May; a bit farther out, in Castel Rubello, an impressive if much restored 13c castle bristling with towers and linked to a church by a large Gothic archway, but also several Etruscan tombs that have yielded wall paintings now in the Archaeological Museums of Florence and Orvieto, the most famous of which is the Tomb of the Hescanas.

A proper website will eventually appear here, since I've been to Porano: although the site will be small since my visit was very brief. In the meanwhile, you may find it useful to read the Apr. 30, 2004 entry of my diary, which includes 2 more photographs; for more complete summary information, see the sites in the navigation bar at the bottom of this page.

Frazioni

Porano is one of the 8 or 9 comuni in Umbria that have no dependent towns with enough of an administrative identity to be a frazione.

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