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Castagnola (PG):
Church of the Madonna del Fosco

[image ALT: missingALT. It is a view of the church of the Madonna del Fosco in Castagnola, Umbria (central Italy).]

When I saw the church, it was closed to visitors; the belfry was being worked on, probably because of damage to it in the 1997 earthquakes.

Maybe the first item of business should be a geographical clarification, though. The Madonna del Fosco is not in the town of Castágnola but about 400 meters away and a bit below it:

[image ALT: A wide landscape covering about 75 sq. km. The foreground is taken up by a wooded ravine in which can be seen the top of a fairly large church; on the left, a small hill with a cluster of five or six mostly modern three‑story houses. To the right and farther off, a large complex of low buildings on a wooded ridge. Further back, a gently sloping ridge parallel to the plane of the picture, with a town dimly visible at the foot of it. Behind that, in the distance, a sugar-loaf-shaped mountain about 10 km long and other less prominent but equally tall mountains extending left and right. It is a view of central Umbria from just above the church of the Madonna del Fosco near Castagnola, Umbria (central Italy).]

Our church is in the hollow at our feet, with the actual town of Castagnola a few hundred meters away on top of the hill to our left, and the white-façaded church and other buildings of the abbey of S. Felice di Giano clearly visible to the right. The mountain in the distance is Mt. Subasio.

As we continue on the road toward Castagnola, we get a much better view of the church from above:

[image ALT: missingALT. It is a view, from above, of the church of the Madonna del Fosco in Castagnola, Umbria (central Italy).]

Still, none of that helped me get inside. The church is said to be "19c with a 15c fresco"; I bring you instead the façade, in the style of the 16c‑17c — whenever it was built; and a bit of graffiti, probably no more than five years old, on one of the pillars of the porch by the belfry: it doesn't represent this church, or maybe indeed any particular church at all; and notice the Masonic eye.

[image ALT: missingALT. It is the façade of the church of the Madonna del Fosco in Castagnola di Giano, Umbria (central Italy).] [image ALT: missingALT. It is a graffito on the church of the Madonna del Fosco in Castagnola di Giano, Umbria (central Italy).]

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Page updated: 21 Jul 07

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