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Marcellano (Perugia province)

A village of central Umbria, a frazione of Gualdo Cattaneo: 42°52.0N, 12°31.3E. Altitude: 396 m. Population in 2001: 438.
[A clump of five or six attached stone houses from one to three stories each, with in the center a taller square tower, about 13 meters high. It is the central part of the hamlet of Marcellano, near Gualdo Cattaneo, Umbria (central Italy).]

Marcellano is a village in a somewhat isolated northern area of the Colli Martani, the range of hills that occupies a good chunk of central Umbria; a frazione of Gualdo Cattaneo on the road between Ponte di Ferro and Torri, about 1½ km SE of Collesecco and 2 km S of S. Angelo Sconcolo. These are all very small places, not swarming with tourists by any means: on the other side of Ponte di Ferro by 4 km, Gualdo; on the other side of Torri, the villages of Petroro and Duesanti, and eventually, in about 20 km, Todi.

[A long rectangular single-story stone church against a lush background of vegetation. The gently sloping roof is surmounted by a single-arched open belfry of the type known as a 'campanile a vela'. It is the church of S. Maria del Ponte in Marcellano, Umbria (central Italy).]

[ 1/10/07: 2 churches, 2 pages, 5 photos ]

The churches of Marcellano aren't exceptional, but each has something of interest, and each gets its page.

[A small two-story building of irregular masonry only partly concealed by badly spalling stucco. It is an old schoolhouse in Marcellano, Umbria (central Italy).]

[ 1 page, 3 photos ]

At first I thought it was a disused church; a page on the old schoolhouse.

As small as it is, with only a few hundred inhabitants, the hamlet of Marcellano is known thruout Umbria for its lavish Christmas pageant, in which the arrival of Mary and Joseph searching for an inn, the birth of Christ in a stable, and the adoration of Shepherds and Kings takes place in the streets of the town and in the nearby fields; complete with Umbrian farm animals, but also camels from a local zoo. The spectacle is usually given five times between Christmas and Epiphany, and has on occasion been telecast to all of Italy. I passed this way in April one year, so the stable was empty:

[MissingALT]

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[A clump of about five small brick or stone buildings, the largest of which is a church with a square belfry, much obscured by trees. It is a view of Marcellano, Umbria (central Italy).]

Looking back at most of Marcellano as we take the road to Collesecco.

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Page updated: 30 Nov 23

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