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Commemorative Plaques in Usigni

[The stone lintel of a door, carved with a coat of arms bearing a bird standing on three stylized hills, and with the date 1640. It is a detail of the door of the mansion of Fausto Cardinal Poli in the village of Usigni, Umbria (central Italy).]

One of the simpler sights in town, not strictly a commemorative plaque, but which is still a minor mystery to me, very likely because of ignorance, though. These arms and the date 1640 are found over a door of a large house on the main piazza of Usigni, which is said to be the mid‑17c mansion of Cardinal Poli: the only problem is that a bird on three hills is not his arms, rather those of the Mongalli family of Leonessa. If you know what exactly is going on, or what mistake I might be making, please drop me a line, of course.

The items on this page are rather disparate; their only connection is that they can all be seen in the streets of Usigni, and were specifically meant to convey various messages to posterity.

The inscription on Usigni's gate looks old — for a few seconds anyway. While the mystery is tougher to crack than the bird we just saw, it's only because I failed to find the perfect source: the person who carved it. (Se sei tu, puoi aiutarmi, grazie per anticipo!)

[ 6/6/05: 1 page, 2 photos ]

The war memorial plaque might seem fairly ordinary; except for one curious detail.

[ 6/5/05: 1 page, 1 photo (and some close-ups) ]

And then there's the inevitable plaque commemorating Fausto Poli:


A Fausto Poli Maggiordomo e Prefetto dei Palazzi Apostolici Arcivescovo di Amasia in partibus elevato nel 1643 alla porpora cardinalizia dal Pontefice Urbano VIII Usigni nel IV centenario della nascita 1581 — 1981	To Fausto Poli Majordomo and Prefect of the Apostolic Palaces Archbishop of Amasia in partibus raised in 1643 to the cardinalitial purple by Pope Urban VIII Usigni in the 4th centennial year of his birth 1581 — 1981
where Amasia is a small town in Cappadocia (now north central Turkey), of which Poli was consecrated titular bishop in 1633, although it is in partibus infidelium, in the lands of the infidels: a standard procedure, even today, when it is wished to give a man the rank of bishop without actually appointing him to a see, often merely because no see is vacant. When he became cardinal ten years later, Fausto Poli was finally named to the active see of Orvieto, in which he died on October 7, 1653. He is buried in the Chapel of the Guardian Angel in S. Crisogono, his titular church in Rome; see his tomb, bust and inscription there.

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