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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: an 18c map marks the location with an Oster[ia] di P. Antonio, Pierantonio's inn; 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.

My only pass to date thru Pierantonio, brief and slightly befuddled but with a little bit of further local information, is recorded in my diary, Mar. 31, 2004.

On Mar. 9, 2023, a few minutes after 4 P.M., a small earthquake struck the area, the epicenter just 5 km NW of Pierantonio, near Polgeto; a few hours later a slightly more powerful quake was registered even closer, maybe about 2 km north of the town, near Pian d'Assino: respectively 4.3 and 4.6 on the Richter scale, but both shallow, at a depth of only about 9 km, and thus strongly felt. In Pierantonio, the upper part of the belfry of S. Paterniano was damaged, shifted sideways. As I write — the day after — the damage appears to be slight, but with the possibility of continuing aftershocks, the tower might collapse and safety measures have been implemented.


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:

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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