St. Francis is inextricably linked to Gubbio – apart from the famed episode of the wolf – and the town has more than one church dedicated to San Francesco di Assisi. As soon as you arrive in Gubbio, you’ll note one of the first churches in Italy dedicated to the Saint, the Church of St.…
The bell tower is the focal point of any Italian town and the loyalty to one’s bell tower – that is, one’s town – supplants nationalism in Italy. Campanilismo (literally, “belltower-ism”) is directly linked to how the Italians define themselves. Having only been a unified nation since 1861 and a democratic republic only since 1946, most Italians feel…
When you arrive in the grandiose Piazza Grande of Gubbio, the majestic 14th-century civic building Palazzo dei Consoli, rises like a solemn guardian presiding sternly over Gubbio. Unequivocal symbol of medieval glory and power, the Palazzo dei Consoli also houses the Civic Museum, inaugurated in 1909. The Civic Museum collection dates back to the mid-15th…
Viewed from practically wherever you are in Gubbio, Palazzo dei Consoli rises proudly as testimonial to Gubbio’s political objectives in the early 14th century. Palazzo dei Consoli – originally called “Palazzo del Poplo” – together with the magnificent square it faces, Piazza Grande, and the nearby Palazzo del Podestà (Mayor’s Palace), unite to form one…
The Basilica di Sant’Ubaldo is perched near the peak of Mt. Ingino, seeming to survey Gubbio spread out below. There are two options for climbing Mt.Ingino so as to visit the Basilica, housing the body of patron saint, Saint Ubaldo and site sacred to all the eugubini. And for more than one reason… You may…
A few of Bevagna’s treasures face the Piazza Filippo Silvestri; certainly, the two churches – the Church of San Silvestro and San Michele Arcangelo – among Umbria’s finest Romanesque ones. They face each other on the piazza and both were the work of building team, Maestri Rodolfo and Binello and constructed at the end of the 12th-century.…
The main piazza of Bevagna, Piazza Filippo Silvestri, could almost be a theatrical setting – and has been a backdrop for more than one film set in the Middle Ages. The 13th-century civic building, Palazzo dei Consoli, flanks the church, San Silvestro, which backdrops the fountain. In the Middle Ages, competition between Church authority and…
Just a couple parking lots are outside of Bevagna’s medieval walls. They’re free and just a few cars are parked in them – and they’ll probably be of local bevanati. Already a sign that you’ve arrived in one of Umbria’s less known and less visited Umbrian medieval towns. Best place to park is on the southwest…
Of black and white tesserae, a delicate mosaic lobster with claws outstretched and tail swerving is one of the most intact and refined vestiges of the Roman Mevania (today, Bevagna). To the Romans stepping into the waters of Mevania’s 2nd-c. A.D. frigidarium (c0ld water baths), the lobster would have seemed to move as the waters swirled…
You probably already knew that in Italy, accents can vary town-to-town, even at a ten-kilometer distance – or less. Did you know that types of pasta vary as well…even town-to-town? Many people I know in Assisi have never even heard of picchierilli, a pasta dish of Bevagna (about 30 km distant). I hadn’t either, until I…