In Marta, Hats Off to the Madonna del Monte!

Lake Bolsena – the largest volcanic lake in Europe – is  encircled by an array of charming medieval towns of Etruscan origin. For me, one of the most charming is Marta. Nestled between the lake shore and farmland,  Marta’s small piazzas and  labyrinthine medieval alleyways wind down from the late 13th-century Torre dell’Orologio (clock tower) – all that…

In Montefiascone, Saints and Saintly Wine

Certainly as of the 6th-century B.C., an Etruscan town flourished on the shores of Lake Bolsena (Latium) – the largest volcanic lake in Europe –  in the area of present-day Montefiascone.  Many archaeologists even indicate the Montefiascone area as site of the most important Etruscan sanctuary, Fanum Voltumna (“shrine of Voltumna”).  The Etruscan dodecapoli (league of twelve…

Assisi’s Roman Forum Museum: the Confirmation of an Ancient Spirituality

As of 1826, Assisi’s cultural association, l’Academia Properziana del Subasio, decided to gather together the ancient inscriptions and Roman remnants of the territory. The first nucleus of findings was kept in front of the entrance to the 16th Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva desired by Pope Paul III, wishing to transform the Roman Temple to Minerva…

Roman Assisi: Right Before Your Eyes

When talking about Assisi romana, we really have to cover two time periods: the before, the after. An Italic people settled on the slopes of Mt. Subasio backdropping Assisi in about the 6th-century B.C.  Not long after Pino and I had settled in the Umbrian countryside in 1975, I remember seeing bronze votive statues and a figure…

Assisi’s Subterranean Roman Splendor

If you have the key, doors open to underground wonders in Assisi.  Laura, dear friend of our Giulia and working in Assisi’s Roman Forum Museum, had the key(s) to two Assisi subterranean wonders. What an adventure with her recently. After a fascinating tour with Laura of the Foro Romano, we headed to one of our main destinations,…

In Assisi, Hidden Treasures in the Roman Amphitheater

Assisi’s Piazza Matteotti is not just an accessible parking lot on the east end of town….. …but also site of vestiges of Roman Asisium:   the parking area was built on the site of Roman structures, probably the circo (circus, site of chariot races), visible in the upper righthand corner of this map of Assisi romana.…

Assisi’s Calendimagggio Reborn…For an Evening

Covid has deprived the asssisani of their beloved May medieval festival, Calendimaggio, for two years now….….but on a mid-June evening, the superb Assisi choir, i Cantori di Assisi, filled the vaulted 11th-century Romanesque Church of San Pietro,  with the Calendimaggio May songs… …and to the ebullient joy of the locals, although masked (the choir, too) and distanced. The…

Bolsena’s Basilica di Santa Cristina: Two Prodigious Acts

Two atti prodigiosi – “prodigious acts” – are inextricably linked to Bolsena’s Basilica di Santa Cristina, named in of  honor one of the town’s patron saints, Cristina.  According to local legend, young Cristina was finally martyred after numerous grisly futile attempts, those scenes acted out throughout the town in tableaux  annually by appassioned bolsenesi on the vigil and day…