Even “freddo polare” (“polar cold” – which for Italy means anything below freezing temperature) – never deters jazz appassionati from heading to Orvieto at the end of December for Umbria Jazz Winter. We’re always…
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Constructed in white travertine and black balsamic rock – for Orvieto was built on a volcanic plateau – the glorious Duomo (cathedral) dominates this Umbrian medieval hill town: And the splendor of the…
My next ZOOM presentation – December 5th – will take us to Orvieto… – and these blog notes prior are a preview of the wonders we’ll discover together. In medieval frescoes, artists…
Both towns of Etruscan origins, the Latium lakeside town, Bolensa (Volsinii for the Etruscans) and the Umbrian medieval gem, Orvieto (the Etruscan Velzna), share another link: a sacred one. The Sacro Corporale (“Holy Corporal”) – now housed…
After taking in the wonders of Pinturicchio in Spello’s Santa Maria Maggiore church, do stop in at the Pinacoteca (Civic Picture Gallery) next door to see a treasured missing shrine, once in Santa…
Entering the 12th c.- church of San Lorenzo Martire in Spello, your attention is drawn immediately to the golden baldacchino dominating the altar: The 17th-c. Spello baldacchino copies the splendid Bernini bronze baldacchino of the…
Once a sacred site, always a sacred site. Or often, in any case, here in Italy. Spello’s Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Spello is an example, testament the Roman columns to…
The 13th-c Sant’Andrea church in Spello has direct links to St. Francis in Assisi and the Franciscans. First historical reference to the church dedicated to the apostle, St. Andrew, dates to the…
Keep your eyes open as you walk through Spello so as to take in the hints of the splendor of the Roman colony, Hispellum – and they’re even in the churches. In Santa Maria…
Once again, my mantra “only in Italy” is most fitting: after all, where else might you find the splendid mosaic floor of a Roman villa when digging out a parking lot? It…