After a night of very heavy rain and a lot of thunder, we drove south from Assisi some distance to Spoleto, one of the most important towns in Umbria. There are traces of massive walls very high up the mountain which are probably 4th century BC. The town was recorded as being founded in 241BC and became an important Roman colony. Later in became the seat of a Lombard dukedom and later still, one of the Papal States. Now it showcases an important international arts festival every year.
We began by visiting the church of San Gregorio. It was founded originally in the 4th century, and renovated in the 12th century, incorporating material from various Roman remains.
The Romanesque interior is still very spare and relatively unadorned.
You can possibly see some traces of medieval frescos in the apse below the crucifix. There are further traces of medieval frescos on some of the walls.
We spent some time speculating about the identity of the naked lady lying beneath the Virgin Mary’s feet. Roy thinks it represents Eve, but if so, there don’t seem to be any fig leaves as far as I can see.
We also paid a visit downstairs to the crypt, where a forest of massive pillars supports the building above.
Afterwards, we drove up almost to the fortress built at the highest point of the city, to see what is referred to as the Ponte Della Torri, which isn’t in fact a bridge at all, but an aqueduct built in around 1270 to bring water to the upper parts of the mountain.
Roy told us that it was probable that it was built on Roman foundations, and given the Romans reputation in aqueduct building, that seems highly likely to me.
Swifts swooped and dived above us as we walked. We appreciated the views over the valley, looking the other way from the aqueduct.
The view was so lovely I wanted to stay - but we contented ourselves by spending some time on a terrace overlooking this beautiful view while drinking coffee. Or at least I drank coffee; Paul was still recovering from the very bitter breakfast coffee!
We looked up towards the fortress and admired the massive blocks of the Umbrian walls, underlying the Roman walls, with medieval walls on top. Then we went down the hill to visit the Duomo, built in the 12th century though there are remains of earlier churches beneath it.
The bell tower is probably also 12th century, but quite a bit of the facade is 13th century. The mosaic dates from 1207, and is framed by the 3 upper rose windows.
The interior of the church was rebuilt in Baroque style, but fortunately there are still some of the earlier frescos.
This one is by Pinturicchio
It’s in the apse of the chapel of San Leonardo, sometimes called the Eroli chapel. It dates from 1497; above is God the Father with Angels, and under it, Madonna and Child with John the Baptist and Saint Stephen.
I like Pinturicchio, but to my mind this painting pales into insignificance beside the slightly earlier Fra Filippo Lippi cycle of frescos in the apse.
The subject is the life of Mary. On the left one, which my photo shows only a tiny part of, is the Annunciation, in the centre is the Transition of the Virgin, on the right, a Nativity, and above those three, the Coronation of the Virgin. In the centre one Filippo Lippi has painted himself - he’s the man in grey facing you on the right hand side, at the Virgin’s feet. Just in front of him, the angel in white is his illegitimate son Filipino, who also grew up to be a painter.
Also in the church is part of Filippo Lippi’s sarcophagus. Apparently, the body was lost during one of the renovations of the church, so part of the sarcophagus is set into the wall.
There are some other interesting things in the church. In one of the side chapels is a letter from St Francis written to one of his disciples. There’s also a crucifix by Alberto Sotho, painted on parchment applied to board and dated 1197.
We set off further down the hill for the Diocesan Museum and the church of St Eufemia. The Museum is in a building which has a Roman beginning, 12th century parts and 16th and 17th century additions. It houses works of art from various churches, amongst which I admired this Adoration of the Child.
It’s dated to the early 16th century, somewhat later than some of the other paintings I’ve seen, and is by Domenico Beccafumi who came from Siena. These artists were much in demand all over Italy, and their work can be found in many different towns.
There was also another by Filippo Lippi, painted a good 50 years earlier, which I liked very much. However, the work which was really breathtaking was, I though, this wooden group showing the Deposition from the Cross.
There are some information boards in the room which indicate that it is actually made up from 2 or 3 different works, since wood decays over time and parts of several different groups had to be used to get one complete one. Neither artist or date was given but it looks early to me.
We went on into the church of St Eufemia, which is 12th century, Romanesque and quite spare and plain.
This church is famed for having a very rare women’s gallery, from which this photo is taken. Women did not attend church with the men but had a separate gallery upstairs as they do today in many synagogues. This doesn’t seem to have lasted in western Christian churches, though I’m told you still find it in some Orthodox churches.
Further down the hill, we passed the remains of some medieval shops, though they were closed when we passed.
This design hasn’t changed in 600 or even 800 years. The entrance is narrow as you can see, and the goods can be displayed on the ledges on either side of it. A specially shaped shutter is used to close it at night.
Just below it is a Roman arch, the Arch of Drusus.
There is apparently an inscription still visible, though I didn’t see it, which says it was erected In 23 AD by the Spoletan senate to honour Drusus and Germanicus, son and adopted son of the emperor Tiberius.
The arch marked the point where the cardo maximus entered the forum, which is now the Market Square, Piazza del Mercato. At this point some people went off to have lunch, but we only wanted a drink, breakfast having been quite generous. We sat in a cafe at one side of the Piazza adjacent to the Roman Theatre, which we were able to see through gaps in the wall which surrounds this end of the Piazza.
More modern building have come quite close to it, but apparently it is still in use. Roy said he attended a ballet there quite recently. It’s nice to think it’s still being used 2000 years after it was built.
After lunch, we set off for Nera water park, to see the Marmore waterfall, the highest in Italy, where the waters from the river Velino spill over from the uplands of Marmore down into the river Nera. It was certainly spectacular.
It isn’t, in fact, a natural waterfall. In antiquity, the water from the river Velino stagnated into the marshes of the Rieti plain. It was the Romans, in 271 BC who decided to link the Velino to the river Nera, so as to drain the marshes. The Romans’ system was extended in the 15th and 16th centuries, and later on it was also adapted in the 1920s for hydroelectric power.
Because it rained very heavily last night and also this afternoon, there was a lot of water going over the falls. We were all in raincoats or carrying umbrellas because of the heavy rain, but it was just as well, because the waterfall created a lot of spray, so the water got you both ways. With no umbrella, the rain fell on your head. If you had an umbrella or a raincoat, your lower half got wet from the spray from the waterfall.
Later, we returned to Assisi, where we rested and then dressed for dinner. Tonight we had a special Umbrian dinner which was delicious, and which I meant to photograph but I forgot and just ate it instead. The dish I particularly wanted to photograph was the pasta course, which featured two sorts of pasta, some with grated truffles and some tagliatelle with mushrooms.
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