Cupramontana is an Italian town of 4 458 inhabitants in the province of Ancona in the Marche region.
By plane
Located 30 minutes from Cupramontana is the Raffaello
Sanzio airport in Falconara (Ancona).
By car
A14 motorway exit
Ancona-Nord. SS76 for Rome, exit Cupramontana.
On the train
The closest train stations are Jesi and Castelplanio-Cupramontana.
The toponym Cupramontana derives from the goddess
Cupra, the goddess of fertility and beauty adored by the pre-Roman
population of the Piceni to whom a temple in the area was dedicated.
Cupramontana then became an important Roman municipality, the
fulcrum of which extended into the current area of the cemetery
and of which the reservoir known as Barlozzo remains. In the Lombard
period it was part of the Duchy of Spoleto-Camerino, changing its
name to Massaccio. In the 13th century it was inherited as a
Patrimonium Imperii by Emperor Frederick I Hohenstaufen, called
Barbarossa, but upon the death of Corradino di Svevia, the Pope
inserted the Lombard-Swabian site in the County of Jesi and
therefore of the Papal State.
During the 15th century, some
elements belonging to the heretical group of Bertolani, called
Fraticelli, settled in Massaccio; while at the end of the eighteenth
century, with the Napoleonic campaigns the town found itself
resisting the aggression of the French troops. Only with the
unification of Italy, with the royal decree of 1 December 1861 n.
358, the return to the ancient name of Cupramontana was authorized.
In 1892 the artist Luigi Bartolini was born here.
Church and Abbey of San Firmano, c.da San Firmano, 12. Romanesque
construction dating back to 986 AD. with lunette of the portal in
relief. In the crypt there is a terracotta by Ambrogio della Robbia from
1526; in the sacristy there is a wooden crucifix.
Abbey Church of
Beato Angelo, via Badiacolli, 9. Monastic complex, mentioned for the
first time in 1180, but certainly older, was constantly of Camaldolese
obedience. Architecturally it is made up of Roman-Gothic structures,
dating back to the centuries. XXII - XIII, restored in 1973. No traces
remain of the ancient church having been completely rebuilt in 1853.
Inside, in addition to the body of Blessed Angelo Urbani, martyred in
1429, there is a valuable canvas Coronation of the Virgin, painted by
Pier Francesco Fiorentino in 1496.
Church of S. Maria della
Misericordia, via Roma, 27. Rebuilt to a design by Luigi Bellonci (1765
- 1839), a pupil of Capponi, at the beginning of the 19th century.
Inside, the fresco depicting the Madonna della Misericordia by Dionisio,
Girolamo and Gioacchino Nardini of S. Angelo in Vado, 1497, is
noteworthy. The other canvases and decorations are by the cuprensi
painters Corrado Corradi sen. (1781 - 1852), Giovanni Fazi (1838 - 1926)
and Raul Bartoli (1910 - 1994). During the reconstruction, in 1809, a
fifteenth-century fresco was found (now kept in the local Cassa di
Risparmio) in the wall under the other fresco by the Nardini brothers;
it was kept in Palazzo Rossetti before being brought to its current
location. It precedes the painting of the Nardinis (1497) by a few
decades, has elegant and gentle forms and was commissioned by the
Confraternity of the S.S. Sacramento and the Community of Massaccio.
3 Church of San Leonardo, Piazza IV Novembre, 17-18. It was built to a
design by Cristoforo Moriconi in 1760; it stands on the site of the
first church built in 1151. Inside you can admire the Circumcision
(1615), a masterpiece by Antonio Sarti from Jesi (1580 - 1647); Madonna
and Child Enthroned known as della Colonna, canvas on wood (1492) by
Marcantonio di Andrea di Jesi; frontal in sculpted wood (1681) by Andrea
Scoccianti, the Cuprense defined "Raffaello delle Fogliarelle"; San
Filippo or the suffrage of Pietro Paolo Aquilini and the Immaculate
Conception of Clemens Kapp (17th century). In the rectory are kept a
processional cross in silver and embossed copper from the 17th century.
XIV, a seventeenth-century silver monstrance and carved and gilded
wooden glory cards by Andrea Scoccianti.
Cave Museums (MIG), Via
Giacomo Leopardi. Museum complex in the Caves of the Convent of Santa
Caterina, which includes the International Museum of Labels.
The
Label Museum develops for a good part of the museum itinerary. In it
there are graphic panels and the display of the best known labels. There
are also reproductions of historical posters regarding the grape
festival
In the EnoCupra you can taste the local wines.
The "Horto
de i Semplici" is a monastic garden where beneficial plants are grown.
Grape Festival, from Thursday to the first Sunday of October
Infiorata del Corpus Domini, on Thursday of the second week after
Pentecost
Feast of S. Eleuterio, on May 26th
The most important production in the area is that of Verdicchio wine,
which is celebrated with the grape festival on the first weekend of
October. The event is one of the oldest wine festivals in Italy, the
first edition dates back to 1928. Various folk groups are hosted and the
traditional grape pressing competition is held. A parade of themed
floats closes the festivities.
On the occasion of the Corpus
Domini infiorata, the streets of the town are adorned with flower petals
arranged according to particular geometric motifs to act as a carpet for
the religious procession.
The night of Verdicchio takes place on
the third Saturday of July.
The International Folklore Festival
takes place in Cupramontana on the last weekend of July.
Since
2016, the International Wine Label Museum has been moved to the museum
complex of the MIG | Musei in Grotta, where in addition to the
exhibition of labels from all over the world, there is also the
itinerary of the grape festival, the road of taste, the tourist office,
the wine shop and the simple garden.
Cupramontana is a production center of Verdicchio dei Castelli di
Jesi, thanks to the fertility of the soil and the favorable climate, it
has an economic activity based mainly on viticulture, but also on
agriculture in general and crafts.
Cupramontana is part of the
circuit of the Cities of Oil and Cities of Wine and since December 2011
it has been awarded the Green Flag for agricultural merits.