Umbertide is an Italian town of 16 578 inhabitants in the province of Perugia in Umbria. Located in the upper valley of the Tiber, crossed by the Tiber itself and the Reggia stream (or Regghia), it has a characteristic historic center still surrounded by medieval walls in the stretches that line the waterways. Important center of metalworking, textiles, packaging and industrial ceramics, but also of tobacco growing and organic farming.
«I believe that no Italian, with a minimum of cultural interest and
aesthetic sensitivity, should ignore that incredible Apennine strip
between Tuscany and Lazio where the beautiful and mysterious towns of
Spello, Umbertide, Gubbio and Foligno are nestled, as well as obviously
Perugia and Assisi .»
(Gillo Dorfles)
The oldest urban nucleus
is located north of the confluence between the Tiber and the local
stream, the Reggia or Regghia. The development of the city was therefore
projected mainly towards the northern part, only in the twentieth
century did the building area extend to the south-west with the
construction of the railway and the industrial area, as well as various
residential neighbourhoods. Starting at least from the 14th century,
Umbertide was divided into three districts: the upper district, which
included the part of the castle from the current Piazza Matteotti to Via
Alberti, towards the Rocca; the Porta Nova district, from the current
Piazza Matteotti to Piazza XXV Aprile and the corresponding area near
the Reggia or Regghia stream; finally the one called della Greppia. At
the northern and southern extremes of the castle, since the 14th
century, the upper Borgo or dei fornaciai (current area of Via Cavour)
and the lower Borgo or delle Fabbrecce (current Piazza San Francesco)
have developed respectively. It is precisely in this part, outside the
oldest city walls, that the Franciscan friars settled.
The
historic center of the city has undergone a profound stylistic and
historical redevelopment; the intervention, carried out in 2011, led to
the definition of the new Market Square and the new Park along the Royal
Palace, which partly restored the original conditions of the area.
Today, starting from the Market Square, you can enter the Royal
Palace Park which borders the stream of the same name and along which a
cycle and pedestrian path has been created that runs along the ancient
city walls. A path to discover the ancient Fratta that reaches up to the
Tiber where, both on the right passing under the bridge, and on the left
crossing the recently built bridge, you can follow the nature trails
along the Tiber.
Collegiate Church of Santa Maria della Reggia
Dedicated to the
Virgin Mary of the Royal Palace, it was built in the second half of the
16th century, near the stream of the same name, but was only consecrated
in 1751. The church has an octagonal shape on the outside and circular
on the inside. The original dome was rebuilt in the early 1600s and
measures 20 meters in diameter and an overall height of 40 metres. The
Transfiguration of Christ by Niccolò Circignani, known as Pomarancio, is
preserved in the church.
Convent of Santa Maria della Pietà is a 15th
century Franciscan convent. The interior was accompanied by works of
particular interest, such as "the Virgin among the saints", attributed
by some to Bartolomeo Caporali, by others instead ascribed to
Pinturicchio, and The Coronation of the Virgin of 1502, whose author is
undoubtedly considered the Pinturicchio. This canvas is now in the
Vatican Museums.
Church of San Francesco
It was chosen as its
headquarters by the Franciscans who had settled here since 1200, in the
so-called Terziere della Greppia. The church, of fourteenth-century
origin, housed the canvas by Pomarancio with the Madonna and Child and
the Saints Andrew the Apostle, Biagio the Bishop, Francesco and
Sebastiano and the wooden statue of San Rocco, both today preserved in
the Civic Museum of Santa Croce.
Church of San Bernardino
It was
born as an oratory, but the construction period is not well defined,
because until today it was believed to date back to the 1400s, but
recent restoration and renovation works have shown that perhaps it was
built on a church from a previous period.
Church - museum of Santa
Croce, with the Deposition by Luca Signorelli.
Church of Santa Maria,
from 1486, with a fresco by Pinturicchio.
Romanesque abbey church of
SS. Ippolito and Cassiano, located outside the town.
Monte Corona
Monastery
Abbey of San Salvatore di Monte Corona
According to
tradition, it was founded in the 11th century by San Romualdo. It is
divided into 2 levels: the crypt and the upper church. The crypt is a
large room divided into five naves decorated with columns in various
styles. The upper church has three naves and has two distinct parts: the
oldest, which includes the presbytery and the choir, intended for the
functions of the monks, the other, more recent, reserved for the
faithful. It also preserves remains of frescoes and a valuable wooden
choir. The current bell tower is octagonal and circular and perhaps was
born as a defense tower. Not far from the Abbey is the Hermitage, an
ancient monastery founded by the Camaldolese and Coronesi fathers in the
16th century. The Hermitage is located at an altitude (705 m) and the
route, dotted with votive aedicules, winds surrounded by chestnut and
beech woods. In October 2008 Pope Benedict XVI elevated the abbey church
to the dignity of a minor basilica.
Medieval fortress
Now used as an exhibition centre, it can be
considered the "symbol" of Umbertide. It was built in 1385 and finished
in 1389. From 1818 to 1923 it served as a district prison. Today the
Rocca has only one door in Piazza Fortebraccio, but once upon a time it
had another in the direction of the Reggia stream and both were equipped
with a drawbridge. In 1984 it was renovated. The most important
innovation is certainly the creation of the entrance at the base of the
walls of the left tower in order to connect the market square with
Piazza Fortebraccio (in order to directly access the Teatro dei
Riuniti). The municipal administration, after the restoration of the
building completed in 1986, decided to use the fourteenth-century
fortress as a center for contemporary art, promoting cultural
initiatives and temporary exhibitions for this purpose. From this moment
on, a precious public collection of contemporary art was created thanks
to donations from artists and gallery owners, first of all Giovanni
Ciangottini from Umberto, owner of a gallery in Bologna in the 1950s and
1960s, who he left his private collection to the city and to the museum
being established.
Civitella Ranieri Castle, surrounded by a
forest, three kilometers from the centre
Teatro dei Riuniti
The locality must have been frequented since Etruscan times, as is confirmed by the presence of an Etruscan chamber tomb along the slope that leads from Piano del Nese to Monte Murlo. It consists of a rectangular room (5.85 x 3.22 m, unit of measurement is the Roman foot), whose walls are covered with squared blocks of local stone, preceded by a short corridor. The ashlars of the first assize are ashlar. Of the barrel vaulted roof, set on a projecting frame, a single 1.55 m long ashlar remains in situ, internally hollowed out with a curved profile. The material recovered during the excavation consists of a few fragments of terracotta urns, jars and jars. The tomb has been dated to the end of the 2nd-beginning of the 1st century BC. From the town of Preggio, also nearby, come bronze lamps dedicated to the goddess Fortuna, terracotta box tombs and an idol.
The municipality has an exclave consisting of the hamlet of Leoncini, nestled between the Tuscan municipality of Cortona (AR) on one side and that of Città di Castello on the other two.
Tradition has it that the
original name, Fratta, recalls the destruction (fracta, from
frangere) of the previous Roman village, carried out by the Goths.
In reality, it is likely that the name derives from the bushy rock
on which the fortress was built (fratta, in fact): historically it
was, in fact, an "impregnable" fortress, built to protect the bridge
over the Tiber. A wooden dam, located about a hundred meters
downstream of the bridge over the Tiber, barred the river and raised
the level of the water, so as to flood the entire moat around the
walls.
The name of the city was then changed in 1863, when it
was called in honor of Prince Umberto di Savoia, also to remember
the historical tradition that Fratta wanted to be rebuilt on the
rubble of Pitulo in 796, by Adalberto, Ingilberto, Benedetto or
Bonifacio, the sons of Uberto or Umberto (natural son of the king of
Italy Ugo).
The first human settlements settled in
the place where the Tiber river makes a sharp turn to the right and
refer to the Umbrian people (period of the final bronze), as
attested by the finds found in the Monte Acuto castle. There are
also numerous remains of Roman settlements: on the hills of Polgeto,
in Romeggio on the right side of the Tiber, and in the area of the
church of Santa Maria.
According to tradition, Umbertide was
rebuilt in the 9th century or, according to other scholars, in the
10th century, under the name of Fracta filiorum Huberti or Fratta,
not too far from the Roman town of Pitulum Mergens, whose remains
are believed to be near Santa Maria di Sette. The first historical
documents on Fratta date back to 12 February 1189, when the Marquis
Ugolino di Uguccione, lord of Castiglione Ugolino and Fratta, signed
the act of peaceful submission to the city of Perugia: this act of
submission put an end to any attempt to find allies in Tuscany.
At the beginning of the 15th century Braccio da Montone defeated
Cesare di Capua near Fratta, at the time in the service of King
Ladislao of Naples.
Later it was long disputed between
Perugia and the Papal States.
Umbertide saw many of its
inhabitants volunteering with Garibaldi in the Campagne dei Mille
and the Agro Romano (1867).
The project for a Umbertide-Forlì
railway dates back to the early years of the twentieth century, then
resumed in the 1920s, which should have accelerated the city's
development: unfortunately, first due to the outbreak of the First
World War and then due to local vetoes, the project did not take
off.
On the morning of April 25, 1944, during a first attempt
to bomb the bridge over the Tiber by the Anglo-American allies,
several bombs fell on the oldest part of the town, the medieval
quarter of S. Giovanni (right near the bridge ), killing
seventy-four people. The bridge was later destroyed in the afternoon
bombing. The plane dropped three bombs, one exploded destroying the
bridge, the second was found unexploded shortly after the end of the
conflict, the third was found in March 2003 by a fisherman along the
banks of the river with the fuzes still intact. The bomb was
detonated in a quarry.