At the outset I'd like to give FULL credit for this article to OASI VILLAGGIO in Marsciano. They didn't have an English translation for their page, otherwise I would just have clipped that one!
http://www.oasivillaggio.com/2010/10/strada-della-collina-itinerario-storico-artistico/. And I have kept in some of the rather charming literal translations - it gives a useful insight into Italian sentence construction. It is a really great, short history of the area around Papiano and Marsciano, which I have edited to take out some of the more detailed and obscure history.
This itinerary follows the so-called "Hill Road", a road network of primary importance that connects Perugia to Orvieto, through Marsciano and San Venanzo, taking in many villages. It is a path that offers an incredible wealth - historical, artistic and the natural environment.
From Marsciano the road climbs and winds until you reach the crest of the hill. The first town you come to is Cerqueto, whose name refers to a place full of oaks ("cerque" in the vernacular). This first stop is full of history, and has given birth to numerous characters. Three worth mentioning are Monsignor Giulio Cicioni (1844-1923), founder of the Museum of Natural History archbishop, Blessed James from Cerqueto (d. 1366), which received public worship approved by Pope Leo XIII and finally Father Mariangelo from Cerqueto famous throughout the world as "Frate Indovino" (Friar 'Guess')
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| Calendar of Frate Indovino |
Cerqueto has a surprising number of sights for a small village. The Shrine of Saint Lucia, situated on the edge of the old town in Via Pietro Vannucci, depicts Saint Lucia, St. Rocco and the Madonna and Child, and the fresco, which was wrongly attributed in the past to Tiberio d'Assisi, now seems to have been done by a pupil of Perugino. An art historian Assisi, Prof. Elvio Lunghi, through deep study states that the building is the work of the young Raphael, in the period when he was the workshop of Perugino.
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| Cerqueto, Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Perugino, San Sebastian |
In the historic village, you will find the original centre dating from the twelfth century has remained intact with its circular structure and brick houses with ancient arches. The Parish Church of Santa Maria Assunta already existed in 1163 (as seen in the degree of Federico Barbarossa, where he declared that the emperor took under his protection the bishop of Perugia with their respective churches including "castrum Cerqueti."). The church, in which rests St. James, whose remains were moved here in 1956, is the picture of "San Sebastian" by Perugino and the "Crucifixion" by Tiberio d'Assisi. Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci, known as Perugino, (Città della Pieve 1448 ca. - Fontignano 1523), a painter, a pupil of Piero della Francesca and Verrocchio, the dean of Umbrian painting and teacher of Raphael, stayed in Cerqueto to save themselves from the epidemic of plague that hit the Perugia area from 1475 to 1478. The inhabitants of Cerqueto escaped the plague, and in the Parish Church built a chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, with a fresco dedicated to St. Sebastian. The fresco, very well preserved, represents St. Sebastian, and two other saints whose faces are not visible, presumably St. Rocco and St. Peter. The painting was attributed to Perugino by Orsini, a Perugia painter and writer on art, in 1804 and is considered the first signed and dated work of the great master.
Leaving the old village in a northerly direction, you will see a series of villas built in the early 1900s and also the Asylum "Luisa Sereni", built early last century in twentieth-century eclectic style, brick and plaster.
A short distance from Cerqueto on the left, you will see a complex on which stands a square tower, which is the town of
St. Helena, reached by the avenue that connects it to the Hill Road. Its structure has remained almost that of a small fortified village, of which the tower with the entrance arch represent the main features. Inside, the village shows the typical features of the fifteenth-century period, as shown in some brick buildings by the characteristic arches. The large building that occupies a good part of the village and is well renovated, is Palazzo Sereni, which has housed since 1946 the charity "Don Guanella", a charity for disabled adults; inside the palace were antiques of great value with the coat of arms of the noble family from Perugia, the Sansoni, who had built it in the sixteenth century.
Back on the road we continue our journey towards the north, enjoying the panoramic spectacle offered to us. The hill road has the peculiarity of being a large terrace overlooking the Tiber valley, from Todi to Perugia, before merging, at Collestrada, with the Umbrian valley, overlooked by the imposing and serene Assisi. This enchanting scenery will accompany us throughout our journey.
A sign on the right marks the junction for
Papiano. There are traces from 1027, when Emperor Conrad II indicates a route between the churches belonging to the monastery of San Pietro "sub castro Papinian his cum ecclesia of saints Silvestri pertinentia", which unfortunately no longer exists. In 1163 Frederick Barbarossa gifts the church of Sant'Angelo to the Benedictines of St. Peter, confirming the fact that, as early as the year one thousand, this is an important place of work, and one of the places colonized by the Benedictine abbey of Perugia. But the most significant fact relating to the castle is in 1277, from the "Historia of Perugia" by Pompeo Pellini.
"City of Marsciano, Borgo Papiano. At that time corresponding to the start of construction of the castle, which will be built in the place where it stands on the advice of Fra 'Bevignate, then engaged in the construction of the aqueduct, but especially on the basis of a compromise between the inhabitants of the two villas which stood on the two hills above, to which belonged, according to the Statutes, the construction of fortified structure."
According to the Pellini the place chosen was "a quiet spot left alone", "low and steep." Placed on the slope of the hill, the castle appears to us contemporaries rather pretty, and the restoration of the bell frame makes it even enchanting. Above the whole castle, called by the locals "on the inside", stands the tall bell tower that was built at the highest point of Papiano. It is entirely made of stone and has a large clock and two bells, all driven by a mechanical device. The other four towers that formed the fortification of the castle can be seen from some visible remains. Travelling from the "inside out" you go down and you get to Piazza della Vittoria, the hub of economic and social life of the village. To the right of the War Memorial, located at the centre of the square, rises a road to the church of San Michele Arcangelo, already mentioned under the name of Sant'Angelo. The church has an imposing appearance outside but the recent restoration has left little of the old Church. Inside it is rather bare: has three naves with vaults. The floor, too is recent, and is a mosaic representing three scenes of Christian iconography. The altar is in pink and white marble. From Piazza della Vittoria, the road descends, gently reaching the plain of the Tiber, meeting the Central Railroad of Umbria, where Papiano and has its own small Papiano Station. Here is the tiny church of Santa Caterina characterized externally by three unexploded bombs during the Second World War and later defused, and a plaque dedicated to St. Catherine, with the words: "In S. Caterina who worked miraculous protection in the aerial bombing of April 30, 1944."
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| The Tiber River, near Marsciano |
Then cross the fertile and rich plain of the Tiber for a short distance, until the sign that indicates to us left at the junction for
Castello delle Forme.
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| Castello delle Forme |
The village is also located halfway up the hill, revealing its geo-strategic importance as a place of defence: in fact, the walls of the village controls and dominates the valley of the Tiber. The old defensive system of this village, which in 1312 withstood the passage of the imperial troops of Henry VII of Luxembourg, have left behind them a tower and parts of the old walls, both made of stone which form a single body. Externally with respect to the castle, we find the parish church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built in 1594, with restoration of the facade in 1953, in addition to the decorations on the ceilings made by Alessandro Micheli da Fabriano in 1926, a baptismal font 1943 made by the sculptor Biscarini and 14 "stations of the cross" in Deruta pottery, it also preserves the "Lady of the Fountain", a valuable sixteenth century fresco depicting the Madonna and Child, restored in 1790 by Carlo Lupattelli, as stated by the ' inscription at the base of the painting. In the central Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, where we can admire Palazzo Boncambi, an aristocratic palace of the eighteenth century is characterized by a beautiful arch of access in stone, stands the bell tower of the thirteenth century, entirely of stone with clock and bells mechanically operated. Inside the village is rather nice and tidy, also denoting a certain elegance as reflected in the structure of the well dug at the end of the nineteenth century by Florido Forasiepi and located between Independence Street and Via XXIV Maggio. The countryside around Castello delle Forme is pleasant and lends itself to the establishment of country villas, such as Villa Cucchia Taravelli, a large complex of the nineteenth century, currently uninhabited, which can be seen at Voc. Filoncia. The amenity of these places was well known by the Etruscans, as evidenced by the inscriptions and tombs have been found in these parts, and that they assume the presence of an Etruscan necropolis.
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| S. Valentine in Colle |
We reach
S. Valentine in Colle by continuing along the road that led us to Castello delle Forme and continuing up the hill. The village, which winds along the hill road, retains from its medieval period only the bell tower adjacent to the parish church, the church in fact despite being nominated indirectly in the imperial diploma of Conrad II in 1027 and directly into the now famous diploma Frederick Barbarossa in 1163, was entirely rebuilt in the nineteenth century. The old castle was instead incorporated into the construction of the Villa Baldeschi Sposini today, a monumental building of the seventeenth century, whose entrance is in Via XXIV Maggio and is preceded by a long avenue of trees. Also the Taravelli Villa, located in Via XXIV Maggio is a building of the XIX century with elements of discrete authentic architectural interest, in good condition. The building's architecture is reminiscent of the Art Nouveau style and in the garden there are palm trees, as floral ornament, inside there are decorations.
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| Olmeto |
From San Valentino, we move quickly to Olmeto, where our journey ends. The small village, which has the access road on the main road of the hill is a terrace on the valley of Genna and villages of the municipality of Marsciano, up to that line of hills which separates the territory from Perugia to Orvieto. The parish church of Santa Maria, built in the early fourteenth century, is the only evidence, along with the bell tower of the old castle remains. Inside the church there is a beautiful tempera on panel, the "Madonna della Misericordia" refers to the master Perugino Mariano di Ser Austerio that, with his arms outstretched among the angels, receives under her mantle imploring the faithful, men and women without the traditional division and in the foreground with the clients. The state of preservation of the picture is pretty good and its colors are not very bright. In the cartouche below the inscription "Sub tuum praesidium with / fugimus Sancta Dei Genetrix / ADMDXXV" tells us the year of realization of the picture. The iconographic theme of Our Lady of Mercy protecting the faithful under her mantle, we have seen very often in the territory, because it has the presence in the chapel of Tripoli Marsciano, Mercatello, in Pieve Caina and here in Olmeto. These works were commissioned to appease the wrath of God through the intercession of the Virgin and were made in a limited period of time from the last quarter of the fifteenth century to the first half of the sixteenth century as a result of serious epidemics that struck Perugia and pestilential its suburbs since 1475.
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