|
|
|
|
Archeology
Itinerary:
Trasimeno, Valle Umbra, Colfiorito, Spoleto
An Umbrian-Etruscan
location, featuring three areas: Lake Trasimeno to the
north west, in the historic locations of the battle
between Hannibal and Roman troops in 217 BC;
the central area, comprising Etruscan towns and
fortified Umbrian settlements, transformed into
municipia and colonies by Roman colonization;
the eastern area, where it is still possible to identify
the organisational style of settlements typical of
Umbrian castellars. Tours of: Perugia, Tuoro sul Trasimeno,
Assisi, Spello, Foligno,
Plestia, Spoleto, Trevi, Bevagna, Urvinum
Hortense, Bettona.
|
Museums
Assisi: Roman Forum and archaeology collection
Bevagna:Archaeology collection
Cannara: Archaeology collection
Corciano: Municipal collection of archaeological
remains
Deruta: Regional ceramics museum
Foligno: Palazzo Trinci archaeology collection
Montefalco: Civic Museum
Perugia: National Archaeological Museum
San Feliciano: Fishing Museum
Spello: Archaeology collection
Spoleto: Archaeological Museum
Torgiano: Wine Museum
Trevi: Museum dedicated to St Francis of Assisi
Tuoro sul Trasimeno: Permanent documentation
center dedicated to the Battle of Lake Trasimeno. The itinerary proposes a journey through the region's
central strip, with an itinerary that begins in Perugia,
stretching out towards Lake Trasimeno, eastwards to the
Colfiorito plateau, and south to the Spoleto district,
going on to explore in detail the surroundings of some
of modern Umbria's most important towns: alongside
Perugia and Spoleto, the itinerary will include some of
the smaller towns like Assisi, Spello, Bettona, Bevagna,
Foligno and Trevi, which are certainly no less
significant than the two bigger towns as far as art and
history are concerned.
The area concerned is the meeting and synergy point of
two ethnically and culturally separate environments, of
the Umbrians and the Etruscans, as it was before the
Roman conquest. Perugia, the Etruscan polis (city) in a
border location, enjoyed relations with two of Etruria's
other magnificent towns: Chiusi and Cortona, thanks to
its nearness to Lake Trasimeno, but on the other hand
was also an important outpost for control and contact
with the Umbrian world thanks to the Arna and Vettona
territories that reached out beyond the Tiber and thus
brought the city to play a significant role of cultural
interface.
The towns of Assisi, Spello, Bevagna, Foligno, Trevi and
Spoleto were actually part of the territorial map on the
left bank of the Tiber, populated by the Umbrians
(Umbrorum gens antiquissima Italiane, says Pliny), whose
cultural heart will certainly be found in the Colfiorito
"castellars".
It is precisely the perspective of identifying the
differences, analogies and contacts that will hallmark
this itinerary, in which the archaeological findings,
whether in the tours of town centers or those in
territories outside town walls, will bring forth the
contrasts and divergences, but at the same time will
show the relationships and affinities between these
areas.
Of the five itineraries presented, this is the most
complex, both for the extension and for the wealth of
archaeological evidence; so for this reason it can also
further split into three circuits, which overall offer a
quite wide range of archaeological and landscape
situations.
Circuit I
 The first circuit involves only that part of the
regional territory occupied by the Etruscans and was
mapped out to offer an itinerary that would highlight
the link that connected Perugia to the Trasimeno area -
now a regional park - and the latter to the settlements
of Chiusi (ager Clusinus) and Cortona (ager Cortonensis)
that fell within Tuscan boundaries. Another interesting
aspect of this area lies in the fact that in 217 BC,
during the Second Punic War, on the lake shore plain
near Tuoro, there was a bloody battle between Hannibal's
Carthaginian army and that of the Roman consul, Caius
Flaminius.
Circuit II
The second circuit wends its way through the part of the
Region that is currently the most densely populated and
rich in art towns. In ancient times the territory was
occupied not only by the Etruscans - Perugia, Arna,
Bettona - but also by the Umbrians, and the elements of
interaction between the two cultures are strongly felt,
especially in the objects exhibited in the regional
museums.
In this area Roman colonisation successfully unified and
standardised by founding new urban settlements and by
monumentalising those that already existed.
The territory covers the area of the Mount Subasio park,
the Tiber Valley and the central Umbra Valley, where the
Lacus Umber was located in ancient times. This
itinerary offers the possibility of following an
alternative route connecting the towns compared to the
E45, using historic roads and "forcing" the visitor to
approach the settlements in a manner far more aligned
with that of the archaeological period.
In this area, near Collemancio di Cannara, we meet the
site of the municipium, Urvinum Hortense, not yet a
museum and whose ancient layout shows significant
remains of both private and public buildings, set in a
position that offers a splendid view of the Umbra
Valley.
Circuit III
Circuit III sets off from Foligno and proceeds towards
the Colfiorito park area, where the visit to Plestia,
a town abandoned in history and now being excavated, can
be combined with the chance to take excursions on foot,
on horseback and by bicycle, to discover the castellars
that characterise the territorial and settlement layouts
used by the ancient Umbrians. It is without doubt an
itinerary that is recommended not only to those who are
specifically interested in archaeology, but in general
for nature lovers. Here the territories apparently
untouched by historic human presence were actually
organised in close-knit networks of tiny mountain
settlements, easily recognized on countless mountain and
hill peaks.
From Plestia, along Via della Spina, we arrive
in Spoleto and then across today's Via Flaminia, passing
the Temple of Clitumnus, we climb towards Trevi and
Foligno.
The route chosen does, in part, follow the ancient roads
of Via della Spina and Via Plestina. Several sections of
the two roads cannot be travelled by car, but to all
intents and purposes, they can be considered excursion
itineraries of great landscape significance, even if no
historical evidence is traceable along their path.
Courtesy of
Umbria 2000
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
TangoItalia - Food Wine Travel in Italy - Home
|
