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After 1000 A.D. the town expanded: commerce and handicraft return to flourish, the heads of the arts and craft associations - the Priors - began to be very important, and Todi was a free commune since the first years of the 12th century. In 1236 came into the world, in Todi, Jacopo dei Benedetti, called Jacopone, one of the most important figures of Franciscanism. Later Todi belonged to various dominions, and after this period the town was placed directly under the central power of the Papal State, which finished in 1860, with the Unification of Italy. The 20th century has made Todi famous all over the world: for its historic monuments, the fascination of its medieval atmosphere and the unique beauty of its countryside. The piazzaThe heart of Todi is Piazza del Popolo, formerly central point of the Roman town, and closed in the Middle Ages by four doors. From the coffee bars enlacing the square one can have a panoramic view of the beautiful rectangular space where are situated the palaces symbol of the spiritual and civil life of the municipality.
The Palace of the Priors, just in front of the Cathedral, built in the 14th century, enlarged and finished in 1334-1337, with atypical medieval aspect; in the 15th century was built the tower and hundred years later the Renaissance windows. Up on the wall we admire the eagle in bronze made by Giovanni di Gigliaccio in 1339: symbol of the town, it grasps a pole with a cloth and, in earlier times, it held in the semi-opened wings two small eagles representing the vassal towns of Terni and Amelia. The building had been built to offer a suitable seat to the Priors - with the workshops at ground level; then it was occupied by the excise office and later by the papal governor.
There is also a tower-bell, built in 1330, on the top of which was placed a clock in 1523. First Priors' residence, in 1236 it housed Pope Gregorio IX, and from the 18th to the 19th century it was converted into a theatre, La Scaletta. A side of this building faces Garibaldi square, with the monument to this famous personage; there is also a very tall cypress, planted in 1849 by two Todi citizens to remind people the coming of Garibaldi, and a wonderful panoramic view.
The façade, left incomplete, has three Gothic portals which show a great stylistic discrepancy, imputable to the protracting of the works; they think that the work was made by three different artists: the first almost certainly from Siena; the second, probably Umbrian, but acquainted with the great Tuscany sculpture of the period; and the third rather rough. The central portal is magnificent, decorated by a frame of delicately carved moldings and colonnades; at its sides two niches with "Gabriele" and "Madonna", in a style which reminds us Jacopo della Quercia's mode. The fact that the façade was left incomplete is a symptom of the transformed civil and religious climate in the town, in deep crisis in the 1400s: the legend reports that the author, Giovanni Santuccio da Sporto, was blinded by some people from Orvieto who feared to lose their primacy for the beauty of the façade of their cathedral. There is also an impressive Gothic tower-bell, built in 1460, and nearby the old convent with a fine cloister. The elegant interior has a single nave divided by pillars with pointed vaults; the High Altar and the finely-carved choir-stalls date to the 14th century. The paintings, of lower quality compared to the architecture, include some 14th century frescoes of Assisi school, a fresco of Madonna with Child and Angels by Masolino da Panicale, and other productions between late-Gothic and Baroque. The crypt, built in 1596, contains the relics of the patron saints of the town - San Fortunato, San Callisto, San Cassiano, Santa Romana, Santa Degna - and the tomb of Jacopone. Coming out of San Fortunato and going in the direction of the Marzia Gate we discovered the most typical and well-preserved medieval quarter. But many other beauties there are in Todi: the Roman Niches in the Old Market Place; the Scarnabecco and the Cesia Fountains; the Romanesque little church of Sant'Ilario; the Church of Santa Prassede and the others: those of San Filippo Benizi, San Niccolò, Santa Maria in Cammuccia. And the stairways, the alleys, the thousand medieval archs and windows which open onto the town Text courtesy of argoweb.it.
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