Art Itineraries
Umbria, crossroads of cultural and religious influences, keeps a real collection of masterpieces and evidences of the past that have grown rich during the years thanks to the beauty of nature and the mysticism of places.
1. Underground Umbria: Perugia - Todi - Orvieto - Narni - Amelia
Departing from the Umbrian capital town, we find the “Buried Perugia” that can be visited thanks to an equipped route that goes through the Rocca Paolina building, among the ruins of the Medieval district belonged to the Baglioni family. Nowadays, only the ruins of the Medieval district remain of that huge structure, with the ancient houses, some streets, courtyards and squares, bakeries, craft shops and the Gentile Baglioni’s house dating back to the 13th century with the untouched tower and the Ridolfo and Bracco Baglioni’s block.
Underneath Orvieto too there is an underground world, a labyrinth of caves dug out in 3000 years through the rock on which the town rises. One can discover the Etruscan “Velzna”, the Medieval and Renaissance Orvieto in an extraordinary journey back to the past.
More than 5 km of passages and galleries, more than thirty pre- Roman, Roman and Medieval tanks, 500 wells of various ages shape the incredibly rich underground patrimony of Todi.
The system goes back to the first century b.c., when the town of Todi became first municipium and then “Splendidissima Colonia”.
Narni , with the underground rooms of S. Domenico, gives you the chance to make a peculiar journey through the underground church with a unique nave covered by a barrel vault, with walls dug out directly from rock and covered with frescos; or in the structure made with white and rose stone, original seat of the Saint Inquisition Court.
Amelia too has a suggestive interest, having ten Roman rooms dating back to the 3rd century b.C. underneath Matteotti Square.
2. Great Renaissance Cycles: Todi, Montefalco, Spoleto, Orvieto, Perugia, Spello
In Umbria it is possible to admire several works of art from fifteenth-sixteenth century Italian painters.
Renaissance reaches Umbria with the arrival of some famous Florentine painters. Masolino da Panicale was probably the first Florentine working in Umbria. In 1432 he was painting in the church S. Fortunato at Todi.
At Montefalco you can see frescoes by Benozzo Bozzoli who decorated the apse of the Church of Saint Francis. The subject of the cycle of frescoes is The Life of Saint Francis, illustrated in twelve episodes placed in three overlaying registers and carried out with a style that is rich with the influence of Giotto. In fact, the scene of the "The Driving out of the Devils from Arezzo" and the scene of the "Dream of Innocent III" appear to be inspired by the frescoes by Giotto in Assisi.
Already a collaborator of Beato Angelico at Orvieto, Benozzo had great success in Umbria. So much so that his presence is documented in many Umbrian towns: Assisi, Foligno, Narni, whose picture gallery houses a beautiful Annunciation, and naturally Montefalco, where he also realised several works for the Monastery of San Fortunato.
In Spoleto another great Florentine artist, Filippo Lippi, left his last work: the decoration of the apse of the cathedral with Storie della Vergine.
The end of the XV century saw Luca Signorelli from Cortona involved with the decoration of the Chapel of San Brizio in the Duomo of Orvieto, started in the vault by Beato Angelico and Benozzo Bozzoli fifty years earlier. A work of art of all times, the frescoes in Orvieto revolve around the apocalyptic theme of the end of the world, centred on the vast representations of the Sermon of the Antichrist, the End of the World, the Resurrection of the body, the Last Judgement, and Hell. Just as beautiful and as famous is the scene of the Resurrection of the body in which human bodies are rendered with a force and energy that they make you think that Michelangelo had the frescoes by Signorelli in mind, when realising the Sistine Chapel.
In those years Pietro Perugino was appointed by the Collegio del Cambio to work on the frescoes in the Sala delle Udienze in Perugia. This is one of the rooms that made up part of the city's seat of the powerful corporation of moneychangers and subject, between 1491 and 1500, to a vast decorative intervention.
Finally, in Spello, in 1501, Bernardino di Betto known as the Pinturicchio was taken on by Troilo Baglioni to decorate the family chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The frescoes on the walls that represent The Annunciation, The Nativity and Christ between the Doctors and, in the vaults, the four Sibyls, are among the happiest works of the Perugian painter.
3. Contemporary art locations: Città di Castello, Perugia, Spello, Trevi, Spoleto
If you are a lover of contemporary art then Umbria may give you a pleasant surprise…
Lets start from Città di Castello, which houses the collection of its most famous citizen: Alberto Burri.
Burri, one of the most important figures of the artistic panorama after the Second World War, starting from the 50's abandoned the traditional medium of oils and chose materials as protagonists of his art. With his series' of Bags, Irons, Plastics, Wood, Clays, the artist highlights all of the expressive possibilities of the materials: a poor and unusual material.
In Perugia, in the first years of the XIX century, a small group of young artists showed an interest in the teachings of Filippo Tommaso Martinetti, father of Futurism, whose echoes, even if confusedly, were also reaching the province.
The undisputed leader of the group was Gerardo Dottori, one of the protagonists of Italian Futurism, among the first founders of aeropainting. Palazzo Penna, in the heart of Perugia, recently re-structured, houses several works of art by Gerardo Dottori, such as the famous “Trittico della Velocità”.
The collection of contemporary art at Villa Fidelia, in Spello, is also very interesting and unusual. The beautiful sixteenth century villa, which is now property of the Province of Perugia, is the seat for interesting temporary exhibitions.
The Trevi Flash Art Museum of Contemporary Art can be found in the heart of Trevi, a small town near to Spoleto, inside the sixteenth century Palazzo Lucarini. The museum organises temporary exhibitions, personal or collective, of the most interesting artists on the local and international scene.
At Spoleto it is possible to visit the Civic Gallery of modern and contemporary Art, since 2000 housed in the splendid rooms of Palazzo Collicola, the ancient town house of the noble Collicola family.
The nucleus of the collection is made up of the works of the “Premio Spoleto”, an important artistic event that took place in the town between 1953 and 1968. This section includes works by Mario Ceroli, with his wooden shapes, and by Pino Pascali, present with one of his most famous installations: “Il Mare” from 1966. An entire room is dedicated to Sol Le Witt, an American conceptual artist, who loved the Umbrian town so much that he lived here several times.
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