Umbertide

A cheerful, spirited little town, set in the valley and enclosed by hills of remarkable elegance. Its centre is still ringed by medieval walls, which culminate in the 14th-century Rocca, today a striking exhibition hall; the Church of Santa Croce, which holds a Deposition by Luca Signorelli, together with the octagonal Collegiata, invite us to stop and admire places with the flavour of antiquity, just like the town's origins.

The earliest settlements go back to the Umbri, though several Roman remains survive too. According to tradition, the original nucleus was named Pitulum or Oppidum Saepis, founded by soldiers from the legion of consul Gaius Flaminius Nepos who fled the defeat at the Battle of Lake Trasimeno in 217 BC. In the Early Middle Ages the town was destroyed by the Goths and rebuilt between the 9th and 10th centuries under the name Fracta filiorum Huberti. The first documents date to 1189, when Marquis Ugolino di Uguccione, lord of Castiglione, submitted peacefully to Perugia. In 1394 Braccio da Montone tried to annex the town but failed, and was imprisoned in the Rocca; he succeeded in 1402, sacking it in revenge. The town became part of the Papal States, and worth mentioning is the Florentine siege of 1643, when Fratta was saved by a flood of the Tiber that drove off the attackers.

The current name was given in 1863, in honour of the crown prince Umberto of Savoy. For anyone with a passion for historical re-enactments, it's worth looking into the events held at the end of August, when the town centre is painted in the colours of the Risorgimento and the newly won unity.