Amelia Walk

The walk begins at Porta Romana, which has impressive sections of the ancient city walls on either side.

Porta Romana (17th century)

This was the site of the Roman gate that formed the main entrance to the city from Via Amerina.  In the Middle Ages, the gate here had a drawbridge over a defensive ditch. 

The present gate was begun in 1592 and completed by the brick crowning in 1639.  The plaque above the arch commemorates the dedication of the city to Santa Maria Assunta in 1703 after it had survived an earthquake that devastated the surrounding area.



Enter the city along Via della Repubblica, which offers a lovely view of the Duomo and Torre Comunale.  The church of San Giovanni Decollato (usually closed) and adjacent hostel for pilgrims is on the left, and San Francesco and the Collegio Boccarini (the home of the Museo Archeologico and the Pinacoteca) are in Piazza Vera on the right.

Via della Repubblica

This road was built over the Roman Cardio Maximus, parts of which were excavated in 1966 and can be seen beneath the present surface. 

The original road was built towards the end of the 3rd century BC, and was extensively renovated in the 1st century BC, perhaps in ca. 42 BC when Colonia Iulia Fida Tuder was established further along it at Todi.



Turn right along Via Antonio di Sangallo to Palazzo Farrattini.   The arch and subterranean cistern opposite, which now serve as a public fountain, probably formed part of the Roman baths.  The cistern is connected to an area in the cellars of Palazzo Farrattini in which fragments of two mosaic floors (2nd century AD) survive.

Turn right along Via Farrattini to rejoin Via della Repubblica, which ends at the Arco di Piazza.  This marked the end of the medieval Borgo and the start of the upper part of the city, where noble families congregated in their fine palazzi. 

Arco di Piazza (13th or 14th century)

A Roman column is embedded in the building on the right (number 191-3) before the double arch (as you approach from Porta Romana) and a fragment of a Roman frieze has been incorporated above the arch entrance.  On the left, between the arches, are the remains of a Roman cistern.  There is a fresco above it of the Madonna and Child (15th century).



Walk through the Arco di Piazza into Piazza Marconi, which was the site of the main square of the medieval city.   The current patterned paving was laid out in the 18th century.  The Loggia dei Banditori is to the left.

 Loggia dei Banditori

(13th or 14th century)

The loggia was used in medieval times for proclamations by the town crier (banditore). 

The column to the right was probably erected in 1479 to honour Stefano Colonna. 

The clock in the tower above dates to ca. 1700.






Piazza Marconi, from the Loggia dei Banditori
Palazzo Petrignani is to the right, with Palazzo Nacci beyond it.
Image courtesy of Signor Franco della Rosa

Palazzo Petrignani (1571 - 1603)

Archbishop Fantino Petrignani of Cosenza (in Calabria) built this palace.  He was an official at the court of Pope Gregory XIII (and incidentally a protector of the unruly artist Caravaggio).

Archbishop Petrignani died in 1601, and the building subsequently housed the Monte di Pietà. 

The rooms within are extensively frescoed by Livio Agresti and also by followers of Federico Zuccari.


Palazzo Nacci (14th - 16th centuries)

The palace was begun in 1342 by amalgamating three tower houses, but completed only in the late 16th century.

The lovely Renaissance portal in Via Carleni opens onto a courtyard and upper loggia.







Leave the square along Via Garibaldi and turn left along the stepped Via Piacenti, past the palazzo of the same name.  An inscription found in the courtyard here reveals it to be the site of the villa of Roscia family.

The road leads to Porta della Valle, which is flanked by medieval walls that were built ouside the older circuit, and which offers lovely views over the surrounding country.  Turn right along Via della Valle, which crosses a short stretch of land between the medieval and ancient walls. 

The road swings to the left, with the oldest surving stretch of the ancient city walls on the right  and  the church of Sant' Angelo ahead. 

Continue along Via del Teatro, passing the Teatro Sociale (1782), to rejoin Via Garibaldi. 

Turn left, passing the church of Santa Maria della Porta (Madonnina), which preserves a venerated fresco of the Madonna del Latte (13th century). 

The road now swings to the right into Piazza Matteotti, the site of the Roman forum that was built above a series of Roman cisterns. 

Roman Cisterns (2nd century AD)

The Romans built these ten huge underground caverns to collect rainwater.  A brick in the foundations is stamped with the names of the builders, Tiberius and Caius Atilus. 

Wells in the square above were used to access the water.  The ancient well head at the entrance to the cisterns was moved here in the 19th century when the square was restored.  Its front slab commemorates Valerius, Governor of Amelia.

For more information and a plan of the cisterns, see the website of Amelia Sotterranea.



The square housed the original Palazzo Comunale (1216), but this building collapsed in 1819 when the cisterns below gave way.  The present Palazzo Comunale dates to the early 19th century.

Via Garibaldi continues through the square and becomes Via Posterola.  The church and nunnery of San Magno are on the left.

 San Magno (12th century)

This Benedictine nunnery, which was founded as a hospice for pilgrims and a hospital, was dependent upon the monastery of San Paolo Fuore le Mure, Rome.   Blessed Placido Riccardi was sent from the monastery to serve as the nuns' chaplain in the period 1877-87.

The church was re-modeled in 1624.  The splendid organ (1680) has been recently restored.  It has two keyboards, so that it can be played from within the church or from the nuns' choir.

The adjacent nunnery, which retains something of its original appearance, is now the home of six nuns.  It  was in restoration in May 2006.  The nuns' church is open for Mass at 8am every day.

http://monasticmatrix.usc.edu/monasticon



The path continues to the left to the octagonal church of San Girolamo.

San Girolamo (17th century)

The church, which was originally known as Santa Maria della Visitazione, was built to house an image (15th century) of the Madonna and Child with SS Antony Abbot and John the Baptist.

It was later re- dedicated (somewhat unusually) to San Girolamo Emiliani, the founder of the Somaschi Fathers.  The adjacent oratory is still used by the Confraternita di San Girolamo.



Retrace you steps along Via Posterola and turn left into Via Cavour, with Sant’ Agostino on the corner.  Continue along Via Cavour past the church and convent of Santa Monica.  

Santa Monica (17th century)

This baroque church, which is dedicated to the mother of St Augustine, belongs to the adjacent convent of Augustinian nuns. 

The side entrance conserves the apse of a much earlier building and a  fresco (16th century) of the Madonna protecting Amelia.











Via Cavour then leads down to the church of Santa Lucia on the left.  Roman material found here in 1839, which includes an inscribed architrave that is now in the Museo Archeologico) suggest that this was the site of the roman theatre.  Via del Crocifisso opposite leads to the ex-church of the Crocifisso (1664).  The latter was rebuilt on the site of the church of San Nicolò, which was recorded in 1267.

Santa Lucia (1956)

This church, which is also dedicated to Sant' Elisabetta, was built on the site of an earlier church that was destroyed in 1944. 

It contains two venerated Marian images:

  • the Madonna Addolorata, to the right of the high altar; and

  • a wooden statue of the Madonna di Loreto (a black Madonna and Child) on the counter-façade, which came from the church of Sant’ Angelo.




Madonna di Loreto



Retrace your steps along Via Cavour and turn left up the stepped Via San Sebastiano, which leads to the highest point of the city, the site of the Torre Civica and the Duomo. 

Torre Civica (1050)

This lovely twelve-sided bell tower next to the Duomo is one of the few structures to have survived in Amelia from the Middle Ages. 

The presumed date of its original construction derives from the inscription “ML” on a block near the base.  This lower section is built almost exclusively from salvaged Roman materials, and contains some interesting reliefs. 

The middle section, which contains traces of single and bifore windows, probably dates to the 12th century. 

The upper part was rebuilt in 1641 to act as a campanile during the rebuilding of the Duomo after the fire of 1629.

 

Torre Civica and Duomo



The palace on the left in the square from which the picture above was taken was built as the Seminary (1713).  Palazzo Vescovile is in Via Duomo, to the right.

 Palazzo Vescovile (1685)

The inscription above the portal at the far left of the palace identifies the site of the ancient baptistery, which the Emperor Frederick II destroyed in 1240.  Another above the portal to the left of the main one commemorates the stay here of St Maximilian-Mary Kolbe in 1918. 

There are three Roman inscriptions on the facade:

  • The one on the left of the main entrance commemorates the cult of "Victoria et Felicitas".

  • The one on the right of this entrance seems to be a funerary inscription erected by a brother and sister to their mother. 

  • The one at the far right comemorates Titus Petronius Proculus, who presided over "lusus iuvenum", games for young men, in honour of Victoriae Felicitas Caesaris.  This inscription is on a marble slab that was probably the base of a statue.



Continue down along Via Duomo, passing Palazzo Geraldini at number 19.

Palazzo Geraldini (ca. 1470)

Battista Geraldini built this palace, which still belongs to the Geraldini family.  Their arms can be seen on the facade.

Inside, many of the rooms are decorated with well-preserved frescoes (16th century).

See Geraldini Family for biographical details of Battista Geraldini.

 







Continue along Via Duomo, passing the back of palazzo petrignani on the left.  Turn left at the end into Piazza Garibaldi and retrace your steps along Via della Repubblica to Porta Romana. 

From here, it is possible to visit two interesting churches outside the walled city: cross the busy main road and continue along Via delle Cinque Fonti to the Abbazia di San Secondo and the church of Santa Maria delle Cinque Fonti.

Abbazia di San Secondo (12th century)

The abbey was established on the site of an early Christian cemetery that was probably the site of the burial of St Secundus.  

The peace treaty of 1208 between Amelia and Todi was signed at the abbey. 

In the 16th century, the church became the home of the Confraternità della Buona Morte, which was dedicated to providing for the burial of the poor, presumably because San Secondo was revered  as the protector of the dead.