Umbria

UMBRIA. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - It is the only region of peninsular Italy, corresponding in substance to the upper and middle basin of the Tiber, whose headwaters, however, do not belong to it.

The territory is flat only in short stretches, corresponding to the floors of the numerous intermontane basins, once occupied by lakes. These open within the varied enclosure of its reliefs, alternating hills and plateaus, which prevail on the right bank of the Tiber, and the rugged summits of the Apennines, to the east of the Tiber-Nera trench, where the Sibillini rise to almost 2500 meters, giving way to narrow and deep valleys. Nevertheless, about half of Umbrian soil is cultivated: besides cereals, the vine and the olive are widespread, nor is livestock raising lacking, which makes use of the excellent mountain pastures. Woods and chestnut groves cover more than a quarter of the region. Mineral wealth is lacking, but the good availability of hydroelectric power (the Marmore waterfall) has permitted a notable development of industries.

In its 8472 sq km of territory (Umbria is the smallest of the historic regions of peninsular Italy) live a little more than 800 thousand inhabitants, with a density (94 per sq km) lower than the Italian average, and yet notable, given the mountainous character of the territory. Relatively numerous in Umbria are the urban centers, almost all of ancient origin and often rising in elevated positions on isolated knolls and hills, such as the regional capital, Perugia (493 m.), at the center of a fertile agricultural zone and seat of notable industries, or Spoleto (453 m., 40,000 inhabitants), in the so-called Umbrian Valley - where Assisi (424 m.; 25 thousand inhabitants) and Foligno (44 thousand inhabitants) are also located -, Gubbio (520 m., 37,000 inhabitants) and Todi (441 m.; 21,000 inhabitants). Of the two provinces into which it is divided, the more densely populated is that of Terni; its capital is one of the major industrial centers of Italy (foundries, steelworks, chemical and textile plants) and Orvieto (325 m.; 24,000 inhabitants) one of the most famous for its artistic treasures.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. HISTORY

The region took its name from the Umbrians, a people who, having superimposed themselves upon other stocks of a more backward civilization, succeeded in dominating central Italy from the Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic, reaching as far as the mouths of the Po. But with the subsequent expansion of Etruscan power, which had its strongholds in the country at Orvieto and Perugia, the Umbrians had to withdraw from the Tyrrhenian shore, which was included in

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Etruria (Tuscia), while the pressure of the Senonian Gauls drove them away from the Adriatic, so that their dwelling place was in the end reduced to the mountainous region of the central Apennines.

Nothing is known of the development of the political and social life of the Umbrians until, after offering vigorous resistance, they were reduced during the 4th century B.C. under the dominion of Rome together with the other populations that inhabited the surrounding lands. They soon became loyal subjects of Rome, sharing its fortunes and taking part, with varying success, also in the internal struggles that led, toward the beginning of the Christian era, to the establishment of the Empire. They therefore shared its destinies, and under Augustus Region VI was constituted, crossed by the great Via Flaminia and divided into Umbria proper, on this side of the Apennines, and trans-Apennine Umbria, which comprised the Flaminia and Picenum (that is, the Marches above Ancona): of the latter nothing is said here.

In Umbria Christianity must have spread fairly early, but from the numerous legends that at various times claimed to discover its origins and progress, almost nothing truly historical can be derived. In any case, in Christian antiquity the episcopal sees of Otricoli (Ocriculum), Narni, Terni (Interamna), Amelia, Todi (Tuder), Bettona (Vettona), Bevagna (Mevania), Trevi, Spoleto, Foligno (Fulginium), Forum Flaminii (S. Giovanni Profiamma), Plistia (Pistia), Tadino, Spello (Hispellum), Assisi, Arna (Civitella d'A.), Gubbio (Eugubium), Città di Castello (Tiferum Tiberinum) are found to have existed, while the sees of Orvieto and Perugia then formed part of Tuscia.

Umbria shared the fortunes of the Empire when Italy was overrun by the invasions of the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. The devastation of the country became harsher during the first decades of the Lombard occupation, when the cities were taken and retaken until some disappeared entirely or almost so. The need to keep communications open between the Roman Duchy and the exarchate of Ravenna along the Flaminia gave special importance to the defense of Narni, Terni, Amelia, when Perugia too, having fallen under the Lombards, returned to the Byzantines at the beginning of the 7th century and began to form part of Umbria, while the surrounding Tuscia was subject to the Lombards. With Faroald I, around 569, the Lombard duchy of Spoleto arose, a cause of grave political concern for the Popes until the Carolingian occupation, and it remained even afterward, until the end of the 12th century, the most solid political institution in the country, extending its dominion also into the surrounding regions. In the 9th and 10th centuries the new Frankish dynasty, which ruled at Spoleto and also held the Empire in its hands, managed to intervene directly in Roman affairs, creating a difficult situation for the papacy. Feudalism, as a political institution, did not have wide development in Umbria, where the vital forces of the population, gathered in numerous small cities, were able in each of them to constitute themselves, from the 11th century onward, into their own free commune. Unfortunately, as happened elsewhere, ardent and sometimes ferocious rivalries arose between commune and commune (the well-known ones between Perugia and Assisi) and partisan factions within the individual communes, favored by the fact that there was no strong central power capable of maintaining a stable order, and also by the Guelph and Ghibelline factions that raged during the empire of Frederick I and Frederick II.

Religious life did not languish because of this, as is attested by the numerous monasteries that were established everywhere up to the Franciscan movement, which had its cradle in Umbria and flourished with saints and blesseds in every smallest place. From Perugia the movement of the flagellants ([v.], 1260) spread throughout Italy, while Dominicans and Augustinians sometimes replaced the ancient monastic and canonical institutions.

A strong group of castles in the southern part of the region succeeded from the end of the 10th century in constituting a feudal unity that gradually fell apart from the 16th century (v. ARNOLFINE TERRE): while no strong lordship succeeded in imposing itself in the region, although some family prevailed in the city, such as the Gabrielli at Gubbio (which later passed under the Montefeltro of Urbino), the Trinci at Foligno, the Baglioni and the Oddi at Perugia, the Atti at Todi, the Vitelli at Città di Castello, the Monaldeschi at Orvieto, while an effective authority of the Church, which tried to prevail during the 15th century, asserted itself with the intervention of the Borgias and then with the dominion of Paul III. None of the Umbrian condottieri — neither Braccio da Montone, nor Niccolò Piccinino with his sons Jacopo and Francesco who aimed at Perugia, nor Erasmo Gattamelata da Narni, and still less Ascanio della Cornia — established lasting fortunes in U.

The centuries from the 16th to the 18th were a period of tranquility for U. under the peaceful dominion of the Church. The French invasion gave rise to new upheavals. In 1809-14 the department of Trasimeno was constituted with Spoleto as its capital. The restored pontifical government lasted until 1860, when U. was united with the Kingdom of Italy, forming a single province with Sabina, to which Orvieto was also added, having for centuries been part of the Patrimony; the capital was then established at Perugia. With 1923 Sabina constituted the province of Rieti, while Terni too was elevated to a province.

Pio Paschini

III. CONCILIAR REGION

It is made up of the following ecclesiastical circumscriptions, all immediately subject to the Apostolic See: the archdioceses of Spoleto and of Perugia; the dioceses of Foligno, Terni and Narni, Todi, Assisi, Amelia, Gubbio, Nocera and Gualdo Tadino, Norcia, Rieti, Orvieto, Città di Castello, Città della Pieve.

Originally the Umbrian conciliar region also included the diocese of Poggio Mirteto, but by the apostolic constitution In altis Sabinae montibus of Pius XI (AAS, 18 [1926], pp. 34-35), seven parishes were detached from it and united to the diocese of Rieti; and by the constitution Suburbicariae Sabinae dioecesis fines of the same Pontiff (ibid., pp. 36-37), the remaining parishes of the diocese of Poggio Mirteto were annexed to the suburbicarian diocese of Sabina, yet with the name of the diocese of Mandela

[Poggio Mirteto] with its cathedral Chapter preserved, namely so that henceforth the Suburbicarian Bishop of Sabina may be called at the same time also of Mandela.

For appeals from causes of first instance, in accordance with can. 1594 CIC and the Decree of the S. C. Consistorial of 15 Feb. 1919, the archbishops of Spoleto and Perugia designated the Ordinary of Assisi; the bishops of Terni and Narni, Amelia, Norcia, Rieti chose the Ordinary of Spoleto, and the bishops of Foligno, Orvieto, Assisi, Gubbio, Nocera and Gualdo, Todi, Città di Castello and Città della Pieve designated the Ordinary of Perugia. The S. Congr. Consistorial ratified these designations.

For causes of nullity of marriage the ecclesiastical tribunal of the region has its seat in Perugia; and the appeal against the sentences issued by it must be brought either to the Tuscan regional tribunal (Florence) or to the S. Rota (cf. motu proprio Qua cura, AAS, 30 [1938], pp. 410-13).

The episcopal conferences, which are customarily held in Assisi at the Pontifical Regional Seminary, are convoked every year at the appropriate time. The dignior vel senior archbishop presides, in accordance with the decree of Leo XIII of 24 Aug. 1889, or, in his absence, the dignior vel senior bishop.

From 30 Sept. to 7 Oct. 1923, under the presidency of card. Basilio Pompili, legate a latere of His Holiness Pius XI, the first Umbrian plenary Council was celebrated in Assisi, whose acts were approved by the S. Congr. of the Council on 27 June 1925.

IV. ART

Rich in testimonies of the civilizations that succeeded one another there, this region presents a notable interest for the number and the truly essential importance of its monuments.

Inhabited since prehistoric times, it preserves precious relics of the Paleolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Etruscan civilization penetrated there relatively late, establishing itself on the right bank of the Tiber, and left important works in the hypogea of Bettona, of the Volumni near Perugia, in Perugia itself the circuit of walls with its mighty gates, and in the territory of Orvieto, which has yielded remains of temples and of painted tombs. There follows, at the end of the 3rd century B.C., the domination of Rome with the creation of garrisons and populous colonies, above all along the Via Flaminia. Of the Roman constructions very notable vestiges remain in the amphitheater of Terni; in the bridges of Foligno and of Narni; in the temple, remains of the Forum, theater and amphitheater of Assisi; in the other temple and in the baths of Bevagna; in the theater of Gubbio; in the walls and the amphitheater of Spello; to mention only the most important. Particularly rich in archaeological remains is the territory of Spoleto with its theater, the amphitheater, the arch of Drusus, the Temple, the "Ponte Sanguinario"; and in this same zone there also remain the most important Early Christian monuments. Although the existence is known of Christian hypogea at S. Vittore, near Otricoli, and near Villa S. Faustino, and of a Christian cemetery on the outskirts of Terni, the basilica of S. Salvatore at the gates of Spoleto, from the end of the 4th century or the first decades of the 5th, and the Tempietto erected near the springs of the Clitunno, likewise from the beginning of the 5th century, are of exceptional importance for the confluence of forms of Roman art and of elements that arrived from the East.

Still to the 5th century is assigned a Christian burial place near the church of the SS. Apostoli, again at Spoleto, while Perugia in its S. Angelo gives a fine example of a Christian building of the 5th or 6th century, despite the profound reworkings it has undergone. Other Early Christian remains are found at Orvieto beneath the church of S. Andrea. In the following centuries worthy of note are, near Ferentillo, the abbey of S. Pietro in Valle, erected in the 8th century, repeatedly restored (some original architectural and ornamental parts nevertheless remain); at Spoleto finally the small basilica of S. Eufemia within the precinct of the bishopric (10th century), interesting for the presence of the matronea.

It is nevertheless with the 12th century that architecture asserts itself in U. for an importance of its own, due not so much to an originality of constructive modes - indeed its dependence on Rome is well known, for that tendency to classical reminiscences and its insertion within the sphere of the language common to central Italy and for that affinity of modes with the churches of the Abruzzi and the Marches; the quadrangular facades are typical - as to the unmistakable character that it succeeds in impressing upon certain Umbrian cities which in this and the two following centuries saw their power established and acquired luster from their beautiful sacred and secular buildings. If the atmosphere of Assisi is preeminently medieval - to recall the best-known example - one can still recall certain corners of Perugia, of Todi, of Gubbio, of Bevagna, etc. Among the most beautiful monuments there should be recalled at Spoleto, besides the Duomo, reworked both inside and outside, S. Pietro for its facade closed by a classicizing pediment and preciously decorated, and S. Gregorio Maggiore, with a Lombard-style crypt; at Grugnano in Teverina S. Maria Assunta; at Assisi the Duomo, dedicated to S. Rufino and renovated at the beginning of the 12th century by Giovanni da Gubbio (the interior was later modified by Alessi) and S. Pietro, austere and powerful in its interior, whose dome is affected by Provençal influences. Also in this building, as already in the S. Pietro of Spoleto, there is an elegant decoration of classical flavor of Roman derivation. Due entirely to Roman workshops is the cloister of the abbey of Sassovivo (1229), the work of Pietro di Maria. The Piazza della Libertà of Bevagna owes its medieval appearance to the churches of S. Silvestro (by Binello, 1195) and of S. Michele Arcangelo (by Binello and Rodolfo, end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century) as well as the Gothic Palazzo dei Consoli (1270); likewise at Todi the Duomo begun in the 12th century, and completed in the course of the 13th, delimits with the palaces of the Popolo and of the Priori, which rise beside it, the beautiful Piazza del Popolo. But with these last buildings we are by now in the Gothic period. The example, especially for sacred buildings, had started from Assisi (v.) with the construction of the double Franciscan basilica begun in 1228: tall, serene and luminous, the upper basilica would be the prototype of the Umbrian Gothic churches. One can now speak of an originality of its own in the constructions of U., where the Gothic acquires accents that differentiate it not only from the French prototype but also from the Italian type. In the 2nd half of the 13th century there is a whole flowering of religious and civil buildings where often, alongside Gothic forms, Romanesque reminiscences persist.

In Assisi itself S. Chiara rises, in 1257; at Perugia, besides the Duomo and S. Domenico, with a single nave, the massive Palazzo dei Priori; at Gubbio, the elegant Palazzo dei Consoli, the work of Matteo Gattaponi, who also works on the fortress of Spoleto, at the S. Convento of Assisi, in the cloister of S. Giuliana, at Perugia and elsewhere; at Spoleto, S. Domenico, with a single nave; at Foligno, S. Salvatore and the Palazzo Trinci.

The S. Francesco of Terni harks back to the example of the Assisi basilica; while at Città di Castello the Palazzo del Governo, attributed to Angelo da Orvieto, and the Palazzo comunale, by the same architect, are not immune to the influences of neighboring Tuscany. Tuscan, moreover, is the greatest Umbrian Gothic building, the Duomo of Orvieto (v.), by Lorenzo Maitani; tied instead to local modes are the Palazzo del Popolo and the Palazzo Papale. Thus rich in Romanesque and Gothic buildings, U. loses, in the Renaissance, importance from the architectural point of view. The forms that dominate there are predominantly Florentine, thanks above all to Agostino di Duccio, who brings to Perugia (Oratory of S. Bernardino, Porta S. Pietro) the art of L. B. Alberti; the palaces of Città di Castello too are tied to perfectly Florentine schemes, and an eclecticism, likewise tinged with Tuscan modes, predominates in other localities such as Foligno, Spoleto, etc. Standing apart from the common current, through clear influences of the other great architect of the Renaissance, Luciano Laurana, is the Palazzo Ducale of Gubbio, attributed by some to the master himself, removing it from Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

The Cinquecento opens with the construction of the church of the Consolazione of Todi, for which the name of Bramante was put forward as designer, but surely executed by Cola di Matteuccio da Caprarola; in any case the Bramantesque taste is evident in other Umbrian buildings. At the same time other artists bring there the characteristics of their own art: from Sanmicheli, who works in S. Domenico and in the duomo of Orvieto, to Antonio da Sangallo, who is present at Perugia, at Città di Castello, at Terni; from Vignola, active at Norcia, to Vasari, likewise at Città di Castello.

While these architects were working in the main cities of U., local artists were gaining fame beyond the borders of their own region: Ascanio Vitozzi is found working in Piedmont, and Galeazzo Alessi in Genoa and Milan, whose Umbrian works are scarce; the Orvietan Ippolito Scalza, on the other hand, was occupied in adorning his native city with fine buildings. Also worthy of mention is the work of the Perugian V. Martelli. Even scarcer are the contributions of artists from the region in the following centuries, while examples of works due to non-local architects continue. For the 17th century one can recall only G. Giorgetti, who also practiced painting honorably, born and active in Assisi; for the 18th century Giuseppe Piermarini from Foligno makes himself known for his Milanese works, just as in the 19th century G. Calderini left his most important works in Rome. In U. the Valadier and the Vespignani were then active.

Less independent than architecture is painting from its very first manifestations: the remains of a floor mosaic with geometric designs (6th century) in the underground of S. Andrea in Orvieto; the frescoes of the 7th century in the small apse of the temple of Clitunno or the gemmed cross in the apse of S. Salvatore in Spoleto (9th century), the other frescoes of the crypt of Sts. Isaac and Marcia also in Spoleto (late 10th-early 11th century) or yet those of the crypt of S. Rufino in Assisi (mid-11th century) do not present specific or determined characteristics that make them particularly Umbrian. Nor can one speak of distinctly Umbrian characteristics in the works that flourished numerously toward the end of the 12th century. In the common Byzantine language of Italian art of this period, U. shows local inflections that do not differ substantially from those of Lazio with its center of irradiation from Rome. Thus it is for the frescoes of the aforementioned abbey of S. Pietro in Valle at Ferentillo (late 12th century), or the contemporary ones of S. Paolo at Spoleto or, finally, those of the abbey of Sts. Severo and Martirio at Orvieto, of the 13th century. A greater adherence to Byzantine modes is found in the painted cross by Alberto Sozio at the end of the 12th century, preserved in the Cathedral of Spoleto, a prototype for several others during the 13th century; and a prevailing Byzantinism likewise distinguishes the mosaic on the facade of the same church, executed by Solsterno in 1207. But already in other centers a pictorial form of evident Sienese derivation was increasingly asserting itself; this dependence of Umbrian painting on Siena would persist throughout the 14th century and part of the 15th, despite the presence in Umbria of the major Roman and Florentine artists of the time summoned to decorate the basilica of S. Francesco in Assisi, among them, greatest of all, Giotto. But before speaking of these painters, a separate mention is deserved by that Bonamico who in 1225, in a crude manner but personally independent of the currents then in vogue, decorated a chapel in the church of S. Prospero at Perugia. A personal interpreter of forms imported from Giunta Pisano (v.), the first, as far as is known, of the decorators of S. Francesco, and active at Assisi in 1236, is that "Master of S. Francesco" who was the author of frescoes in the lower church of Assisi and of various other works; he is held by some scholars to be Umbrian, like the other follower of Giunta, the "Master of S. Chiara," to whom is due, among other things, the panel with the effigy of the Saint in the church dedicated to her in Assisi. In the footsteps of these men other local artists would be trained, recognizable by a more provincial idiom. Meanwhile Cimabue was working at Assisi, perhaps in the lower Basilica and in the transept of the upper one, on frescoes that have unfortunately survived in poor condition; in the same period the presence of J. Torriti (v.) and of Filippo Rusuti (v.) is attested in the paintings of the area between the windows of the upper church. But the attributive problem for these frescoes is still open; in some of them the hand of the young Giotto (v.) has been recognized, in the last decade of the 13th century, at a moment preceding the Franciscan cycle.

He, in the last decade of the 13th century, had finished narrating, on the walls of the upper church, the episodes of the life of St. Francis; the masters who afterward executed the frescoes in some chapels of the lower church and the vaults of the crossing above the altar (once believed to be by Giotto himself), approaching his manner more or less closely, would be the only, or almost the only, epigones of his art in Umbria. Greater fortune would be had by Simone Martini (v.), summoned to fresco the chapel of S. Martino in the S. Francesco at Assisi (1320), and then by Pietro Lorenzetti (v.). The refined elegance and the pleasing color, however Sienese, imported by the two and by their assistants, even if at Assisi they acquire Giottesque accents, respond, more than the strong Florentine idiom, to Umbrian taste. Sienese too is the culture in Orvieto, where Ugolino di Prete Ilario, Pietro di Duccio, Cola Petruccioli seem to have been impressed, besides by Lorenzetti, by the presence of the Sienese Luca di Tommè; so it is in Gubbio, where illumination flourishes luxuriantly, and in Perugia. There paintings by Duccio da Buoninsegna and by his pupil Meo da Siena are preserved; and markedly Duccesque modes are indeed revealed by Marino da Perugia, followed by the other local artists throughout the course of the 14th century. To strengthen these ties, toward the end of the century there were in Perugia — by then on its way to becoming, in the artistic field as well, the most important center of Umbria — two other Sienese painters, Bartolo di Fredi and Taddeo di Bartolo, while in the years that follow, well into the 15th century, the influx into the region of artists and works coming from Siena continues. But already in the first decades of the 15th century Florentine artists by birth or culture also begin to arrive in Umbria, and they would leave an ever more notable imprint. From Masolino (Todi) to Domenico Veneziano, from Angelico (Perugia and Orvieto) to Gozzoli (Orvieto, Foligno, Montelaco), to Lippi, to Ghirlandaio (Narni), to Piero della Francesca (Perugia), it is a whole succession of artists who make known in Umbria the latest novelties and the Florentine artistic taste. Moreover, Siena too had been drawing closer to Florence and had transmitted its art forms to Umbria, and furthermore, at the turn of the two centuries, there had already been a foretaste of new forms in the movement of International Gothic, to which the Gubbian Ottaviano Nelli (v.) adhered, while Gentile da Fabriano, one of its greatest representatives, left a painting at Perugia and a fresco at Orvieto.

The renewal is already evident in the best artists of the first half of the 15th century, among whom at Foligno, alongside Mezzastris, Niccolò Alunno excels, an artist who came into contact with the Florentine world both indirectly through Siena and directly through Gozzoli. What matters most is that with him one can for the first time speak of an Umbrian school: Umbrian artists had always sought to be interpreters of ideas and motifs that came from outside, but only in the 15th century does an Umbrian school of painting stand out for an autonomy of its own within the complex of influences of other schools. At the same time in Perugia, where, besides the Florentines, the Riminese Giovanni Francesco and above all Giovanni Boccati da Camerino had worked (paintings in the Pinacoteca), Bonfigli (v.), Caporali (v.) and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo (v.) make themselves noticed. These three too start from Benozzo and approach now one and now another great artist, and yet know how to express themselves in an individual and coherent manner. With them we reach the second half of the century, which sees the affirmation of the personality of Pietro Perugino (v.) and of Pinturicchio (v.). It is the apogee of Umbrian painting. From his very first works Perugino sums up the characteristics of Umbrian art, which he brings to such formal perfection as to influence in turn that very Florentine environment to which Umbria had been tributary; alongside him Pinturicchio, in his ability to render in a manner at once analytical and poetic, entirely personal, the world around him, stands apart from him also in collaborative works: first of all the "Nicchia di s. Bernardino," a pictorial complex of the utmost importance for the knowledge of Umbrian art in the second half of the 15th century.

To the two masters the painters of the new generation draw near. Pupils of Perugino, besides Raphael (v.) and the phantom-like Ingegno (v.), were Sinibaldo Ibi, Eusebio da S. Giorgio, Domenico Alfani, G. Batt. Caporali, etc.; Tiberio d'Assisi and Antonio da Viterbo called il Pastura at a certain point draw rather near to Pinturicchio, while both Giannicola di Paolo and Lo Spagna, the best of Perugino's followers, in their more mature works reflect the manner of the young Raphael. The same do Francesco Melanzio, Bernardino di Mariotto, Dono Doni, later drawn into the Michelangelesque orbit, and Ora-

Orazio Alfani. The influence on Umbrian painters of Luca Signorelli (v.), however, was slight, even though he was very active in Umbria at the same time as Perugino (so much so that he was considered Umbrian by many scholars) and left paintings of his in Città di Castello, Perugia, Orvieto, Umbertide, and Morra; the same fate befell Rosso Fiorentino (v.), active in Perugia, and Giovanni Antonio Pordenone and later Aliense, who had imported a reflection of the flourishing Venetian painting. The mannerist taste, of a Michelangelesque mannerism, had meanwhile been establishing itself through the work of Vasari (in Perugia, Città di Castello), of Raffaellino del Colle, of Cristoforo Gherardi and of Cola dell'Amatrice and others, and Umbria itself can boast a fair mannerist in Michelangelo Carducci. But soon another pictorial movement was set against it, headed by Federico Barocci, who had imported to Perugia (Deposition in the Cathedral) the formal elements of the most genuine Emilian mannerism; Felice and Vincenzo Pellegrino, Silla Pecennini and two Sienese, Francesco Vanni and Ventura Salimbeni, active in Umbria, adhered to it.

The autonomy of Umbrian painting ends in any case in the second half of the sixteenth century. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries would see only weak personalities at work in the wake of the better-known painters present with their works in Umbria, from Baglioni to Pietro da Cortona, from Calvaret to Sebastiano Conca, from Domenichino to Sacchi, etc.

The flowering of architectural and pictorial works is not matched by equal richness in the field of sculpture. The few older examples are linked to the decoration of buildings such as the front of the Oratory of S. Giovenale in the cathedral of Narni (6th century) or some ornamental parts in the abbey of S. Pietro in Valle (8th century), where there is also an altar frontal signed "Ursus," datable to 739-40. Contemporary with these are the ciboria of S. Prospero in Perugia and of S. Giuliano delle Pignatte near Umbertide.

In the Middle Ages local sculptors worked predominantly in wood. There is record of a very rich production (which it is not always possible to distinguish clearly from that of the neighboring regions, the Marche and Abruzzo), of which relatively few examples remain today. Among these the oldest is the Madonna and Child (first half of the 12th century) preserved in the Museum of the Parish Church of Spello and the prototype for those that follow. Alongside some groups that reach artistic heights it is not difficult to come across others that are the product of a very active and traditional craftsmanship, to the point that works still Romanesque in character turn out to have been executed in the 15th or 16th century. Such is the case of the Virgin and Child of the church of S. Maria in Camucia at Todi. Naturally, alongside these carvers there were also marble workers who, in the 12th and 13th centuries, left traces of their activity in the decoration, sometimes excellent, of the interiors and facades of churches: S. Maria Assunta at Lugnano Teverina, S. Pietro at Spoleto and at Assisi have already been mentioned; see also, there, the facade of S. Rufino and the Loggia del Monte Frumentario, S. Felice and S. Anatolia di Narco, and numerous others. These are, for the most part, geometric decorations, of Oriental taste, or floral motifs, of classical derivation, with rare symbolic figurations. In 1270 Fra Bevignate, by calling Giovanni and Nicola Pisano to execute the Fontana Maggiore of Perugia, favored the orientation of sculptural taste toward Tuscany. Arnolfo di Cambio would follow, present in Perugia with some statues in the Museum (the monument to Benedict XI in S. Domenico is attributed to a follower of his or of Lorenzo Maitani) and author of the monument to Card. de Braye in S. Domenico of Orvieto. There L. Maitani, with Pisan-Sienese workshops, had splendidly decorated with bas-reliefs the 4 piers of the facade of the Cathedral and had left three masterpieces in the crucifixes of S. Francesco and of the Cathedral. Despite the example of these and other masters who came to Umbria in the 14th century, no local school managed to form either in that century or even in the following one, when the influx of sculptors and sculptures from other regions continued.

Agostino di Duccio adorns the exterior of his S. Bernardino with elegant figures; Mino da Fiesole, Francesco di Simone, Francesco di Giorgio Martini are well represented in Perugia; the Della Robbia in Città di Castello; by Benedetto da Rovezzano in S. Gregorio of Spoleto there is a fine tabernacle. In the 16th century, alongside the usual "foreign" artists, the Perugian V. Danti, also active in Florence, and in Orvieto the already mentioned Ippolito Scalza established themselves. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, too, non-local artists continued to work in Umbrian territory for sculpture as well.

The minor arts were cultivated at all times: Gubbio has already been mentioned as an important center for illumination, to which great artists also devoted themselves: Perugino and Pinturicchio. In Orvieto (reliquary of the Corporal, by Ugolino di Vieri), in Città di Castello (altar frontal of Celestine II), in Perugia and above all in Assisi (Treasury of the basilica of S. Francesco) excellent pieces of silverware are preserved which often show a marked adherence to Sienese taste.

Notable examples of ecclesiastical furnishings adorn many churches: very well known among others in Perugia are the choir stalls of S. Pietro, begun by Bernardino Antonibi da Perugia, and those of S. Agostino executed by Baccio d'Agnolo on designs believed to be by Perugino; less well known is the fine 12th-century faldstool preserved in the Cathedral of Perugia. But of truly original character one can speak for the ceramics produced in the two centers of Gubbio and Deruta and for the typical Perugian embroideries.

Maria Donati

V. FOLKLORE

In regions with a broad cultural substratum, such as Tuscany and Umbria, where the innate poetic genius and artistic taste have had very notable developments, folkloristic research must aim to discover the original foundation and meaning of popular traditions, tracing their historical process backwards; to bring to light the forms of popular poetry and art that prepare and explain the birth of cultivated art and poetry, of which they in turn preserve memories; and finally to determine how much is genuinely indigenous and characteristic.

An example of the confluence into a folkloristic fact of elements coming from different cultures and civilizations is offered by the festival of the candles (festa dei ceri) at Gubbio. It falls in mid-May, and presents a marked rustic character (offering of the products of the earth to the divinity whose protection is asked for them), which, together with the date, it has in common with various festivals taking place in the neighboring demological areas: the barabbata, in honor of the Virgin, at Marta, near Lake Bolsena, and the festival of the pugnaloni, in honor of Mary at Acquapendente and in honor of St. Isidore, patron of the peasants, at Allerona. Of very ancient origin, as mo-

shows the comparison extended to the ancient Eastern religions and to European folklore, the festival of the ceri has been attributed to the victory obtained by Gubbio in 1151 over the 11 confederated cities, through the merit of Bishop Ubaldo. Also in the festival of the palombella, which is celebrated every year at Orvieto, in the Piazza del Duomo, at Pentecost (v.), the primitive ritual character can be recognized. The tradition depicts in this sacred representation, which is traced back to 1642, the descent of the Holy Spirit: from Paradise, symbolically constituted by a very tall stage, adorned with flowers and angels, the white dove sets out, gliding along a wire, toward the Cenacle, which is a splendid wooden baldachin in Gothic style, and there produces flashes of flame with a crackling sound. The spectacle closely recalls the Florentine ceremony of the scoppio del carro (v. TOSCANA), of which it must be considered a near variant: in both, the archaic elements revealing the original character of an agrarian rite are the fire with its related explosions and the prognostics for the year's harvest, which the common people draw from the flight of the dove, Pentecost being also, like Easter, a festival marking the beginning of a seasonal cycle. Similarly at Bastia, in the Easter procession, from the manner in which the bowing between Mother and Son takes place, omens are formulated for the countryside; the religious ceremony has here absorbed pre-Christian ritual elements. The ancient cult of the spirit of vegetation and fecundation is finally recognizable, even in its Christianized form, in the tradition of the holy Yule log; a large olive log which in U. is kept burning until the day of the Innocents, and its ashes are then scattered in the fields and vineyards while pronouncing these auspicious words: Ruga! ruga! non ruga ch'io son lo ceppo de' la notte de Natale. And the investigation in this direction can be extended to other festivals and customs also of the cycle of human life, where the rites, however much the awareness of their value has likewise been lost, are preserved more genuinely, because the direct influence of the various epochs and civilizations has acted upon them less. Other forms, for example, of revival of the cult of trees in U. can be observed in the custom of passing, three or four times in succession, a child with a hernia through a small split elm and in the custom, practiced at Scheggia, of planting, at the birth of the first male child, a tall tree, called "maggio" and adorned with flowers, colored ribbons, etc.: when the child has grown up, he will point out with pride to his companions his "maggio"

religious poetry, and the products of rural craftsmanship offer, moreover, two notable fields of observation, which succeed, in part, in explaining the intense literary production of mystical inspiration that has marked the history of the region, and the flourishing of the "Umbrian school." Objects for personal attire, furnishings for domestic animals, household and agricultural tools, and amulets in the vast variety of their types and forms, provide a precious documentation of genuinely popular ornamental motifs, in which one can recognize the echo of higher artistic forms. Ornamentation has a particular ritual function in the distaff (rocca) and in the busk, called the gift of the heart, which lovers, still today in the territories of Valfabbrica, Gualdo Tadino, Nocera, and Fossato di Vico, bring to their beloved on May 1 or on St. John's day, as solemn tokens. The carvings are patiently executed on twigs of albano and sometimes, with greater difficulty, on reeds, by humble shepherds during the long hours of tending the flock, with knife points, nails, and knitting needles, and they depict in various panels hearts with palms, vases with leaves and flowers, and the so-called "knot of Solomon," which symbolizes the bond of love: but it is not rare for religious symbols to be found on the busks, such as, for example, the cross and the name of Mary. The richer the ornamentation of the distaff or busk, the more well-to-do the young man who gave it.

Of all the Umbrian popular religious poetry, the most beautiful example is a song on the Passion of Christ, of which Mazzatini collected, at the end of the last century, one of the most important versions, noting that "the Umbrian peasant is still accustomed to recite it on the evening of Good Friday. The narrative part is for the most part delivered by the eldest of the family: when dialogue occurs, the others of the household take part. This Canto, as the Umbrian peasants call it, is, according to what they attest, very ancient." The agitated search of the Mother, covered in a black mantle, the encounter with John, the foreboded announcement, the Mother's collapse, and finally the dialogue between the Son and the Mother at the foot of the Cross, reach in this song moments of touching humanity and rare poetry, which closely recall the "Pianto della Madonna" of Jacopone.

Numerous too are the religious songs inspired by hagiographic legends: there appear St. Lucy, St. Barbara, St. Catherine, St. Alexis, St. Julian, etc., in versions philologically important for the preservation of archaic motifs and for the simplicity of their form: the comparison of which with those widespread in the other Italian regions leads one to identify in Umbria the creative center, or at least the center of diffusion, of this embryonic Italian religious epic. But to determine the folkloric heritage of the region it is also necessary to take into account the forms of adaptation or assimilation of tradition. From this perspective, characteristic of the old Perugian carnival were the masks of Bartoccino and his faithful Rosa, who acted in popular carnival performances called bartoc-

which will compete in height with the others. An interesting vestige, moreover, of the tradition of the improper brood is detectable in the practice, reported at Gubbio, of placing the husband's trousers over the belly of the woman in labor; while, according to another version, the husband is sent to the church bell tower to seize the bell rope with his teeth and give three rings.

Popular literature, especially ciate: both Bartoccino, as a mask of the peasant or villager, and the bartocciate themselves, developing the obligatory theme of weddings between peasants, find parallels elsewhere, with a variety of names and details: the bousade of Lombardy, the narcisate of Bologna, the bruscelli of Tuscany themselves, the farse of the South. And passing to man's heaven, the remedy against cravings, to which the pregnant woman in the territory of Assisi resorts, of bending down and touching the earth to which she transfers the craving, is elsewhere applied to various illnesses, and corresponds to the magical principle of the transfer of the evil to the earth, whose antiquity is attested to us by an archaic Roman incantation. In the first week of May the game of the green is played, which in Romagna, for example, is traditional during Lent: "All the little boys provide themselves with a small branch of box and, meeting one another, shout: - Out with the green! - Whoever does not have it is subject to a small fine or to penalties of various kinds." Widespread, particularly at Pomonte, is the ritual friendship that is established between two girls, with the mutual gift of a small bunch of flowers on the days of St. John and St. Peter: again on the day of St. John, propitious for the public announcement of engagements, there is an exchange of flowers between lovers. Reported by Zanetti is the custom according to which the young man who wishes to be reconciled with his sweetheart violently snatched from her a flower or a handkerchief, and if she did not protest, peace was made: this custom, which in reduced form still exists in the territory of Bettona, where the young man takes nothing from the girl but merely asks her for something in an imperious tone, is nothing other than an adaptation to the theme of reconciliation of the rite of the scappiata, well known in Italian folklore. To overcome every obstacle in a marriage, however, the normal means is elopement. Among engagement gifts, singular is the one called of the harvest: the fiancé suddenly has his girl find, in a furrow, a sheaf of wheat in an upright position, with a flask of wine and a handkerchief for the head in the middle; the young woman, amid everyone's cheers, throws away the old handkerchief, puts on the new one and distributes drinks to the whole group. At Poggio Inferiore, in the event of a broken engagement, cloves of garlic are sent to the girl. It is a good omen at Bettona for the wedding procession to pass along a street already trodden by a pair of yoked oxen, the yoke of oxen being a symbol of the conjugal yoke. In the territory of Cascia the wedding procession takes the form of a cavalcade, and recalls the corsa della rocca in Gallura. Observed is the tradition that during the wedding ceremony in church, after Communion, a hem of the bride's dress remains under one knee of the groom, as a sign of the woman's submission, but above all so that no inguidia may come between the two. General is the use of the parata or sharra, which however in the district of Assisi has lost, along with the element "noose," its related meaning of an obstacle interposed by the community, as a demand for tribute, to the passage of the spouses, so much so that in the area of Bastia it is more properly called banquet: indeed, on a table are placed a vase of flowers, a bottle of wine or liqueurs and biscuits, which are offered as the procession passes. The ancient traditional dances are rapidly disappearing, some of them specifically nuptial: the manferina, the saltarello or trescone, the dance of the broom or of the ladle, the dance of the serpent and the dance of honor. The marriage of widowers is ordinarily celebrated at night, often disturbed by the charivari, which should regularly last nine days. Immediately after death, the windows of the room where the death occurred are generally opened, with the idea, as far as is known at Pomonte, of leaving the soul a free path to heaven; in the mountain zone of Assisi they are instead closed, for fear that the owl, the crow, or the cat may enter, which by jumping on the corpse would call the "capo-gatto," held to be a mysterious disease; at Capodacqua and in various hamlets of the plain the two beliefs are reconciled, opening the windows but stretching a metal net in front of them. At Bettona the funeral procession is made to travel along a path over which a cart drawn by oxen has passed (note the analogy with the nuptial custom already described), because the figure of the cross formed by the shafts of the bure is held to be the best suffrage for the deceased. In the streets and fields where someone has died, a stone cross is placed: the use is widespread, as is known, over a vast area, varying only the material used to form the cross. The cross, in general, is held to be the most powerful talisman against demonic powers: for this reason it is hung on the outside of the door of the house, it is set up in the middle of the crops in the field, it is used as an infallible remedy against illnesses, and the shepherd of the upper Tiber Valley makes the sign of the cross over the ashes, pronouncing the incantation against fire: "Croce Badia / el Signor ci venga, e 'l Diavol vada via." Of the various saints, finally, protectors of men and animals, alongside those of the calendar (St. Catherine, for unmarried women, St. Barbara against lightning, etc.), there are some in the upper Tiber valley, of popular and local creation. - See plates LXXIII-LXXVI.

Giovanni Bronzini