Umbertide

Umbertide
Comune
Comune di Umbertide

Coat of arms
Umbertide
Location of Umbertide in Italy
Coordinates: 43°18′N 12°20′E / 43.300°N 12.333°E / 43.300; 12.333Coordinates: 43°18′N 12°20′E / 43.300°N 12.333°E / 43.300; 12.333
Country Italy
Region Umbria
Province Perugia (PG)
Frazioni Badia, Calzolaro, Castelvecchio, Comunaglia, Leoncini, Mita, Molino Vitelli, Montecastelli, Niccone, Pierantonio, Polgeto, Preggio, Spedalicchio
Government
 • Mayor Luca Carizia (Right wing)
Area
 • Total 200 km2 (80 sq mi)
Elevation 247 m (810 ft)
Population (31 December 2017)
 • Total 16,607
 • Density 83/km2 (220/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Umbertidesi
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code 06019
Dialing code 075
Patron saint Madonna della Reggia
Saint day september 8
Website Official website

Umbertide (Italian pronunciation: [umˈbɛrtide]) is a town and comune (township) of Italy, in the province of Perugia and in northwestern Umbria, at the confluence of the Reggia river and the Tiber. It is 30 km (19 mi) North of Perugia and 20 km (12 mi) South of Città di Castello. With 16,607 inhabitants according to the 2017 census, Umbertide is one of the larger towns of Umbria; and basically flat. It is an industrial center producing machine tools, textiles, packaging material, and ceramics. Olive oil is produced, especially in Pierantonio and in its southwestern part.

Economy

Umbertide is an important centre of automotive factories. There is the headquarters of Tiberina holding, a car components group. Other important companies are Proma, Modulo and Terex Genie.

History

Umbertide or the surrounding area was inhabited in pre-Roman and Roman times. At the top of Monte Acuto has been discovered an umbrian fortification ("castelliere").[1] The nineteenth‑century archaeologist Mariano Guardabassi even attributed a small building at Lame, about 1 km from the center of the modern town, to the Etruscans, although this is by no means certain The Roman town of Pitulum Mergens, destroyed by Totila in the mid-6th century, may account for Roman remains in S. Maria delle Sette. In its present incarnation, Umbertide was founded in the 8th or 10th century, depending on the scholar; its original name was Fratta, and it received its present name in 1863 in honor of then Crown Prince Umberto and of Uberto or Umberto margrave of Tuscany, whose four sons, Adalberto, Ingilberto, Benedetto and Bonifacio, according to tradition, rebuilt the town in 796 on the ruins of Pitulum Mergens.

Main sights

Although there are remains of the medieval walls, a few medieval houses, and part of the Rocca di Umbertide, or citadel, many of Umbertide's best monuments are of later periods.

  • Churches
    • Santa Maria della Reggia is the main church in town, a collegiate church often referred to simply as the Collegiata: it is an octagonal 16th century brick building topped by an elegant cupola, housing a few paintings by Niccolò Circignani.
    • Santa Maria della Pietà with the attractive funerary chapel of the counts of Sorbello, is late medieval and Renaissance church.
    • Santa Croce is a 17th‑century church, now housing a painting gallery, including a Deposition by Luca Signorelli.
    • San Francesco is the largest church, built in Gothic architecture: in the early 21st century it was undergoing a major restoration that promised to be protracted.
    • Cristo Risorto twentieth‑century church.

Beyond the city limits, the township's principal monuments are:

  • Castle of Civitella Ranieri, 5 km (3 mi) NE, one of the best-preserved medieval fortresses in Umbria.
  • Abbey of S. Salvatore di Montecorona 4 km (2.5 mi) S, which has a beautiful eleventh‑century crypt with early Romanesque capitals and naïve 18th century painted ceilings.
  • Castle of Polgeto, a medieval structure
  • Abbey church of S. Bartolomeo de' Fossi, sited on a sharp ridge with distant views on either side
  • Borgo Santa Giuliana: a walled medieval village of

References

  1. ↑ Archived March 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.

(Incorporates text from Bill Thayer's site, by permission.)


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