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For
art lovers used to the idea that the great art of the Renaissance
emanates from Florence it can come as a surprise that the region of Umbria,
nestling in the heart of Italy to the south of Florence, has art treasures
that are the equal of those in Tuscany set in an unspoiled and verdant context which
makes them all the more impressive. Today’s richness is paradoxically the
result of many centuries of relative poverty in which Umbria languished
beside it’s more developed neighbours, but the result today is a landscape
of unparalleled beauty with only a minimum of industrialization.
As always with Living Italy the key
to the tour is the unpack-only-once accommodation nestling in the vicinity
of Montefalco overlooking the Vale of Umbria. With the Apennine mountains as
a backdrop you see at once what the pilgrims who came here in the steps of
Saint Francis saw; the medieval necklace of towns strung out along the Roman
Via Flaminia which we, unlike them, will visit in the comfort of an air
conditioned bus, with artist and historian Neil Moore as your guide.
Starting at the valley head in the
south is Spoleto, home to the last painting done by the great Filippo Lippi,
finished after his death by his son Filippino, friend of Botticelli. Then
there is Trevi, a perfect conical Umbrian hilltown (and the setting to
Virginia Ryan’s book “Where the Cypress Rises”), followed by Spello where
the greatly underrated Pintoricchio has left us one of the gems of the
entire Renaissance with his frescoes in the Baglioni chapel. This is
followed by world famous Assisi, home to the Franciscan movement and the
great fresco cycle on the Saint’s life in the Upper Basilica, traditionally
ascribed to Giotto and one of the cornerstones of European art. And then
there is Perugia in the north, capital of the province and once one of the
twelve cities that made up the Etruscan league at the beginning of Roman
history. It was most likely descendents of these same people who in
Renaissance times commissioned Umbria’s most distinguished artist Perugino
to decorate the Collegio del Cambio where he was helped by the still
teenaged but already extraordinary Raphael, his first job away from home in
Urbino.
Montefalco itself is blessed with
another marvellous Life of Saint Francis frescoed by Benozzo Gozzoli just
out of his collaboration with Fra Angelico, while in the neighbouring valley
of the Tiber to the west we visit Etruscan Orvieto where Signorelli painted
his masterpiece, the Apocalypse cycle, decisive in its influence on the
young Michelangelo.
These are the big names, familiar to
anyone with a knowledge of the history of art. But Living Italy also
takes great pride in being able to take you beyond the usual tourist
thoroughfares and show you a view of the real Italy, things that you would
never see unless in the company of people who have lived here for nearly
twenty years. Whether wandering through local markets, Romanesque piazzas or
truffle rich oak forests, sipping Montefalco’s fabulous Sagrantino wine or
attending regional cooking classes, you will be forever surrounded by a
landscape which is testimony to the fruitful collaboration of man and nature
over more than two thousand years, and brought face to face with a deeply
attractive way of life that looks to the future but with deep roots in an
ancient past. |
