Monteleone di Spoleto (in Antiquity, the Roman town of ''Brufa''), is a town and ''
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, in the
province of Perugia
The Province of Perugia ( it, Provincia di Perugia) is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The province covered al ...
in southeast
Umbria
it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman)
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at 978 meters (3209 ft) above sea-level overhanging the upper valley of the
Corno River
The Corno is a small river of the northern Lazio and eastern Umbria in Italy. Its source is on the upper slopes of Mount Corno, at an approximate altitude of 1700 m (5575 ft), and it flows for about , almost always due north, past the t ...
. It is one of the more remote towns in Umbria, on a mountain road from
Norcia
Norcia (), traditionally known in English by its Latin name of Nursia (), is a town and comune in the province of Perugia (Italy) in southeastern Umbria. Unlike many ancient towns, it is located in a wide plain abutting the Monti Sibillini, a su ...
and
Cascia (33 km and 12 km NNE respectively) to
Leonessa
:''Leonessa is also the name of a ''frazione'' of Bassano Romano.''
Leonessa is a town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Province of Rieti in the Lazio region of central Italy. Its population in 2008 was around 2,700.
Situated in ...
and
Rieti in the Lazio (10 km S and 51 km SSW).
The population of the ''comune'' was 648 in 2010, with the town proper accounting for about half of that; the ''
frazioni
A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...
'' of Monteleone are Butino, Rescia,
Ruscio, and Trivio.
History
Monteleone is famous for one of the world's great archaeological finds: a 6th‑century BC
Etruscan chariot that quickly followed the path of money and by the early 20th century had already wound up in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. A copy of the chariot is on display in Monteleone. There remain, however, few if any traces of the town's Roman days: destroyed and rebuilt by the
Spoletans in the 12th century, it offers at present an essentially medieval appearance.
Main Sights
The main monument in Monteleone is the 14th-century church of San Francesco, with a cloister now serving as a lapidary museum, a Gothic door and a fresco of
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
crucified in the full robes of a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
, with a loaf of bread under one foot and a chalice of wine under the other. Under the cloister a second church can be seen, complete with a 14th‑century fresco. Other monuments include several other medieval churches, the 15th‑century Palazzo Bernabò, and vestiges of the town's medieval walls, including a clock tower.
References
Bill Thayer's site
External links
Pro Loco(The town's volunteer tourist bureau)
Archeoambiente
Hilltowns in Umbria
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