Last minute Itinerari Vallo di Nera

The town Vallo di Nera

Among the many monuments one can see at Vallo di Nera, the church Chiesa di Santa Maria deserves the place of honour. It was built during the 13^th century after the style of the Franciscan churches without aisles and with a trussed roof.

The façade is entirely of stone, adorned with a pointed portal, a rosette and a central spire.

The inside is richly frescoed with paintings of the Giottesque school, among which deserve special attention ''The Procession of the Bianchi'' from 1401, carried out by Cola di Pietro, and the ''Martyrdom of St Lucia'', a work from the 15^th century.

The other frescoes are carried out by painters belonging to the Umbrian school of the first half of the 14^th century and other Umbrian masters of the 15^th century. Another important work kept in the church is the ''Madonna del Latte'' (Maria lactans), which is considered one of the masterpieces of the Maestro di Eggi from 1435.

Above the presbytery rises an impressive, square bell tower and still today the bell-ringer masters toll the bells by hand.

The Church of St John the Baptist was built between the 13^th and the 14^th century in Romanesque style and partially restored in the 16^th century, to which date back the façade, the portal, the rosette and the campanile.

The most important frescoes are all in the apsidal basin where the painter Jacupo Siculo in 1536 painted the wonderful frescoes ''Coronation of the Virgin'' and the ''Death of Our Lady'', inspired from the works by Filippo Lippi in the apse of the dome of Spoleto.

Near Vallo di Nera one can see an interesting evidence for the antique anchoritic vocation of this place, the monastery Santa Maria Ugonis which was found by the monks from Vallombrosa. The church is mentioned beginning from the 9^th century and rises on the ruins of an even older hermitage.