Bettona, a natural terrace over Umbria

A small village with an ancient heart, as its very name suggests: Bettona is thought to derive from the Etruscan ‘Vetumna’, meaning ‘place of the ancients’. Counted among the ‘Most Beautiful Villages in Italy’, it rises on the summit of a hill that is part of the Martani Mountains, at the confluence of the Chiascio and Topino rivers. This gives it an exceptional view over the Umbrian Valley, the towns that surround it, and the distant mountains that seem to embrace it.

Ancient Vettona, a nerve centre of Etruria in an eccentric and mysterious position

The history of ancient Umbria is strongly characterised by the relations between the Umbrian and the Etruscan peoples, who had chosen the Tiber as their natural boundary, settling respectively on the eastern and western banks of the ‘blond’ river. Bettona is, along with Arna and Todi, an Etruscan centre situated instead on the eastern bank of the Tiber – for what mysterious reason, who can say…

The Etruscan town dates back to a period between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Its inhabitants, called Vettonenses, are mentioned by Pliny and other ancient authors. It acquired Roman citizenship in 90 BC, becoming a municipium of some importance thanks also to its strategic position along the Via Amerina. According to tradition, it was evangelised by Saint Crispolto as early as the 1st century; the saint, of Asian origin, was martyred in the locality of Badia, where a church dedicated to him has existed since the 11th century. In the 12th century, after the barbarian invasions, it became a free Commune, but in 1198 it passed under the dominion of the Church.

A long history of sieges and lordships

In 1352, after a long siege, Bettona was conquered and destroyed by Perugia. According to tradition, the surviving stones were used in the enlargement of the Palazzo dei Priori, more than 150 local notables were taken prisoner, and even the remains of Saint Crispolto were carried off to Perugia. In 1367, the Papal States entrusted Cardinal Albornoz with the task of rebuilding the town in a smaller space but with stronger fortifications; in 1371 it also regained the relics of its patron saint.

The history of the Umbrian town, however, was destined to intertwine with that of powerful local lords: from 1389 to 1425 it was under the rule of the Trinci of Foligno; immediately afterwards it was assigned by the Pope to the dominion of Perugia and its powerful lords, the Baglioni. In 1648 it definitively became part of the Papal States, in which it remained until 1860.

Visiting the village, among Etruscan walls, garden houses and breathtaking views

The beauty of the Umbrian town unfolds through its narrow streets and small squares, where both public and private buildings, ancient and sometimes prestigious, overlook, adorned with flowers and plants, and where the mighty walls of Etruscan times emerge here and there.

In fact, the medieval village coincides with the site of the Etruscan and Roman city and is entirely surrounded by the medieval city walls, which incorporate various stretches of the Etruscan walls, dating back to the 6th century BC, built with large sandstone blocks.

The settlement is entirely organised around a central space formed by two squares: Piazza Cavour, the site of the ancient Forum, and Piazza Garibaldi, overlooked by the main civil and religious buildings.

In Piazza Cavour stands the Palazzo del Podestà, completed in 1371: a typically medieval stone building with an external staircase, now home to the City Museum. The latter also occupies some rooms of the Biancalana family residence, a fine 19th-century palace in neoclassical style. It is divided into a Civic Art Gallery and an Archaeological Section. Among the works preserved in the gallery are Saint Anthony of Padua and the Madonna of Mercy with Saints Stephen, Jerome and donors, works by Pietro Vannucci known as Perugino; the glazed terracotta depicting Saint Anthony of Padua, attributable to the Della Robbia school; and a precious bust of Antonio Canova, signed and dated 1812. There are also works by artists such as l’Alunno, Tiberio d’Assisi, El Greco and Dono Doni. Part of these masterpieces were stolen from the gallery in 1987, fortuitously recovered in Jamaica a few years later.

On the left-hand side of the square stands the church of Santa Maria Maggiore: according to tradition, it was built on the remains of the house of a woman healed by Saint Crispolto and was enlarged and reconsecrated in 1225. Of the original construction, only the Gothic chapel dedicated to Saint Rita remains today. Profoundly transformed during the seventeenth and then the nineteenth century, it has an apse frescoed in 1939 by the futurist Gerardo Dottori. Next to it is the church of San Francesco, dating back to the twelfth century, characterised by a lively interior created during the sixteenth century. It houses the venerated wooden Crucifix used on Good Friday for the rite known as “della scavigliazione”. Opposite stands the oratory of Sant’Andrea, originally built in the twelfth century but completely rebuilt in the Baroque period, with a fine 16th-century coffered ceiling by Benedetto da Montepulciano and an important cycle of frescoes of the Giotto school, dated 1394, depicting Scenes of the Passion.

In Piazza Garibaldi stands the Town Hall, dating from the second half of the fourteenth century but remodelled several times over the centuries. In the Council Chamber you can admire a fine 16th-century wooden choir, originally from the church of Sant’Antonio. Also facing onto Piazza Garibaldi is one of the oldest buildings in the Umbrian town: the church of San Crispolto, dating back to the eighth century, built by Benedictine monks to protect the relics of the patron saint. Of the Romanesque church, only the spired bell tower remains today; the rest of the building is the result of later renovations. In the marvellous silence of the Umbrian square, one can hear the murmur of the beautiful central fountain, octagonal in shape, the work of the local artist Garibaldo Mancini, built in 1890 to replace an ancient fifteenth-century well.

Not only prestigious buildings and defensive works: even today the historic centre is characterised by the presence of houses with a small enclosed garden, a rainwater cistern and a well. A whole that creates a harmonious balance between dwellings and green spaces.

From Porta 1 Maggio, known as Porta San Giacomo because of the adjacent Renaissance church, it is easy to reach the wide space known as the Balcony of Umbria, from which one can admire the splendid countryside and the view over the Umbrian valley and the ‘mountains descending in a circle’.

Around the village: walks among fine Etruscan tombs and ancient medieval abbeys

Leaving through the northern gate of the town, you can reach the monastery complex of Sant’Antonio, built in 1502 by the Franciscans on the remains of an ancient fortress, rebuilt in the late eighteenth century. On the saint’s feast day, 17 January, blessed loaves are offered in the church; after the blessing, the traditional ‘cavalcade’ begins: the horses led by the Priors gallop all the way to Bettona.

In the hamlet of Colle, near a bend in the Chiascio, once stood the ancient Etruscan necropolis of Vettona. Here you can admire the fine Etruscan chamber tomb with barrel vault, dating from the 2nd–1st century BC. Entirely made of local sandstone, it contained a grave assemblage of urns, gold, glass, and bronzes, today displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Perugia.

Along the Sambro you can find the small Romanesque church of San Gregorio, dating from the thirteenth century, with its characteristic bell gable and front portico, used in the Middle Ages as a lazaretto. In the locality of Cerreto lies the abbey of San Quirico, a Benedictine monastery dating back to the twelfth century; what remains of the ancient complex is the small Romanesque church with a beautiful medieval fresco on its façade.

Descending towards the hamlet of Passaggio di Bettona you come across the tower of Molinaccio, dating from the thirteenth century. A watchtower during the wars against Perugia and at the same time a defence for a mill – hence its name – it still preserves its original structure and fine battlemented crown. Further down lies Villa del Boccaglione, a grand eighteenth-century country residence designed by Piermarini for the noble Crispolti family of Bettona.

In the built-up area of Passaggio, in Piazza Garibaldi, stands the interesting complex of the Badia di San Crispolto al Piano, today a private residence, built before the year 1000 on a Roman building where, according to tradition, the martyrdom of Saint Crispolto and his companions took place.