HISTORY
The oldest part of the village is represented by the medieval castle, which, according to historical sources, was founded in 1198. Its entrance gates and stone walls, defensive towers and a few loopholes, can still be admired today. It was rebuilt following the destruction of the castle of Narco, which is mainly remembered through the stories of the older Narcans, who recall that “old Sant’Anatolia was located along the road leading to Castel San Felice, near the Pieve della Pia, leaning against the mountain.”
In addition to this lost and almost legendary castle, the name “Narco” also refers to much earlier times, when the banks of the Nera or Nahar River were inhabited by the Naharki, a people also mentioned in the famous Iguvine Tablets.
ART, CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT
Sant’Anatolia di Narco stands on a river terrace overlooking the flat area below called “le canapine”, a name that recalls the time when hemp was cultivated along the banks of the Nera River.
The historic centre retains the characteristics of an ancient fortified castle, with its surrounding walls, towers and three gates, one of which is still well preserved and controlled the road that ascended from the Nera.
Inside the walls, on the central square, one can admire the former town hall (16th century), now the seat of the Hemp Museum, and the parish church of Sant’Anatolia, currently closed for restoration work. Inside, the church features pictorial decoration from the 14th-15th centuries, an inlaid marble antependium of the high altar of the Neapolitan 17th-century school and some paintings from the same period.
Outside the walls stands the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a religious building constructed around an earlier shrine depicting the Madonna and Child between Saints James and Anthony Abbot. The fresco, made around the mid-15th century and attributed to the Master of Eggi, was expanded in 1578 by a student of Lo Spagna with the Assumption among the Apostles.
Three construction phases can be distinguished inside the church, corresponding to the presbyteral part, an early extension with side niches and the later truss-covered nave. Inside the church there are two Roman funerary inscriptions set into the walls. Also preserved are a wooden Crucifix attributed to Francesco da Sangallo and a sculptural group, also wooden, called I Dolenti and consisting of a Grieving Madonna and St. Francis.
The statues, datable to the first half of the 16th century, originally came from the high altar of the Ex-convent of Santa Croce, located near the town’s historic centre. Now a hotel, it owes its name to the presence of a Franciscan convent of the Minor Observants dating from the 13th-14th centuries. Over the centuries the convent has undergone several transformations and, of its original structure, all that remains today are the bell gable, frescoes tracing the life of St. John of Capestrano and a stunning Last Supper by an unknown artist. The same fate befell the church attached to the convent, now Sala Campani (Campani Hall), named after the Campani brothers, opticians and watchmakers originally from Castel San Felice.
In the surroundings, visitors will find castles and places of worship, including Castel San Felice, an ancient medieval settlement best known for the Abbey of Saints Felice and Mauro, among the most striking examples of Umbrian Romanesque architecture.
Also noteworthy are the hamlets of Caso and Gavelli, two fortified villages built along the transhumance route that ran along Mount Coscerno, particularly famous for their religious buildings featuring important pictorial cycles, some attributed to Giovanni di Pietro, known as Lo Spagna. Examples include the Churches of Santa Cristina and Santa Maria delle Grazie in Caso, and San Michele Arcangelo in Gavelli. Finally, the hamlet of Grotti, whose name reflects the morphology of the area, characterized by caves, ravines and rocky peaks, still preserves the remains of a tower and the vestiges of a castle that once dominated the Valnerina on the side facing the Spoleto area.
