Montefalco: the railing of Umbria

Not to be missed

Any time of year is favorable for visiting one of Umbria's most charming villages. Those who love folklore, costumed re-enactments and food festivals, however, should not miss theAugust in Montefalco, three weeks in which events of the most varied kinds follow one another at a heart-stopping pace. The most spectacular: "La fuga del Bove," a team race - six neighborhood boys and a snow-white Chianina steer - that sympathetically reprises an ancient town joust.

A bit of history

In ancient times, the Via Flaminia, which passed through Spoleto and Foligno, was the pulsing artery of this part of Umbria. Montefalco saw it only at a distance, but this did not prevent it from hosting a religious center, the monastery of San Francesco, which in the 14th century was defined as "of world prestige." The frescoes painted by Benozzo Gozzoli: Stories of St. Francis, a work of extraordinary fame, which over the centuries has attracted scholars and enthusiasts from all over Europe to Montefalco, remain as evidence of this.

Curiosities

he name of Montefalco is inextricably linked to one of Italy's most titled wines, Sagrantino, made from a red berry grape that is the exclusive pride of the municipality, apparently imported in the Middle Ages by Byzantine monks. Testifying to this, in the monastery of St. Francis, are the so-called Cantine dei Frati, that is, the rooms of the monastery intended for the production of a wine that in the raisin version was considered "da Messa," a sacred beverage, hence the name that still distinguishes it.