The ancient medieval village of Montone

As with the major part of the towns in this zone which are not placed along the Tiber valley, Montone was founded on a hill in a beautiful panoramic position between two tributaries of the Tiber river: the Carpina and the Lana rivers. Having already been a strong-hold during the Middle Ages, it was later controlled by the families which dominated the area, such as : the Del Monte, the Fortebraccio and the Vitelli families; around the middle of the 16th century, finally, the town was ceded to the Papal State.

The town’s most important building is without doubt the Gothic church of St.Francis, which was contructed in the 14th century with a poligonal apsis and a portico: inside, numerous frescoes of the Umbrian school, a few of which are attributed to the master painter Bartolomeo Caporali, and interesting wood sculptures are to be found.

While the churches of St. Fedele and the Collegiate church of St.Mary, where, on Easter Monday the reliquy of the Sacred Thorn is shown, are situated inside the inhabitated part of the town, just outside of the town, you’ll find the “Pieve”, a church dating back to the 11th century constructed in the Romanic byzantine styte with three naves and a round apsis.

Montone, an ancient medieval village