In questa sezione, con le sue sottosezioni, viene presentata la storia documentale ed archivistica, che tende soprattutto a descrivere gli accadimenti istituzionali e politici.  History In this section, with its subsections, documentary and archival history is presented, which tends above all to describe institutional and political events. For the moment we will focus on the main town, Fratta and then Umbertide, and on the hilly and flat rural territory. The main settlements present in the municipal territory are still not investigated, some such as Preggio with an established settlement history even older than the current Umbertide; we will try in the continuation of this adventure to heal these shortcomings. The history of the populations who inhabited our territory, the productive use they made of it, the settlements built, centralized and isolated, touch a horizon of aspects so broad that they all deserve to be addressed. Our intent, in fact, is to present all the different "perspectives" with which the "history" of our country can be reconstructed. The "short time" in fact, the guideline of the research reported in the subsections described above, gives us a story focused on the birth and history of the main agglomeration of Fratta / Umbertide, but allows us to see only the institutional-political events, as far as they can add up in a millennial diachronic sequence. While the development and consequences of economic structures require an investigation that you seek with a "long time" to be recognized, they are detailed in the " Thematic history " page . At the moment for the subsections " From Antiquity to '700 " and for " Nineteenth century and Risorgimento " we present a historical reconstruction based on paper archives starting from the XII century, while we will subsequently analyze more adequately the history of our most fragmented territory, that is to say that up to the origins. " The Fratta of the sixteenth century" and " The War of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany " retrace the events and social life of the sixteenth century. Together with them, for the same historical period, we have created the subsection on the Statutes of the Fratta of 1521, which allows you to read and download the Statutes in a complete transcription in the vernacular with an interactive internal search mode. And many more The contemporaneity will be investigated above all in the section " From the twentieth century to today ", benefiting from a greater series of historical sources and news. The reference sources of the first two subsections are those of the SIUSA (Unified Information System for Archival Superintendencies) which in 2010-11 with Sargentini Cristiana and Santolamazza Rossella drafted and corrected the relative entry on "Fratta / Umbertide". As regards the history in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, also for our country it was necessary to resort to the statutory sources of Perugia, which constitute the reference regulatory framework for the communities scattered in the countryside; in particular the Perugian reform of 1396, with which the roles of castellan and podestà of Sigillo, Montone and Fratta, up to then carried out by two distinct officials, were unified forming "unum officium et unum corpus castellanantia cum potestaria". With this resolution, a "vir bonus et fidelis" was designated to administer each of those communities. The territory of the castle of Fratta from that moment had different "institutional profiles": from sec. XIV - sec. XVIII was a " Community" of the "State of the Church", a denomination which, due to the loss of archival material, with certainty will return only in the period 1815 - 1870, after the short period in which Fratta was part, from 1798-1814, of the Communities of Lazio in the French period; in the 1859 it was established as a "Municipality" and then equipped with a " Civil State Office" in Umbria, 1860 - 1865. In this period, in 1862, it passed from the name of Fratta to that of "Umbertide". A bibliography " Texts and links to consult" with the studies published on Umbertide and his history and society and a sitography to deepen on the web, they will allow us to continue in the knowledge of our Umbertide. The page on the " Degree Thesis " will host the parts or complete theses of young and old who have wanted to study our territory in some aspect and wish to make it a common cultural heritage. Photo: Umbertide da Montacuto: the growth of the city to the south of the original nucleus of Fratta. Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com Winston Churchill "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see." "The more you can look back, the more you will be able to see forward."

LA FRATTA DEL QUATTROCENTO a cura di Fabio Mariotti Notizie generali, le strade e la Rocca La Fratta del Quattrocento è per lo Stato della Chiesa, specialmente nell'ultima parte del secolo, un punto di vitale importanza strategica. Posta al confine con i possedimenti fiorentini, funge da baluardo settentrionale per la difesa di Perugia. La zona urbana è formata da tre nuclei ben definiti. Il primo, costituito dal centro cittadino racchiuso nelle mura castellane e diviso in terzieri: "della Greppa", la parte tra l'attuale via Cibo e il Tevere, dalla Piaggiola fino al ponte verso San Francesco; "Superiore" detto anche "della Campana" (dalla campana posta sulla torre in cima alla Piaggiola), dalle mura a nord, quindi dalla Rocca, verso il centro fino alla chiesa di San Giovanni; il terzo, "Inferiore" o di "Porta Nuova", che dal centro raggiungeva le mura verso sud, lungo il corso della Reggia fino alla porta di uscita del ponte sul Tevere. Il secondo nucleo, del "Borgo Superiore", posto al di fuori delle mura settentrionali, oltre la porta della campana e la discesa dell'attuale Piaggiola, era divisibile in due parti. Una veniva detta il "Mercatale", l'odierna piazza Marconi, il piazzale del sagrato della chiesa di Sant'Erasmo; la zona poi si spingeva verso la chiesa di Sant'Andrea (dove sorgerà nel 1877 il vecchio ospedale) fino alle fornaci. L’altra parte era il "Castel Nuovo", comprendeva l’attuale Boccaiolo (via Bovicelli) e la zona vicina, ove si trovava anche la chiesa di Santa Maria dei Meriti. II terzo nucleo, anch'esso fuori delle mura, detto "Borgo Inferiore", era situato a sud di Fratta, oltre la Reggia e prospiciente il Tevere (attuale piazza San Francesco). Cuore di questa zona era il "sodo dei frati" o "pratale", lo spiazzo su cui si affacciavano la chiesa e il convento di San Francesco, la chiesetta di Santa Maria (poi detta Santa Croce), possesso dell'omonima confraternita di Disciplinati. Nel borgo c'erano numerose officine di fabbri ed anche un mulino di proprietà del vescovo di Gubbio. Fratta godeva di libertà di fiera; erano fiorenti le arti della merceria e spezieria, il commercio del cuoio, del "bambage", del vino, degli artefatti in ferro, della ceramica. Esisteva un discreto servizio postale che utilizzava cursori, corrieri, fanti di procaccio e "cavallai" di posta i quali potevano effettuare un buon lavoro in quanto il paese non era molto distante dalle grandi vie di comunicazione. L’istruzione era a cura della comunità di Fratta, ai cui rappresentanti i genitori si rivolgevano per iscrivere i ragazzi, pagando la retta del maestro. La spesa era relativa al numero e al tipo delle materie di insegnamento: latino, aritmetica, religione e geografia. Nel 1486 la magistratura locale fa un invito all'istruzione aperto anche ai non possidenti. Esistevano sette ospedali, annessi alle chiese, per i poveri, i pellegrini e i malati non abbienti; ben dodici luoghi di culto, fra chiese e cappelle. A Fratta, nel Quattrocento, viveva una comunità ebraica di una ventina di persone, qui insediata fin dal secolo precedente. Le strade di comunicazione Nel Quattrocento la nostra Fratta era fuori dai grandi percorsi viari dello Stato Romano che partivano da Roma nei secoli XVI e XVIII, e se erano così allora, all'inizio del Quattrocento non erano certo più numerose e meglio percorribili. Comunque verso nord partiva una sola strada di grande comunicazione, che dopo il lago di Bracciano (Baccano) si ramificava in due bretelle: - una proseguiva in direzione di Firenze, via Bolsena, Siena, San Casciano; - l'altra strada si dirigeva verso Fano, via Terni, Foligno, Nocera, Cagli. Quest'ultima aveva una diramazione da Foligno e da qui iniziava una strada che passava per Perugia, il lago Trasimeno, la Val di Chiana, la valle dell'Arno centrale, fino a raggiungere anch'essa Firenze. Erano percorse dalla maggior parte della gente allora in movimento: eserciti, cavalcate, grandi carri a quattro ruote dei mercanti, pellegrini, religiosi, cortei di principi, cardinali, governatori che si spostavano da una città all'altra, mendicanti, uomini dei servizi di posta che correvano a piedi o a cavallo di stazione in stazione. Fratta si trovava in posizione isolata e non vedeva molto di questo transito se non saltuariamente e, comunque, in misura molto ridotta. Il nostro castello aveva bisogno di comunicazione con la città di Perugia e ciò era possibile attraverso la pianura del Tevere. La città dominante svolgeva un'attività di tutela dei mulini sul Tevere (Ponte Felcino, Ponte Pattoli ed altri), per cui questi dovevano essere senz'altro allacciati a Perugia con una strada carrabile. Considerato questo e anche che Fratta era il castello del confine nord di Perugia, dunque tenuto sempre militarmente approntato, è facile capire che dovesse esserci una via da Fratta a Ponte Pattoli, a Perugia. Oltre questa strada (che sarà detta poi “del piano”), Fratta era unita a Perugia anche da un percorso montano, non carrabile, per soli pedoni e cavalli in quanto l'asprezza dei luoghi (diverse salite) ne sconsigliavano il passaggio, specie d'inverno, ai carri piccoli. Iniziava oltre il ponte sul Tevere, sulla sinistra (odierna strada per la Badia di Montecorona). Dopo circa trecento metri lasciava, sulla destra, la stradetta che saliva a Romeggio (bivio visibile anche oggi) e proseguiva diritta. Passava sotto e nei pressi dell'odierno Palazzo del Sole (abitazione Ramaccioni), poi si inerpicava, come ai giorni nostri, verso la base di Monte Acuto. Alla Villa di Monte Acuto svoltava a sinistra, lungo la base del monte, passava a lato della casa-torre di osservazione (ancora esistente - gruppo di casa Ferranti), passava a lato dell'ospedale di Galera (in piedi ma disabitato) ed arrivava al pianoro di Galera (apprezzabile come complesso abbandonato) ed arrivava alla casaforte di confine con Perugia (non utilizzata). Da qui scendeva alla Nese, passando a lato di quell'ospedale (lebbrosario?) e proseguiva per la Villa di Pantano e Cenerente, da dove iniziava la salita finale per Perugia. Altra strada era quella di Montone, ma non volendo transitare per quel territorio, si poteva percorrere la via che portava al torrente Niccone, subito dopo il ponte del Tevere. Dal Niccone, passato il fiume sulla barca oltre Montecastelli, ci si ritrovava sulla via tracciata da Città di Castello, in pianura ed abbastanza transitabile. Infine c'era la strada per la Toscana, alla foce del Niccone sul Tevere. In proporzione al grande traffico nazionale, molto limitato appariva il transito nelle nostre zone ma, considerata l'importanza commerciale di Fratta, c'era comunque sempre un movimento di persone e merci che ne aiutava molto gli abitanti, alla ricerca delle soluzioni dei loro problemi quotidiani. Lavori alla Rocca La Rocca di Fratta fu voluta nell'anno 1374 e disegnata, molto probabilmente, dall'architetto Matteo Gattapone da Gubbio. Venne posta ad est delle mura castellane, unico tratto sprovvisto di forti, sia per aumentare la difesa del castello dalla parte di Perugia, sia per allungare meglio lo sguardo su tutta la pianura del Tevere verso Montecorona. La Rocca consisteva, all'inizio, in un semplice parallelepipedo esterno alla cinta che, nella zona sud, aveva un'alta torre sopraelevata di una quarantina di metri dal prato sottostante. Questo volume fu costruito nel primo ciclo dei lavori, dal 1375 al 1384, mentre il completamento, come voleva il disegno originario, avvenne con un ulteriore intervento tra il 1385 e il 1386, quando fu unita alle mura castellane. Così la Rocca si presenta all'inizio del Quattrocento. Ha i lati contrapposti lunghi dodici metri e quelli perpendicolari, sette. Per il passaggio delle persone è collegata al castello di Fratta da una porta (visibile ed agibile anche oggi) munita di ponte levatoio che faceva perno sul forte, cadeva sulle mura castellane sostenuto da una sola trave e passava sopra un tetto realizzato nella seconda fase dei lavori (1385-86). Nel punto di battuta era stato costruito, interno al borgo, un piccolo edificio merlato detto "chiostro" in cui c'era un posto di guardia, essendo questa zona militare sorvegliata per impedire l'accesso anche agli abitanti di Fratta. La Rocca aveva poi un'altra entrata fornita di ponte levatoio. Conduceva all'esterno del castello, verso il prato sottostante. Era la "porta del soccorso", elemento comune a tutti i forti e le rocche. Serviva, in tempo di guerra, a far rientrare qualche soldato rimasto fuori o in altri casi straordinari. Questo secondo ponte levatoio era sostenuto da una sola trave il cui vano è ancora esistente e visibile dalla zona sottostante. Poggiava sopra un alto muro di pietra, rimasto fino alla metà dell'Ottocento. Fra il muro e la torre passava il letto naturale del torrente Reggia. Da qui iniziava la strada, in forte discesa, verso il prato sottostante. Il tutto era chiamato "calzo de fuora". Nel gennaio 1405 fu costruita la grande volta in muratura che univa (e unisce tuttora ) la Rocca alle mura castellane, al posto del tetto sotto il ponte levatoio. Fu pure innalzato il tratto di mura castellane prospiciente alla piazza del Comune (ora piazza Fortebracci), elevato di circa tre metri e munito di feritoie. Fu tolto il ponte levatoio ovest e restò solo quello "del soccorso", in funzione fino alla fine del Settecento. Nel 1495 la Fratta era occupata dai fuorusciti perugini della famiglia Degli Oddi. Erano combattuti dai Baglioni che portarono qui l'assedio fino a che, l' 11 settembre 1495, Fratta si arrese alle forze di Perugia. La città dominante, riavuto il nostro castello, pensò bene di restaurarlo e di aumentarne le difese militari, affinché potesse resistere ad altri eventuali attacchi. Dal 1495 al 1499 vennero eretti i torrioni laterali circolari merlati, uno a nord e uno a sud, e la Rocca assunse l'aspetto attuale. Per la costruzione dei torrioni si dovette abbattere il "chiostro" ed un tratto di mura (per costruire il torrione nord), mentre sul lato della piazza del Comune venne aperta una nuova porta d'ingresso. Foto della Rocca di Fabio Mariotti (quella antica dall'Archivio fotografico storico del Comune di Umbertide) Fonti: - Calendario di Umbertide 2004 – Ed. Comune di Umbertide – 2004 - Renato Codovini: Storia di Umbertide - Il Secolo XV. Dattiloscritto inedito, 1992 - A. Guerrini: Storia della terra di Fratta ora Umbertide dalle sue origini fino all'anno 1845 - Tipografia Tiberina, Umbertide, 1883 - M.G. Moretti: Salute e spezierie alla Fratta (Sec. XV - XX): Breve introduzione alla mostra, Umbertide, Biblioteca Comunale, 27 settembre - 12 ottobre 2002. Dream Service, Umbertide, 2002 - P. Vispi: Il soggiorno e l'opera di Pico della Mirandola ad Umbertide - Ed. Comune di Umbertide, 1996 L'economia e la libertà di fiera L’economia del territorio di Fratta nel XV secolo è basata su una modesta attività agricola e su una fiorente attività artigianale. Già nei primi del Quattrocento assistiamo a timidi insediamenti stabili in campagna di lavoratori agricoli che si recano a lavorare terre alquanto distanti dal borgo. Terre via via "rancate", cioè messe a coltura. Ma i tempi sono ancora insicuri, la pericolosità direttamente proporzionale alla distanza dalle mura del castello. II passaggio di eserciti che razziavano il bestiame e le colture, insieme a bande di malviventi rendevamo molto rischiosa la coltivazione della campagna. I lavoratori agricoli, quindi, non potevano produrre grosse quantità dei vari generi. Solamente due secoli dopo, in pieno Seicento, la coltura del grano aveva ancora una rendita di tre o quattro parti contro una di seme seminato. L’attività artigianale nel castello di Fratta era, invece, più progredita e produttiva, regolata anche negli statuti del 1362. Era un'economia prevalentemente corporativa, a compartimenti stagni, con ogni Arte strettamente osservante di quelle regole che si era data con il proprio ordinamento, comprensivo anche delle pene per i trasgressori. Ma era l'aspetto religioso il collante che univa i componenti. La produttività degli artigiani era soltanto sufficiente ai loro immediati bisogni, ma a volte poteva superare il limite dello stretto necessario e dar loro qualche soddisfazione in più. Notevoli risultati davano le fornaci di laterizio che producevano materiali da costruzione. Altre piccole attività, con laboratorio e bottega annessi, sfornavano vasellame di terracotta d'ogni genere, necessario alla vita quotidiana della famiglia del borgo e di quella contadina. Vari molini da cereali e da olio, avvalendosi della forza motrice dell'acqua dei fiumi e dei torrenti, occupavano un discreto numero di persone. C'era poi la lavorazione dei panni di lana, per mezzo della gualchiera e la rifinitura di prodotti in metallo che per l'affilatura usava ruote in pietra, anch'esse mosse dall'acqua. Tutti questi meccanismi si trovavano all'interno dei maggiori mulini ed utilizzavano la stessa acqua che muoveva le grandi macine dei cereali. La gualchiera. L’arte dei panni di lana Anche in Fratta si esercitava l'arte della lana, seppur per un prodotto minore che doveva soddisfare soltanto i bisogni del luogo. Il panno lavorato serviva per cucire i vestiti di uso comune, indossati dalla maggior parte degli abitanti, quasi tutti poveri. La lavorazione era possibile in quanto nei maggiori mulini c'era sempre la "gualchiera", meccanismo fornito di grosse "martelle" di legno che, mosse dall'acqua della diga, battevano la lana opportunamente trattata (acqua bollente e un qualche collante). Probabilmente, si trattava di una postazione per ogni mulino, locata a terzi per più anni. In un atto notarile del 12 novembre 1464 si parla del “Mulino dei Calvi” con la gualchiera ad esso annessa che serviva a "gualcare i panni di lana": si trovava in aderenza a questo molino, era affittata tre anni. La notizia dell'esistenza, vicino a Fratta, di tale gualchiera, e fuso per cui serviva, sono le notizie più antiche sull'argomento. L’insieme delle altre Arti fabbricava gli oggetti necessari alla vita della collettività; erano fabbri, falegnami, magnani, pittori, sarti, panacuocoli (fornai), indoratori. Tutte persone che oggi chiameremmo operatori economici ed avevano molto spesso un grande limite nella difficoltà di reperire i capitali necessari. Non essendoci ancora istituti di credito come intendiamo oggi, dovevano far ricorso, in caso di necessità, al prestito dei "banchi" degli ebrei. A Fratta ce n'erano una ventina ed alcuni di questi esercitavano appunto l'attività di banchieri. Sebbene avversati dalla popolazione e dalla legislazione della città di Perugia valida anche in Fratta, riuscivano sempre a svolgere il loro lavoro in senso positivo e la stessa comunità perugina faceva ricorso alla "prestanza" ebrea in caso di bisogno. Obbligati a portare un disco giallo sui vestiti, esclusi dai pubblici uffici, era negata agli ebrei anche la possibilità di acquistare beni immobili, di fabbricare carte da gioco e dadi. Non restava loro che dedicarsi ai prestiti su interesse e lo studio della medicina. Il commercio del cuoio Era molto praticato nella nostra Fratta, come nell'alta valle del Tevere e nel Perugino. II grande commercio del cuoio aveva la sede principale, per il centro Italia, nelle città di Pisa e di Ancona. Pisa lo importava dalla Spagna (da Cordova, pelli cordovane), dalla Francia meridionale e dal Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria e Marocco). Ancona lo importava invece dalla cosiddetta Morea (Medio Oriente), dalle isole dell'Egeo e dai Paesi rivieraschi del Mar Nero. Da queste due città poi, a mezzo di grandi carri a quattro ruote, il cuoio arrivava a Perugia (via lago Trasimeno e via Fabriano). Qui si riforniva Fratta in limitate quantità, incrementate dalla stessa merce proveniente da Città di Castello, i cui mercanti erano direttamente collegati con le "strade del cuoio" marchigiane. Il commercio del "bambage" Anche il bambage (o bambagio) arrivava dai Paesi del medio oriente (Turchia, Cipro, Siria, Egitto), con le navi fino ad Ancona; poi i mercanti lo introducevano nel territorio perugino. Con il bambage, sottoprodotto del cotone, si fabbricavano veli da donna per la testa, per il collo e per le spalle. Coloro che trattavano tale prodotto erano detti "bambagiari" e facevano parte dell'Arte omonima. Avevano botteghe per commerciare sia il bambage puro che i suoi derivati, quali ad esempio le passamanerie, vendute dai merciai. L’Arte della merceria All'Arte della merceria erano iscritti coloro che commerciavano in generi relativi soprattutto all'abbigliamento: filati per cucire (vengono nominati "refe"), gomitoli e matasse, fazzoletti (per la testa, il collo, le spalle), veletti (per cappelli), "camicie", calze di lana, cappelli, nastri d'ogni tipo, spille, orecchini, aghi (fatti a mano) e quant'altro relativo al vestire. Non troviamo fazzoletti per il naso (ancora da inventare), maglie (si confezionavano in casa, sul telaio domestico), giacche, pastrani e mantelli (li cuciva il sarto). Non esistevano però botteghe specializzate in un unico tipo di merce. Era facile quindi trovare, in quella del merciaio, stoffe, paludamenti (per l'addobbo di chiese, tendaggi per la casa), ma anche cera, candele, "facole", radici saponarie. L’Arte della "spetiaria" Chi esercitava l'Arte della spetiaria aveva una bottega, chiamata anche aromataria, dove vendeva i generi che anche oggi chiamiamo spezie, ma con una gamma più vasta, essendo maggiore l'uso di tali generi. Molti servivano per la farmacopea. In queste botteghe, comunque, molti prodotti esulavano dal campo speziario, comprendendo i generi più disparati, anticipando i bazar ed i moderni supermercati. I calzolai C'erano, nel Quattrocento, in Fratta, diversi calzolai (calceolarius) iscritti alla relativa Arte e semplici ciabattini. L’attività dei calzolai consisteva nel costruire e vendere le scarpe, per cui avevano bisogno di comprare cuoio, pellami ed attrezzi d'uso. Il ciabattino (sutor), più semplicemente, si adattava ad accomodare le calzature, senza entrare nel commercio delle stesse. Nell'archivio storico comunale esiste un contratto del 4 settembre 1448 con il quale il padre affida il figlio di minore età ad un calzolaio per imparare il mestiere. Il ragazzo doveva andare a vivere in casa del calzolaio il quale, a sua volta, si impegnava a formarlo e a dargli vitto e alloggio. Il ragazzo è Mariotto, figlio di Domenico di Ercolano da Pietramelina; il calzolaio è Nardo di Francesco, di Fratta. Domenico di Ercolano si impegna a far restare Mariotto per un anno presso Nardo di Francesco e di non mandarlo da altri calzolai. Garantisce che Mariotto sarà sempre sottomesso e obbediente come deve comportarsi ogni buon discepolo. Nardo, di sua parte, si obbliga ad istruirlo nell'arte della calzoleria, a dargli un salario di tre fiorini e mezzo per tutto l'anno, oltre il vitto e l'alloggio. Le monete Nel Quattrocento, nell'Italia centrale si usavano, per i grandi importi, monete d'oro, fiorini e ducati, insieme ai loro sottomultipli e alle tante monete dei vari Stati esistenti. Il fiorino veniva rapportato ai bolognini (moneta bolognese di piccolo taglio). Se era integro (cioè di giusto peso, non limato per appropriarsi di una parte del suo oro come spesso accadeva), valeva quaranta bolognini. Se invece aveva un peso inferiore a quello di conio, veniva considerato in proporzione a quanto mancava. Il fiorino era anche quotato in "soldi": cento se integro. Il fiorino fiorentino veniva a volte ragguagliato alla lira perugina. Verso la metà del secolo c'è parità tra le due monete. Troviamo infatti, nel 1464, una somma di undicimila fiorini che, qualche riga sotto dello stesso documento, diventano undicimila lire. Il "soldo" (sottomultiplo del fiorino) viene rapportato talora al "denaro" (moneta perugina sottomultipla della lira). Abbiamo infine un'altra misura monetaria, la "libra". Ce ne volevano cinque per un fiorino. A Fratta si adoperavano indistintamente sia i fiorini, sia i ducati (ma anche altre monete). In un atto notarile, "la pena" da darsi a chi non sta ai patti viene stabilita in "100 ducati d'oro", nonostante in Fratta prevalesse l'uso dei conteggi in fiorini. Nel 1471 troviamo il "carlino", di basso valore, di origine napoletana. Valeva dodici baiocchi. Sempre in quest'anno esiste anche il "ducato d'oro largo": ha il valore di un fiorino e 75 baiocchi circa. . . . Libertà di fiera Mercati settimanali e fiere si svolgevano a Fratta fin dal XIV secolo, regolamentati dagli Statuti del 1362. Nel 1400 sembra esserci solo la fiera di Sant'Erasmo, che si svolgeva il 2 giugno, giorno della festa del santo, davanti all'antica e omonima pieve, nell'odierna piazza Marconi. Come negli altri castelli e ville del territorio, era soggetta ad una tassazione imposta da Perugia (città dominante), che poi la comunità di Fratta riversava sui commercianti intervenuti, recuperando così la somma versata. La tassa della fiera comportava per i mercanti un certo onere, imponeva loro di fare una scelta sul venire o meno a Fratta, a seconda del vantaggio. In pratica, condizionava l'affluenza della gente a queste manifestazioni. In considerazione di ciò, la comunità di Fratta cercò di liberare la fiera dalla "gabella", allo scopo di aumentare il concorso di venditori, quindi avere la maggior quantità e varietà di merci, prezzi più bassi (legge della concorrenza), in definitiva un vantaggio per la popolazione, oltre maggior guadagno per osti, marescalchi, "carradori", botteghe in genere. Il risultato venne raggiunto a partire dal 1441, quando ne fece richiesta a Perugia. L’approvazione arrivò dal cardinale Firmano (Domenico da Fermo), delegato apostolico per l'Umbria e la relativa concessione, detta "privilegio", riguardava la fiera annuale del 2 giugno, probabilmente l'unica del secolo. Fratta non doveva più pagare la tassa come le altre comunità dello Stato Romano e di riflesso non chiese più nulla ai commercianti. La concessione venne rilasciata per due giorni consecutivi, tanto durava la fiera di Sant'Erasmo dal 1441. Nel 1444, il 31 ottobre, lo stesso cardinale Domenico da Fermo ribadisce la concessione (che doveva essere rinnovata annualmente) e permette di allungare la fiera a quattro giorni consecutivi: dal primo (vigilia della festa del Santo) al 4 giugno, decisione che il Comune accettò di buon grado. Il 30 ottobre 1445, papa Eugenio IV conferma il "privilegio" specificando che 1'esenzione è "tam entrando quam in exeundo", sia all'entrata in Fratta, sia all'uscita a fine manifestazione e riguarda tutte le persone che intervengono con le bestie e con le merci ("cum eorum animalibus et mercantiis"). Il provvedimento rimane esteso anche agli abitanti di Fratta che prendessero parte a questa fiera che in quei quattro giorni “solemniter celebratur”. Fratta fu informata del provvedimento del Papa dal cardinale legato di Perugia, Domenico da Fermo. Nel XVI secolo, invece, la durata dell'evento fu portata ad otto ed anche dieci giorni. Foto di Fabio Mariotti (quella del calzolaio dall'Archivio fotografico storico del Comune di Umbertide) Fonti: - Calendario di Umbertide 2004 – Ed. Comune di Umbertide – 2004 - Renato Codovini: Storia di Umbertide - Il Secolo XV. Dattiloscritto inedito, 1992 - A. Guerrini: Storia della terra di Fratta ora Umbertide dalle sue origini fino all'anno 1845 - Tipografia Tiberina, Umbertide, 1883 - M.G. Moretti: Salute e spezierie alla Fratta (Sec. XV - XX): Breve introduzione alla mostra, Umbertide, Biblioteca Comunale, 27 settembre - 12 ottobre 2002. Dream Service, Umbertide, 2002 - P. Vispi: Il soggiorno e l'opera di Pico della Mirandola ad Umbertide - Ed. Comune di Umbertide, 1996 La comunità ebraica Il progressivo formarsi di una piccola comunità ebraica alla Fratta probabilmente risale verso la fine del XII secolo, allorché una forte corrente migratoria di mercanti israeliti da Roma tende a diffondersi dapprima nelle città umbre, per poi espandersi verso tutto il nord Italia. C'erano grossi insediamenti e una consolidata tradizione ebraica a Perugia, Città di Castello e Gubbio. A Perugia, nel rione di Porta Sant'Angelo al quale si era aggregata la comunità ebraica di Fratta, c'era una delle due sinagoghe della città e si contavano il maggior numero di abitazioni israelite. Il periodo però non è tranquillo per il mondo israelitico italiano. Agli inizi del 1485, infatti, giunge anche in Umbria Bernardino da Feltre, che aveva imperversato nel nord Italia per ottenere la soppressione dei banchi ebrei a favore dei nascenti Monti di Pietà. Egli predica, fortemente spalleggiato dall'Ordine dei Minori, una violenta crociata antisraelitica che ottiene buoni successi. Da quel periodo comincia ad assottigliarsi a Gubbio la presenza degli ebrei. Anche Perugia e Fratta non furono immuni da forme di intolleranza, che però non raggiunsero gli eccessi registrati altrove. La comunità ebraica frattigiana, per quanto piccola (una ventina di persone), doveva avere una certa importanza economica. Già nel 1398, infatti, un certo Beniamino di Aleuccio della Fratta esercitava l’attività di banchiere a Mantova. Vi sono presenze documentate di ebrei umbertidesi dopo la metà del 1400. Abitava a Fratta, ad esempio, un ragguardevole banchiere, Dattilo di Salomone: di lui esistono testimonianze di una cospicua attività e sappiamo che in giudizio veniva rappresentato dal fratello Manuele. Il suo nome e quello della sua famiglia ricorrono più volte nella storia perugina come il gruppo finanziario di maggiore importanza. Probabilmente parenti con il finanziere Dattilo, e anche loro abitanti in Fratta, erano Salomone, Elia e Davide "Dactoli". Quest'ultimo firma, anche a nome dei fratelli, una petizione alla magistratura perugina nel 1483. Altra attività, oltre quella bancaria, nella quale molti ebrei godevano di grande considerazione, era l'arte medica. Nella Fratta della seconda metà del Quattrocento vi esercitarono in due. Il primo fu Manuele da Monticolo. Abitava in una casa in affitto nel Terziere Superiore (zona della Rocca) e la sua presenza è documentata dal 1477. Fra il 1484 e il 1486 c'è in Fratta Manuele di Angelo, da Padova. Questi in precedenza aveva esercitato a Montone e qui aveva abitato in una lussuosa dimora, di proprietà dei monaci di Camporeggiano, posta accanto al palazzo del conte Carlo Fortebracci, signore del posto. Di questo secondo medico rimangono testimonianze sia nell'archivio comunale di Umbertide sia in quello di Gubbio. L’attività di alcuni ebrei a Fratta era quindi a un livello ragguardevole. Ma se coloro che influenzavano la vita sociale cittadina godevano di libertà e considerazione, probabilmente non tutti avevano vita facile. C'era infatti una forte attività denigratoria contro di loro da parte dei frati minori francescani. La legislazione romana, applicata dalla Magistratura di Perugia, aveva imposto loro, già dal secolo precedente, un contrassegno sugli abiti. Consisteva in un tondo di stoffa gialla del diametro di una quindicina di centimetri che dovevano cucire sul davanti per farsi riconoscere e differenziarsi dai cristiani. Le donne, invece, dovevano essere contraddistinte da un certo tipo di veletta in testa e portare orecchini a cerchio. Tutti sapevano che era bene mostrarsi il meno possibile, ma in occasione di funerali, per arrivare al luogo della sepoltura, dovevano attraversare alcune strade scegliendole tra le meno frequentate e comunque evitando il centro del paese. Ma anche qui trovavano spesso "cristiani" che li aspettavano per dileggiarli e gettar loro addosso pietre. Questa manifestazione, detta "la sassaiola", in uso a Perugia già all'inizio del secolo (a Fratta non esiste certezza in merito), proseguirà per tutto quello successivo. Fonti: Calendario di Umbertide 2004 – Ed. Comune di Umbertide – 2004 Renato Codovini: Storia di Umbertide - Il Secolo XV. Dattiloscritto inedito, 1992 A. Guerrini: Storia della terra di Fratta ora Umbertide dalle sue origini fino all'anno 1845 - Tipografia Tiberina, Umbertide, 1883 Gli ospedali, la peste e le guerre Nel Quattrocento troviamo in Fratta sette ospedali. Appartengono a chiese o confraternite e sono tutti di piccole dimensioni, due o tre ambienti in modeste case, spesso incorporati alle chiese stesse. Di solito vi prestano la loro opera i padri Agostiniani, uno o due frati. Qui vengono ricoverati i malati poveri del paese e i viaggiatori che hanno bisogno di cure durante il passaggio a Fratta. Sant'Antonio Si trovava in Castel Nuovo, in fondo alla Piaggiola. Ne abbiamo notizia nel 1400 e nel 1404. Nel 1411 si unì all'ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova, sito anch'esso in Castel Nuovo. Aveva alcuni beni, due appezzamenti di terreno lavorativo in Villa Galera (Monte Acuto), ai vocaboli Vignale e Fossato e possedeva anche una terra al vocabolo Seripole, al confine col torrente Reggia. Santa Maria Situato anch'esso in fondo alla Piaggiola, era legalmente "unito" alla chiesa di "Pieve di Santa Maria di Castel Nuovo", almeno fin dall'anno 1397. Confinava da un lato con "le cose della chiesa" (un orto: ) e dall'altro con il "foveo" della Comunità, il fossato lungo le mura castellane (zona palazzo Baglioni). Santa Maria e Sant'Antonio Si fondono nel 1411. Nel 1423 decidono di iscrivere le loro proprietà al catasto di Perugia. La registrazione viene fatta da Giovanni Corbelli di Fratta, rettore e governatore degli ospedali, tramite un suo procuratore, Francesco di Simone. Possiedono una casa nel Borgo Superiore di Castel Nuovo e quattro appezzamenti di terreno nel comune di Montone, al vocabolo Buschi. Santa Croce E' situato nel Borgo Inferiore, nell'odierna via Soli. Risale alla prima metà del Trecento. Appartiene all'omonima confraternita che ha una quarantina di proprietà immobiliari. E' così grande il numero dei beni, che mette in difficoltà anche l'ufficio del catasto di Perugia allorché Bartolomeo di ser Nicola, procuratore della confraternita, si reca a registrarne alcuni. L’ufficiale del catasto si vede costretto a riportare l'elenco in un nuovo libro, appositamente iniziato, in quanto nel foglio riferito alla confraternita non c'era più posto. Fraternita del Corpo di Cristo o del Buon Gesù Era anche questo nel Borgo Inferiore, aderente al lato sud della chiesa di San Bernardino, non ancora costruita all'inizio del secolo. Ne abbiamo notizia nel 1448 quando, il 15 aprile, i frati di San Francesco cedono una loro casa vicina al chiostro del convento ai Disciplinati della Fraternita di Cristo. Fra le clausole, i compratori sono obbligati a "edificare un ospedale per i poveri di Cristo". Nel 1477 l'ospedale riceve un lascito di 5 fiorini per acquistare dei letti. San Giovanni Entro le mura castellane, nel Terziere di Porta Nuova, a confine della chiesa di San Giovanni (odierna via Mancini). Il 4 giugno 1455 il vescovo di Gubbio, Antonio Severi, tratta con la comunità di Fratta la cessione di un rimbocco posto fra la chiesa di San Giovanni e la casa dell'ospedale. Le sei persone nominate dal Comune per trattare la questione cedono tale pezzo di via al Vescovado a patto che serva "per i poveri dell'ospedale" e che nel termine dei sei anni il lavoro di ampliamento sia compiuto. Si trattava quindi di unire, con una nuova costruzione, la casa dell'ospedale alla chiesa di San Giovanni, in modo da ingrandire l'ospedale. Sant'Erasmo Si trovava nel Borgo Superiore, nella zona centrale detta il "Mercatale", aderente alla chiesa omonima. L’edificio è tuttora visibile nella sua interezza, anche se adibito ad abitazione. Era tenuto dai frati di Sant'Agostino, che facevano da infermieri. Aveva dei terreni in proprietà ed era il più grande ospedale di Fratta. I medici Nel Quattrocento, in Fratta esiste la figura del medico generico, detto "fisico" e quella del chirurgo, il "cerusico". Uno di questi svolgeva la funzione di medico "condotto", assunto dalla comunità che ne stabiliva diritti e doveri in un contratto notarile dal quale risultavano i casi nei quali poteva farsi pagare dai clienti e le visite ai molti poveri che doveva effettuare gratuitamente. Nell'eventualità in cui il medico aveva a che fare con una malattia molto grave o allora sconosciuta, poteva ricorrere alla clausola "pro corpore mortuo": per contratto non si assumeva responsabilità se l'ammalato moriva. In altri casi prospettava alla famiglia del malato (pagante) due somme alternative: se il congiunto guariva, avrebbe avuto la somma maggiore; se invece la cura non aveva effetto e il paziente passava a miglior vita, si sarebbe accontentato della somma minore. In questo secolo lavorano in Fratta soltanto medici ebrei. Uno di questi, maestro Manuele da Monticolo (Bolzano), operò in Fratta dal 1447. Negli anni 1484 e 1485 opera un altro "fisico" ebreo, Manuele da Pavia. Nel 1485 arriva l'israelita Emanuele di Angelo, da Padova, che abitava a Perugia. Forse ci si chiederà come mai le comunità assumessero medici ebrei. Perchè venivano pagati la metà di un medico cristiano. Il salario infatti era di 25 fiorini l’anno per un ebreo, 50 o 60 per un cristiano. Era la conseguenza dell'ostracismo dello Stato Romano verso gli ebrei e non delle differenti capacità professionali dei medici. Gli ebrei valevano come i cristiani, quando non erano addirittura più abili e più preparati. La peste La peste, presente di continuo a brevi intervalli, era la peggiore malattia che potesse capitare in questo secolo. Abbiamo poche notizie relative al nostro paese, ma siccome il contagio colpiva vaste zone, quando l'epidemia si manifestava a Città di Castello e a Perugia, sicuramente Fratta non ne era immune. Nel 1438, ad esempio, un farmacista di Fratta scrive un elenco di medicamenti da usarsi contro la peste, tra i quali, principalmente, 1'aceto. Nel 1400 la peste colpisce l'Italia centrale, soprattutto la Toscana. A Perugia e nel contado morirono 35mila (!) persone e migliaia di decessi si contarono anche a Città di Castello. Stando così le cose, pure a Fratta ci saranno stati molti contagi e conseguentemente parecchie vittime. Nel 1411 e nel 1417 la peste imperversa di nuovo. Nell'ultimo anno colpisce particolarmente Anghiari. Nel 1429 tornò a Perugia e in tutto il suo territorio, Fratta compresa. A seguito di questo la Magistratura perugina ordinò per la prima volta di controllare la salubrità delle carni in vendita nelle "beccherie". Nel 1435 scoppiò l'epidemia a Città di Castello, da marzo a novembre, ed alla fine perirono mille tifernati. Nel 1438 peste a Fratta, dove il nostro bravo farmacista descrive i rimedi che secondo lui avrebbero evitato la malattia. Un'altra ondata di contagio arrivò dieci anni più tardi e nel 1463 il morbo colpì ancora duramente Città di Castello. L’anno dopo la peste invase tutto il territorio di Perugia e il 14 settembre 1464 a Montone il Consiglio decide di "ricorrere ai santi del Paradiso per esserne liberati". Sei anni dopo, però, il feudo di Braccio Fortebracci sarà di nuovo sotto il contagio. Dal 1467 al 1476 1a peste torna ad intervalli regolari nell'intero Perugino. Nel 1478 abbiamo la notizia della peste a Fratta. Città di Castello non ne fu immune e contò cinquecento morti. L’anno successivo, a ottobre, ricominciò la pestilenza. Colpì in particolare Gubbio e Perugia. Durò tre anni e nella sola città di Sant'Ubaldo morirono quattromila persone. Nel luglio del 1468 scoppiò ancora a Perugia. Qui dimorava Pico della Mirandola che fu costretto ad abbandonare la città e a rifugiarsi a Fratta dove, in quel il momento, il morbo non si era manifestato. Questa tremenda epidemia tormentò la nostra zona e l'Italia intera ancora per molti secoli, senza che alcuna cura potesse aiutare le popolazioni. L’aceto ed altre sostanze di sapore aspro, considerate i rimedi più efficaci (anche in un grande trattato del 1610 presente nella biblioteca Vaticana), con i quali si lavavano gli abiti, i cibi e ci si cospargeva il corpo, servivano solo, purtroppo, a rendere ancor più dura la vita del tempo. Le guerre Ladislao, re di Napoli, sconvolgeva i territori dell'Italia centrale, intenzionato a conquistarne buona parte. II 25 giugno 1408 entra in Perugia. I Fiorentini ed il Papa tentano di contrastarlo con ogni mezzo e i Toscani chiamano Lodovico d'Angiò (incoronato re di Napoli dal Papa) per contrapporlo a Ladislao. Lodovico entrò negli stati della Chiesa con Malatesta da Pesaro, Angiolo della Pergola e Braccio Fortebracci. Quest'ultimo, prima di unirsi al d'Angiò, si era portato a Città di Castello e nei pressi di Fratta aveva sconfitto Giulio Cesare da Capua, capitano del re Ladislao, forte di duemila cavalieri. Nel 1411 Braccio Fortebracci tornò in Umbria, sorprese Montone e Fratta seminando distruzione e spavento, si diresse poi verso Perugia, che conquistò nel 1416, due anni dopo la morte di Ladislao. Scomparso Martino V nel 1431, Niccolò Fortebracci, nipote di Braccio, giunse a Città di Castello e in pochi giorni s'impadronì di gran parte dell'alta valle del Tevere. I perugini tentarono con ogni mezzo di dissuaderlo, ma alla fine tutto risultò vano. Più efficace si rivelò l'annuncio dell'arrivo di un esercito inviato dai Fiorentini ed altri alleati, tra i quali i conti di Montefeltro: oltre quattromila cavalli e molti fanti stavano dirigendosi verso il territorio tifernate, ma Niccolò Fortebracci non ne attese l'arrivo ritirando le forze a Montone, dove provvide a organizzare la difesa. E quando il 18 luglio 1431 seppe che i Fiorentini erano rientrati in Toscana, uscì da Montone, piombò sui castelli vicini conquistandoli. Il 12 agosto giunse alla Fratta Niccolò Piccinino con centocinquanta cavalli, diretto in Romagna; l'anno seguente arriveranno tremila fanti e cavalieri al comando di Francesco Sforza, in lotta con Niccolò Fortebracci, e notevoli danni provocheranno agli abitanti. Successivamente si aggiungeranno i soldati di Francesco Piccinino e dell'arcivescovo di Napoli governatore di Perugia, i quali, in contrasto tra loro, transiteranno per il territorio di Fratta e apporteranno lutti e violenze. Fratta vide giungere nel suo territorio, nel 1475, una gran moltitudine di persone per una sommossa scoppiata nel territorio tifernate. Nel 1479 si riaccese violenta la lotta tra Perugia e Fiorentini ed il nostro territorio subì ingenti danni. Molti castelli vennero distrutti, gli abitanti crudelmente uccisi. Capitano dell'esercito fiorentino era Niccolò Vitelli, scomunicato dal Papa. Dal 1488, alle lotte tra popolani (raspanti) e nobili (beccherini) a Perugia se ne aggiunsero altre, coinvolte le famiglie Baglioni e Degli Oddi, con disastrose conseguenze per tutti. I Degli Oddi furono cacciati, ma tentarono di procurarsi alleati e soldati, specialmente nel Ducato di Urbino, per rientrare in città. La venuta in Italia di Carlo VIII e la politica del Papa offrirono loro l'occasione per tentare di recuperare Perugia. I luoghi di rifugio dei fuorusciti erano tre: il territorio dei duchi di Urbino, parenti di alcuni Papi, di Siena e Fratta, dove volsero inizialmente le armi i Baglioni, informati che in questa zona avevano trovato asilo i Degli Oddi. Era l’anno 1495: all'abbazia di San Salvatore di Monte Acuto (Montecorona) giunsero Guido ed Astorre Baglioni con mille fanti e duecento cavalli; si riorganizzarono in fretta, andando a piazzare le artiglierie nei pressi della chiesetta di San Pietro di Romeggio. Ai primi colpi, gli uomini del Baglioni si resero conto che i proietti facevano più danno alle case che alle mura di Fratta, essendo queste a terrapieno. D'altra parte numerose erano le sortite degli assediati che quotidianamente riuscivano a ricevere aiuti da Assisi, Urbino, Matelica, Siena, Foligno e da altre terre amiche. I Folignati, intanto, si erano fatti promotori della formazione di un esercito che, verso la fine di agosto, al comando di Niccolò e Sforza Degli Oddi, si stava dirigendo alla Fratta. I Baglioni, conosciuta l'iniziativa, abbandonarono l'assedio di Fratta e ritornarono a Perugia, inseguiti dai nemici fino a Corciano. La battaglia fu combattuta il 4 settembre 1495 con vittoria dei Baglioni. Fratta, una settimana dopo, temendo rappresaglie per aver dato ospitalità ai Degli Oddi, tornò a sottomettersi ai Perugini. Fonti: Calendario di Umbertide 2004 – Ed. Comune di Umbertide – 2004 Renato Codovini: Storia di Umbertide - Il Secolo XV. Dattiloscritto inedito, 1992 A. Guerrini: Storia della terra di Fratta ora Umbertide dalle sue origini fino all'anno 1845 - Tipografia Tiberina, Umbertide, 1883 PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA A FRATTA Arrivò nell’antico borgo fortificato nell’estate 1486 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola e Fratta: un connubio che dette risultati fecondi. Il grande umanista, originario appunto di Mirandola, in provincia di Modena, celebre per le capacità intellettuali e la prodigiosa memoria, arrivò nell'estate del 1486, spinto da un'epidemia di peste scoppiata a Perugia dove si era rifugiato in seguito alla burrascosa vicenda amorosa con la moglie di Giuliano di Mariotto de' Medici, fiorentino. II borgo fortificato di Fratta offriva garanzie di un buon isolamento sanitario dal contagio, essendo completamente circondato dalle acque ed avendo soltanto due ingressi (la porta del torrione decagonale all'inizio del ponte sul Tevere e la porta della Campana), dai quali era facile controllare ogni persona che entrasse. A Fratta trovò un ambiente sereno, tranquillo nonostante gli echi delle lotte politiche tra Perugia, il Papato, Firenze e Città di Castello. Non è fuori luogo pensare che alloggiasse in una qualche casa del Terziere Superiore, a contatto con la folta e ricca comunità israelitica locale. Opportunità unica per uno studioso di cultura e di lingua ebraica. Di pari passo, Pico migliorò le proprie conoscenze anche in aramaico ed arabo per approfondire quelli che chiamava i tesori delle letterature orientali: Zoroastro, gli Oracoli dei Maghi, gli scritti di Esra e Melchiar. Rapporti molto intensi con quel mondo, quantunque anche a Fratta spirassero i venti della crociata antisemitica promossa dal frate minore Bernardino da Feltre. Sono dello stesso periodo "Commento alla canzone d'amore" di Girolamo Benivieni, "Elogio della pace" e lettere a personaggi di chiara fama: Taddeo Ugolini, Marsilio Ficino, Domenico Benivieni. Alcune lettere scritte da Pico durante la sua permanenza a Fratta si traducono in uno spaccato della vita sociale del tempo. Intanto, completa l"'Oratio de dignitate hominis", considerata il manifesto del Rinascimento. Secondo fico, la dignità dell'uomo è nell'assoluta libertà di scelta, nell'essere aperto a qualsiasi possibilità di vita. Nessuno ha una "natura" predeterminata da leggi, stretta entro limiti precisi. Libero "fabbro" di se stesso, a differenza delle altre creature, l'uomo può scegliere tra decadere al rango dei bruti o sollevarsi al divino, attuando in sé, ancora mortale, la congiunzione del finito e dell'infinito. Concezione "rivoluzionaria", nata all'ombra della Rocca e maturata da fonti eterogenee quali Platone, Aristotele, Ermete Trismegisto, Tommaso d'Aquino, la Cabala. Poco prima della morte, avvenuta nel 1494 a soli 31 anni, Pico della Mirandola si accostò alla predicazione di Girolamo Savonarola, alla cui difesa si dedicò appassionatamente, scrivendo due opere rivolte alle autorità ecclesiastiche ed una lettera intesa a sollevare l'opinione pubblica. Tutto inutile: il 23 maggio 1498 fra' Savonarola venne condannato ed arso a Firenze, accusato di eresia. Il soggiorno di Pico a Fratta fu quindi fecondo. E c'è da essere orgogliosi che abbia scritto proprio qui il manifesto del Rinascimento e la più alta celebrazione della centralità e libertà dell'uomo nel suo rapporto con Dio. Testi presi direttamente dal volume di Pietro Vispi “Il soggiorno e l’opera di G. Pico della Mirandola ad Umbertide” Dalla prefazione (o meglio non prefazione, come la definisce l’autore Gianni Codovini) “All’Autore (e non solo) Innanzitutto un grazie per averci restituito un pagina veramente alta della nostra Fratta, nonché per averci consegnato un rigoroso esempio di ricerca storica e un coerente metodo di lavoro, che sembra derivato non solo dai suoi profondi studi teologici e giuridici, ma anche mutuato da una persona - Renato Codovini - alla quale la città di Umbertide, ed io stesso in primis, dobbiamo gratitudine e stima, tanto per il suo essere l'inarrivabile fonte archivistica locale quanto per il suo meticoloso e discreto modo di orientare giovani studiosi ed esperti ricercatori nello studio storico e documentario. Non credo di allontanarmi dal vero, o perlomeno di non far violenza alla volontà dell'Autore se affermo che, Don Pietro Vispi, con l'abituale sensibilità intellettuale che conosciamo ed apprezziamo, riconosce il debito metodologico nei confronti di Renato Codovini in quella affettuosa e bella dedica in calce al libro che, credo, tutti condividano. Nel congedarmi dall'Autore e dal Lettore, consegno una mia impressione generale che vado sempre più confermando, che è quella poi di un intellettuale a me caro, Benedetto Croce: «ogni vera storia è storia contemporanea»(1). Condizione prima ed essenziale della storia - scrive Croce - è che il fatto, che si prende a narrare, vibri nell'animo dello storico. Ne consegue che ogni storia «se è davvero storia se cioè ha un senso e non suoni come discorso a vuoto», è contemporanea, sia che prenda in esame eventi remoti sia che consideri fatti vicini o presenti. Tale la morale generale che ho rafforzato leggendo il prezioso libro di Pietro Vispi.” Umbertide, settembre 1995 Umbertide, Tishri 5756. Gianni Codovini Note: 1. Vds. B. Croce, “Teoria e Storia”; Laterza, Bari, 1976, pp. 1-5, ma anche “La storia come pensiero e azione”, Laterza, Bari; 1938, pp. 170-172. Il soggiorno a Perugia ed in Fratta “Il periodo di tempo che riguarda il soggiorno perugino e poi a Fratta è in verità molto breve, ma, se rapportato alla brevissima vita del conte, e soprattutto poi a quanto e come in questo breve lasso egli abbia prodotto, potremmo quasi dire che sia stato uno dei più importanti vissuti da Pico. Come già detto nelle brevi note biografiche, nella primavera del 1486 Pico è di ritorno da Parigi e, dopo aver sostato qualche tempo a Firenze, volendo, pare, dirigersi alla volta di Roma, allorché fu in Arezzo, il 10 di maggio, si trovò invischiato nella non chiara faccenda del rapimento di Margherita, moglie di Mariotto de' Medici. Come sappiamo, l'intervento del Magnifico mise fuori dai guai Pico, che, o per già deciso programma, o per altra ragione a noi sconosciuta, si ritira a Perugia. Nasce abbastanza spontanea la domanda: come mai Perugia? Una risposta potrebbe essere data guardando bene gli interessi di Pico contemporanei all'avvenimento. Giovanni aveva finora studiato con estrema profondità la filosofia specialmente aristotelica e averroistica, ma proprio questo studio “chiariva al Pico l'urgenza di risolvere il problema dei rapporti fra le sempre più ardite sue dottrine e la religione cattolica, quale è insegnata dalla Chiesa di Roma. Sotto l'incalzare di questo problema, anche i suoi studi orientali prendono un indirizzo nuovo. Finora sotto la guida di Elia, aveva soprattutto studiato il pensiero arabo nel suo più grande esponente: Averroè. Ora si volge verso pensatori che abbiano fatto oggetto di riflessione l'esperienza religiosa e, partito da Maimonide, si addentra nel campo del pensiero ebraico finché, affascinato dalle più esuberanti correnti mistiche, nelle immaginose interpretazioni simboliche dei testi scritturali crede di aver trovato una soluzione ai suoi problemi e una via di uscita per le sue difficoltà"(1). Così egli comincia a studiare la Cabbala(2), utilizzando questa non tanto dal punto di vista dottrinario, quanto invece come metodo esegetico scritturale. La confidenza con i testi dell'ebraismo era nata già a Padova attraverso l'iniziazione avuta dal del Medigo e continuò poi a Firenze, diventando vera attrazione, in seguito all'amicizia sorta col Mitridate; anzi, abbiamo certa notizia dell'organizzazione, proprio in casa di Pico, di convegni di ebrei per discutere i rapporti di interconnessione filosofica fra ebraismo e cristianesimo. I due maestri però non proponevano a Giovanni la stessa ottica; l'uno, Elia, israelita ortodosso, conosceva la Cabbala ma la rigettava come sapere spurio, l'altro, convertito al cristianesimo, era invece un fervente cabbalista. La differenza tra i due fu la causa di una reciproca inimicizia che durò tutta la vita; Pico comunque non interruppe i rapporti né con l'uno né con l'altro. Il giovane conte resta dunque affascinato “dalla dottrina misteriosa, che Elia e Mitridate gli espongono; con notevole spesa egli si procura quei libri che legge con indefessa fatica; il risultato di tali letture è che Pico trova addirittura nei documenti della cabbala , oltre a dottrine filosofiche degne di Pitagora e di Platone, la conferma piena dei fondamentali misteri del cristianesimo, tanto osteggiati dagli ebrei intransigenti”(3). Perugia, per quanto diremo nel capitolo seguente, era il luogo adatto ed ideale per la conoscenza e l'approfondimento dei testi cabalistici, luogo con una forte e colta comunità israelitica, centro di produzione di codici e città qualificata da uno Studio di ormai antico prestigio. Del soggiorno perugino abbiamo molte testimonianze ricavabili dagli scritti di Pico, di Elia(4), del Ficino, e proprio a Perugia Giovanni fu raggiunto da Elia del Medigo; un ricco e fecondo colloquio intercorse tra i due, ma fu presto interrotto: nel luglio a Perugia scoppia un'epidemia di peste che consiglia l'allontanamento dalla città. Il rifugio, da Pico, fu trovato in Fratta. Noi non sappiamo i motivi precisi della scelta, ma forse, proprio la presenza nel piccolo centro di una qualificata comunità ebraica, oltre il tranquillo isolamento anche sanitario, che il munito nucleo urbano poteva offrire, non dovrebbero essere stati argomenti ignorati da Pico. Va poi sottolineato un particolare che, per quanto accidentale, ci ha molto incuriosito: nell' Oratio, allorché Pico afferma che la cabbala stessa diviene strumento di confutazione per gli ebrei... “integralisti”, egli ci dice di aver convinto alla dottrina trinitaria cristiana un coltissimo israelita, esperto di cabbala, di nome Dattilo(5). Sappiamo noi per certo, e lo illustreremo nel capitoletto apposito, che di sicuro uno dei massimi esponenti della comunità ebraica perugina, originario ed abitante di Fratta, era, all'epoca di Pico, proprio un certo Dattilo di Salomone, facoltoso banchiere. È solo sicuramente una pura coincidenza, quella appena descritta, e da questa non vogliamo certamente trarre conclusioni indimostrabili; essa tuttavia è causa di legittime suggestive fantasie. Due parole vogliamo spenderle a chiusura di questa parte per dimostrare come la Fratta, nella quale Pico si trattiene, sia l'attuale Umbertide. È vera la constatazione che di “Fracta” o “Fratta” la toponomastica del perugino ne annovera più di una: Fracta Filiorum Azzonis (Collazzone), Fracta Filiorum Fusci (Castiglion Fosco), Fratta di Guido (F. Todina), Fratta Cornia (nei pressi di Lisciano Niccone), ecc., però, nessuna mai viene citata in alcun documento senza la specificazione patronimica. L'unica Fratta, per antonomasia, in quanto anche centro senza dubbio più ragguardevole degli altri, e massima fortezza perugina, è Fracta Filiorum Uberti, che nella seconda metà dell'ottocento muterà il proprio nome in quello di Umbertide. Già dal 1145, in un diploma di Eugenio III, pubblicato negli annali camaldolesi(6) - e sempre in seguito, così come del resto fa lo stesso Pico e come sempre si riscontra nella cartografia ufficiale pontificia - Fracta Filiorum Uberti viene indicata col solo termine di "Fratta" o Fracta" senza il timore di cadere in equivoci di interpretazione o di definizione toponomastica. Giunge pertanto Pico nella nostra regione, desideroso di studi, di approfondimenti personali, di serenità, in previsione del grande progetto romano. Egli trova una realtà ambientale ed umana che certamente gli aggrada e lo stimola se qui rimane fino all'immediata vigilia della, purtroppo mai sostenuta, disputa.” Pietro Vispi Note: 1. E. Garin, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Vita e Dottrina, Firenze, 1937, p. 27. 2. La Cabbala, o Cabala, significa “tradizione”, e divenne una delle componenti culturali del Rinascimento. Essa non è di facile definizione, consiste sostanzialmente in una forma di misticismo giudaico tuttora non molto studiato. Tale misticismo ebbe buona diffusione nel Rinascimento, e specialmente nel mondo cristiano fu utilizzato come metodo di esegesi biblica. La chiesa è sempre risultata diffidente nei confronti della cabbala tanto che dalla controriforma in qua essa venne vietata, così come tutti i testi di origine ebraica. 3. G. Di Napoli, op. cit., 55. 4. Cfr. Heliae Hebrei Cretensis, questio de ente et essentia et uno. Venetiis, 1546, fol. 142/r (volume contenente Super octos libros Aristotelis…, di Giovanni di Jandun) 5. Cfr. Oratio…, Trad. di E. Garin, fol. 139/r., Firenze, 1942. Foto di Fabio Mariotti Disegno di Adriano Bottaccioli Fonti: - Calendario di Umbertide 2004 – Ed. Comune di Umbertide – 2004 - Renato Codovini: Storia di Umbertide - Il Secolo XV. Dattiloscritto inedito, 1992 - Pietro Vispi: Il soggiorno e l’opera di G. Pico della Mirandola ad Umbertide – Ed. Comune di Umbertide - 1996 Disegno di A. Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004) La Rocca nel 1912 ed oggi. Nella foto più antica si può vedere il torrione laterale ancora coperto e le facciate della case diverse da oggi La zona dove si pensa esistesse la gualchiera Disegno di A. Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004) Disegno di A. Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004) 1911. Il calzolaio a Montecorona Disegno di A. Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004) Disegni di Adriano Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004) Disegno di A. Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004) Disegni di A. Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004) L'Abbazia di Montecorona La chiesa di Romeggio Disegno di A. Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004) Disegno di A. Bottaccioli (Calendario di Umbertide 2004)

The Railway Bridge over the Tiber 1900 edited by Simona Bellucci After the unification of Italy, rail projects arose in abundance, also because the construction of the national network was in full swing and all the municipalities saw in the railway connections the possibility of getting out of isolation. In 1866 a Florence-Perugia-Rome railway was inaugurated, which placed Umbria on the main railway axis. It passed from Terontola to Umbertide and Perugia. It did not last long, because as early as 1875 a railway from Terontola to Chiusi was inaugurated that cut off Perugia and Terni from the main axis. From here began the disasters for the railways of the region, because that stretch was abandoned. Alongside the main lines, the government also financed the secondary ones, which is why in 1880 a consortium was formed in Arezzo between various municipalities for the construction of an Umbrian-Arezzo railway, of which the municipality of Città di Castello was diligent advocate, a commitment that gave the hoped-for results in a short time, as already in 1886 the section of the Arezzo-Fossato di Vico Central Apennine Railway was inaugurated with a length of 133 km. The narrow gauge railway that passed through Sansepolcro, Citta 'di Castello, Umbertide, Gubbio, fulfilled an important function of connection between the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic. In fact, it was connected to the line for Florence on one side and for Ancona on the other, but the winding route with considerable slopes, meant that it was not so useful. However, it continued to carry out its function until it ceased its service during the Second World War due to the damage it suffered. Railway line in Umbertide in 1901 Umbertide, however, felt the need to connect also with the most important neighboring city and capital of his province: Perugia. The municipal council wanted to commit itself to this, also because interest was growing on the part of other centers, in fact Terni also wanted to connect with Perugia. In 1899 a conference was held in Terni on the project of a railway line up to Umbertide, passing through Perugia, after which a few years later in 1911 the construction of the railway began and on 12 July 1915 the line was inaugurated. From the initial steam traction, in 1920, we moved on to electri fi cation. Umbertide was an important connection center, because there was a coincidence between trains coming from Perugia and direct or towards Arezzo or towards Ancona. Railway station railway in Umbertide in about 1910 and construction of bridges and toll booth in Montecorona in about 1935. The two railway lines passing through Umbertide, the Arezzo-Fossato di Vico line and the Umbertide-Terni line, although not particularly efficient, especially the first, nevertheless fulfilled a fundamental function of connection. He became aware of this especially in the last phase of the war period, when both interrupted the connections due to the damage caused by the bombings carried out by the Allies, in order to make the retreat of the German army more difficult and for the collection of rolling stock. by both the Germans and the Allies. The rolling stock and sleepers were used to rebuild temporary bridges, to restore the minimum necessary connections. The two lines suffered different fate after their destruction. The whole railway from Umbertide to Terni had been damaged. The first section put back into operation was the southern one to connect Perugia with Terni and only later work was resumed for the northern section, that is from Perugia to Umbertide. However, the latter reopened quite early, in 1948, and once again fulfilled its important liaison function. What remains of the railway line in the section between Gubbio and Umbertide. There are two tunnels under the current route of the Statale: proceeding from Umbertide in the direction of Gubbio, immediately after the town of Camporeggiano, the first one you meet is on the orographic right of the Assino, then crossing the river on the pipeline bridge you meet the second on the orographic left. Photos and information: Eugenio Baldinelli lawyer In addition to the workers in the workshop, the people of Umbria also boasted a high rate of employment among the traveling staff and train drivers. The railway therefore represented an important and quality source of employment in the local context, with about 150 employees. The railway also had two dormitories at the terminus of Sansepolcro and Temi for the traveling personnel, in operation since the nineties. It played an undoubtedly modern factor in an area which, isolated from the motorway network, was unable to escape from its isolation even when a late construction of the E7 motorway was prepared. The company that took care of the railways was the FAC until the war period, after the war the "MUA", then it was replaced by the "FCU", then by "BUS Italia" and now it has passed to the "Rete Ferroviaria Italiana". Today the railway network is fully back in operation after the problems on the line of the last decade. In a difficult period, many came to hypothesize the possible disposal of part of the railway structure. A young architect from Umbertide, Alessandro Venturelli, worked on his degree thesis on the possible reuse of the railway workshops with internal technical tables at the time that it was feared for its disposal: “ City Market Museum of Umbertide. Restoration and reuse of an abandoned railway area ", academic year 2012/13 at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Florence. The link refers to the thesis page. The image allows you to access the thesis with the tables that Alessandro has made available. https://www.umbertidestoria.net/tesi-di-laurea Sources: - Simona Bellucci: Umbertide in the 20th century 1943-2000, Nuova Prhomos, 2018. - https://www.trenidicarta.it/aperture.html - Umbria-Apennine Railway Photos and information - Avv. Eugenio Baldinelli - Photo: historical photos of Umbertide from the web and from various private archives to which we applied the " umbertidestoria " watermark in this way we try to avoid that the further disclosure on our part favors purposes not consonant with our intentions exclusively social and cultural. Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

Pasquale Municchi Memorie di un internato militare umbertidese a cura di Giovanni Codovini Pubblichiamo grazie al prof. Giovanni Codovini un documento importante sul destino di uno dei tanti IMI, la sigla usata per indicare i soldati italiani catturati dalle forze tedesche subito dopo l'armistizio dell'8 settembre 1943. Hitler, dopo il rifiuto a collaborare, negò loro lo status di "prigionieri di guerra" per sottrarli alla tutela della Croce Rossa, definendoli "Internati Militari" e destinandoli al lavoro forzato nei lager della Germania nazista. Leggi il libro Queste alcuni estratti dal libro del prof. Giovanni Codovini che ringraziamo a nome di tutta la comunità Umbertidese: “La pubblicazione odierna delle memorie dell’Internato militar Pasquale Municchi soggiace a questa operazione, aggiungendosi alle molte testimonianze degli oltre seicentomila IMI, che furono un pezzo di «un’altra Resistenza» poiché dissero no al fascismo repubblichino e al nazismo. Un’altra Resistenza, certamente, diversa per modi, caratteri e situazioni dalla Resistenza partigiana, ma non per questo meno rilevante…” [...] … “le memorie scritte dell’umbertidese Pasquale Municchi, nato nel 1919 a Liscione Niccone ma vissuto prevalentemente a Preggio e partito soldato nel febbraio 1940, lo testimoniano con l’asciuttezza di scrittura e con il concreto realismo, lasciando dietro di sé ogni retorica senza indugiare nel personalismo, che dice la sua grandezza umana e, parallelamente, integrano autorevolmente le altre voci e fonti, sedimentandosi ad esse. Proprio per questa sua narrazione fattuale, la testimonianza di Pasquale si presenta come una fonte di grande significato storico, che aiuta a ricostruire esattamente la faticosa esistenza e il tragico itinerario dei tanti militari italiani internati dalla Germania nazista in collaborazione e con la complicità della Repubblica di Salò. Così, sostanzialmente, il racconto di Pasquale si articola in tre grandi momenti, come in una sequenza filmica: la ferma militare, poi l’immediata esperienza della guerra nel territorio greco-albanese e nella polveriera dei Balcani, infine, dopo l’8 settembre 1943, l’internamento nei diversi campi di concentramento e di lavoro situati nel confine mobile germanico-russo-polacco. Un vissuto che lo porta ad una finale quanto coerente conclusione morale, che diventa però un giudizio storico inappellabile da parte della generazione resistente degli IMI. Un giudizio netto e chirurgico - che vedremo successivamente -, da chi ha sperimentato direttamente la verità della Storia.”… Il libro è leggibile direttamente da qui o cliccando sul tasto e sull’immagine sopra. "Pasquale Municchi, Memorie di un internato militare umbertidese "; a cura di Giovanni Codovini, Umbertide - Stampa Digital Editor 2026 © Società Storica Umbertide Edizioni © Fondazione “Città di Umbertide”

Dialect (edited by Francesco Deplanu) The "dialect" of our areas, like any "language", it is changeable, it is a stratification of influenced terms from historical events, such as the Umbertidese dialect term "luzzino", dialect term attested both in Sansepolcro and in Città di Castello and Pietralunga, usually referring to a child who does not sit still or to a very fast one: according to Professor Mattesini (biturgense), teacher for many years of "History of the Italian language" and "Dialectology" at the University of Perugia, it would derive from the Greek " luchnos " which means "torch", from which by extension "lightning" ... or from the Greek of the 5th century with the domination of the Eastern Roman Empire in "Byzantine corridor". The varieties linguistic locales, such as language they manage to convey to us the continuity of what we call "history", a cultural stratification that is used, without awareness, even by those who come to live in Umbertide from other countries, especially from children born here. As for this aspect that links history and language, what we know of our dialect was incomplete and not very thorough for a long time. In one of the most complete Italian attempts to give life to a "new story" that was publishing in the 70s, de la " History of Italy series ", for example, there is a notable lack of knowledge of the dialect of Upper Umbria. In fact, as regards the sociolinguistic paper by Corrado Grassi which indicates the limits of the use of " imo " to " go " present in " Words and tools of the peasant world " within vol. 20 of the " Atlas Images and numbers of Italy " volume edited by Lucio Gambi, of the " History of Italy " series (gigantic and innovative work of 1976 reprinted by “Sole 24 ore, in Turin in 2005), we cannot fail to notice that this map does not show any particularities present in our dialect. Here it is reported, in fact, in table n. 2 " Conservative and innovative linguistic areas of the Latinity of Italy " with a line called " d " the northern limit, which goes from the Conero directly to Rome, of the persistence of the verb “ire” in central southern Italy (for example “ imu ” in Sicily, “ iamme ” in the Neapolitan for “let's go”) due to the different modality in which Latin in the linguistic Romanization of the peninsula took root on the previous linguistic substratum. Grassi reports that this persistence of Latin came instead replaced by " vadere " throughout the "Romània" with the exception of very areas further south of our Umbertide, as reported above. Notoriously, however, the use of dialectal terms of this type in our area is present and still in common use even among the youngest: “ gimo ” for “let's go” and “ gite ” for “go”. Image reconstructed in simplified and approximated form on the basis of some information present in Table 2, " Conservative and innovative linguistic areas of the Latinity of Italy", by Corrado Grassi. Today we can say that several things have changed. From the point of view of linguistic knowledge of the Umbertide dialect, the remarkable work of prof. Sestilio Polimanti and in his " Vocabulary of the dialect of Umbertide and its territory. Collection of lexicons, proverbs, idioms, nicknames, stornelli and toponyms "; precious work of knowledge already begun in the other works he has curated on the Tiber since the 90s: “ The Tiber and Umbertide ” "recently reprinted by the" Società Storica Umbertide Edizioni "(2018). Source: - " Words and tools of the peasant world " by Corrado Grassi vol. 20 of the " Atlas Images and numbers of Italy ", edited by Lucio Gambi, in " History of Italy Series ", Sole 24 ore, Turin 2005. Table 2, " Conservative and innovative linguistic areas of the Latinity of Italy", pp. 437. - https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Italia.svg - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Map_of_Italia.svg/376px-Map_of_Italia.svg.png Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

TEXTS and LINKS to CONSULT In this section you will find the references to the printed texts published and to the online resources of Umbertide history. Like the whole site, this list is also up for grabs. Please let us know about new or escaped "resources" to be included in "Bibliography" and "Sitography". BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Antonio Guerrini: History of the land of Fratta now Umbertide from its origins to the year 1845 (for Antonio Guerrini completed by Genesio Perugini) - Tip. Tiberina Umbertide, 1883 2. Francesco Mavarelli: Historical information and praise from the Company of Disciplinati of S. Maria Nuova and S. Croce in the Land of Fratta (Umbertide) - Stab. Tipografico Tiberino, 1899 3. Francesco Mavarelli: On the art of blacksmiths in the land of Fratta (Umbertide) - Memories and documents - Stab. Tipografico Tiberino, 1903 4. Umberto Pesci: History of Umbertide - Tip. R. Fruttini, Gualdo Tadino, 1932 5. Giulio Briziarelli: Umbertide and Umbertidesi in history - Unione Arti Grafiche, Città di Castello, 1959 6. Bruno Porrozzi: Our Castles - History and legend - Ed. Italian Red Cross, Subcommittee of Umbertide, 1959 7. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbertide in images from the 16th century to the present day - Ed. Pro Loco, Umbertide, 1977 8. Bruno Porrozzi: Statutes of the Fratta dei Figliuoli di Uberto (Umbertide) of 1521 - Ed. Pro Loco Umbertide, 1980 9. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbertide and its territory: history and images - Ed. Pro Loco, Umbertide, 1983 10. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbria, city region - Ed. Politecnico Perugino, Umbertide, 1986 11. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbertide - Origin and aspects of socio-health services - Ed. Mavarelli Middle School, Umbertide, 1988 12. Controstudio: Recovery and Restoration Project of the Teatro dei Riuniti in Umbertide - Ed. Tema, 1990 13. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbertide - Man in toponymy - Ed. Pro Loco, Urnbertide, 1992 14. Nicola Lucarelli: Domenico Bruni (1758 - 1821) - Biography of an emasculated singer - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide, 1992 15. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbertide - Rights of the former Preggio hospital - Ed. Pro Loco, Umbertide, 1993 16. Raffaele Mancini: ... At midnight we bet on the rising of the sun (San Faustino south) - Ed. Nuova Phromos, Città di Castello, 1993 17. Walter Orebaugh - Carol Jose: The Consul (An American diplomat joins the Italian Resistance) - Ed. Centro Socio Culturale S. Francesco Umbertide, Nuova Prhomos Città di Castello, 1994 18. Renato Codovini - Pietro Vispi: Luca Signorelli's paintings at Fratta Perugina - Polyglot Printing House of the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 1994 19. Mario Tosti: Beautiful works! (Information, documents, testimonies and images on life and death events that occurred in the Municipality of Umbertide during the Second World War) - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide, 1995 20. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbertide - The Middle School from 1860 to today - E. Pro Loco, Umbertide, 1995 21. Mario Tosti: Five cypresses - June 24, 1944 Retaliation in Serra Partucci - Local publishing group, 2013 22. Maria Cecilia Moretti - Lorena Beneduce Filippini - Fausto Minciarelli: The Tiber and Umbertide (edited by Sestilio Polimanti) - Tipolitografìa Petruzzi, Città di Castello, 1995 23. Renato Codovini - Pietro Víspi: The living room and the work of Pico della Mirandola in Umbertide 24. Gian Luca Radicchia: The Sacred Hermitage of Monte Corona - Ed. Guerra, Perugia, 1997 25. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbertide - The work of Francesco Mavarelli - Ed. Pro Loco, Umbertide, 1998 26. Simona Bellucci: Le Tabacchine (A city, a factory: the Umbertide plant) - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide, 1998 27. Bruno Porrozzi: Umbertide - Me ne sgulìno (Essential vocabulary, idioms, nicknames, sayings, proverbs, aphorisms and ... more in the Umbertidese dialect) - Ed. Pro Loco, Umbertide, 1999 28. Pietro Bottaccíoli, Luigi Marioli - Anna Rita Vagnarelli: Pilgrims on the roads of Romualdo and Francesco - Ed. GESP, Città di Castello, 1999 29. Bruno Porrozzi: Statutes and Orders of the Fraternity of Santa Croce in Fratta (Umbertide) from 1567 to 1741 - Ed. Pro Loco, Umbertide, 2001 30. Roberto Sciurpa: Umbertide from the origins to the sixteenth century - Petruzzi Editore, Città di Castello, 2007 31. Renato Codovini - Roberto Sciurpa: Umbertide in the 17th century - Ed. GESP, Città di Castello, 2004 32. Renato Codovini - Roberto Sciurpa: Umbertide in the XVIII century - Ed. GESP, Città di Castello, 2003 33. Renato Codovini - Roberto Sciurpa: Umbertide in the 19th century - Ed. GESP, Città di Castello, 2001 34. Roberto Sciurpa: Umbertide in the 20th century 1900 - 1946 - Ed. GESP, Città di Castello, 2005 35. Roberto Sciurpa: Avis - Solidarity citizenship 36. Giovanni Bottaccioli: Penetola, not all the dead die - Municipality of Umbertide, 2005 37. Marilena De Vecchi Ranieri: Civitella Ranieri - a thousand years of history, by the "Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello Foundation" 38. Between memory and history - the allies in Perugia and Umbria - Perugia, 1998 a edited by the "Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello Foundation" 39. Giuseppe Cozzari: The Burelli family of Umbertide 40. Raffaele Mancini: Letter to a brother - Municipality of Umbertide, 1998 41. Edited by Luana Cenciaioli: Umbrians and Etruscans - border people in Monte Acuto and in the territory of Umbertide - Municipality of Umbertide, 1998 42. Angelo Boldrini: My diary (edited by his daughter Roberta) - Nuova Phromos, 1992 43. Alberto Briganti: Beyond the clouds, the serene - Nuovo Studio Tecna - Rome, 1994 44. Alessandro Cancian: Umbertide 1944 - 1946 - Municipality of Umbertide, 1994 45. Bruno Guerri - Giulio Pieroni: Proposal for the recovery of the historic core - Municipality of Umbertide, 1994 46. Luca Bruni: Letters from the Russian front - Municipality of Umbertide, 1994 47. By Prof. Claudia Picottini and class III A 2004-05 of the middle school “Mavarelli-Pascoli: Grandfather, tell me about the war - Municipality of Umbertide, 2005 48. Simona Bellucci: Tobacco and tobacconists - Tobacco Museum - San Giustino, 2009 49. Giovanni Cornolò - Giuseppe Severi: The Umbrian Central Railway - Arcipelago Edizioni - Milan, 2004 50. Umbria Research Agency: Umbertide. Economy and society: the municipality and the territory - Perugia, 2008 51. Angelo Galmacci: Verna - between history and legend ... - Municipality of Umbertide 52. Edda Corgnolini: I'll tell you, I've told you, I'll tell you again - Municipality of Umbertide, 2004 53. M. Enrica Sacchi De Angelis: The castles of Santa Giuliana .... - University of Perugia, 1984 54. Francesco Alunni Pierucci: Socialism in Umbria (1860-1920) - Perugia, 1960 55. Luca Sportellini: The Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Assunta in Rasina - Fabrizio Fabbri Editore, 2011 56. Renato Codovini: Jewish presence in Fratta Perugina in the 14th and 15th centuries - Local Publishing Group, 2011 57. Renato Codovini: The Conventual Franciscan friars of Fratta Perugina - Umbertide 2011 58. Renato Codovini: Study of a Lombard military surveillance tower and a house annexed to it in the eighth century - Umbertide, 2012 59. Pietro Vispi: The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria della Reggia - Umbertide, 2001 60. Simona Bellucci, The incomplete modernization. Farmers and owners of Umbertide between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Edimont, Vittà di Castello, 2004. 61. Mario Tosti: “Our ordeal” - Ed. Petruzzi - Città di Castello, 2005 62. Giovanna Benni: Castle and rural lordships in the Upper Tiber valley between the Early and Late Middle Ages. The territory of Umbertide (Perugia, Italy) Oxford, John and Erica Hedges 2006 pp. VIII-198 tables papers (British Archaeological Reports (BAR). International Series 1506. Notebooks on Medieval Topography. Documentary and Field Research 4), 2006. 63. Amedeo Massetti: Two centuries on the march - Umbertide and the band - Petruzzi Editore, Città di Castello, 2007 64. Mario and Menco. The doctors of the past ..., - Silvano Conti, Edimont, 2007 65. Paola Avorio: “Three walnuts” - Ed. Petruzzi - Città di Castello - 2011 66. Scortecci Donatella (edited by): The middle and upper valley of the Tiber from Antiquity to the Middle Ages: proceedings of the study day ; Umbertide, May 26, 2012 - Daidalos, 2014. Of this latest publication we insert specifically the internal sections that see several young Umbertidesi as authors: The historical-archaeological landscape of the Upper Tiber Valley between Antiquity and the Middle Ages Scortecci, Donatella. • p. 3-18 For an Archaeological Map of Umbria in the framework of the Regional Landscape Plan Ciarapica, Ambra • Manconi, Dorica. • p. 19-28 The centuriate landscape of Tifernum Tiberinum and Perusia: first considerations Waiters, Paolo • Mattioli, Tommaso. • p. 29-62 Settlement news from the Sansepolcro area. Population dynamics from the Paleolithic to the Early Middle Ages Laurenzi, Gian Piero. • p. 63-100 The ancient road system in the Upper Tiber valley Boldrini, Luca. • p. 101-143 Umbertide, the Tiber and the territory Cenciaioli, Luana. • p. 145-162 Old and new acquisitions in Umbertide: the testimonies from the territory and the excavation of Piazza del Mercato Occhilupo, Sergio. • p. 163-184 A small Villanovan burial ground in San Martino in Campo di Perugia near the Tiber Occhilupo, Sergio. • p. 185-196 The temple in loc. Caipicchi (Nogna) Fiorini, Lucio • Di Miceli, Andrea. • p. 197-216 The reuse of play buildings in post-Roman Umbria Marcattili, Francesco. • p. 217-236 The Upper Tiber Valley between the Early and Late Middle Ages: urban settlement and rural landscape. Benni, Giovanna. • p. 237-288 The castle of Certalto between written sources and material data Pascolini, Alessio. • p. 289-322 67. Sestilio Polimanti: "Vocabulary of the dialect of Umbertide and its territory. Collection of lexicons, proverbs, idioms, nicknames, stornelli and toponyms", Nuova Prhomos, 2018. 68. Simona Bellucci: Umbertide in the 20th century 1943-2000, Nuova Prhomos, 2018. 69. Angelo Angeletti: “If only the stones are left to speak”, Digital book Srl, Città di Castello, 2019. 70. Pietro Vispi (and photo by Paolo Ippoliti): "Talking stones." If they keep silent, the stones will cry. "., Local publishing group, Umbertide, 2021. NB: For the dissemination of the history of Umbertide, with an in-depth study of the popular traditions of our area, we recall the project with the 25 issues of the " Calendar of Umbertide ". Calendars published from 1992 to 2016 by Adriano Bottaccioli, Fabio Mariotti, Amedeo Massetti, Walter Rondoni, Mario Tosti. SITOGRAPHY Historic portal of the Municipality of Umbertide: http://www.umbertideturismo.it/Storia-History-Imphotos-e-video-Images-and-videos-Manifestazioni-Events-Musei-Museums-Monumenti-Monuments-Tevere-Tiber Umbertide GAAT website: http://www.netemedia.net/gaat/umbertide.htm Santa Croce Museum: https://www.sistemamuseo.it/ita/2/musei/54/umbertide-umbria-museo-comunale-di-santa-croce/ Historical Association of the Upper Tiber Valley: https://sites.google.com/site/altoteverestorica/Attivit SIUSA (Unified Information System for Archival Superintendencies) on Umbertide: http://siusa.archivi.beniculturali.it/cgi-bin/pagina.pl?TipoPag=prodente&Chiave=50311&RicProgetto=reg-umb&fbclid=IwAR2ydRABe1Uw3MxVbj3WkZrexe4eu0lBSPZe_991_1LwwGoww Ranieri di Sorbello Foundation: http://www.fondazioneranieri.org/it/la-fondazione/ Statutes of the Fratta : http://www.cemir.it/easyne2/Download.aspx?Code=CEMIR&filename=Archivi/CEMIR/PDF/0000/624.PDF NB: information on the Bibliography up to 2001 comes from from the site: http://www.umbertideturismo.it/content/download/238724/2541781/file/Libri%20sulla%20storia%20di%20Fratta%20-%20Umbertide.pdf Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com EH Carr "Change is certain. Progress is not "

THE HISTORY OF UMBERTIDE AVIS FROM 1959 TO 1995 From the book by Roberto Sciurpa "The blood of Fratta" curated by Fabio Mariotti THE PIONEERS The founder In the summer of 1959 the topic under discussion in the city bars and other meeting places certainly centered on the trial of the year: the Fenaroli crime, committed in September '58, but whose sensational implications were coming to light. in that time. It was talked about all over Italy, with the usual alignments between innocentists and guilty parties, as always happens in sensational and circumstantial trials. But in Umbertide there was a reason for greater interest. If the killing of his wife is not a usual exercise, and therefore makes news on its own, a witness of Umbertian origin and resident in Rome intervened in decisive support of the accusatory thesis. So enigmatic was that trial, which ended with the life imprisonment of Fenaroli and Ghiani, that it had after-effects, to say the least disturbing, even in our days if the revelations reported by Antonio Padellaro, in his book "Do not open to murderers", had a reliable foundation. But there were also those who thought of other things. Mariano Migliorati , in addition to carrying out his activity as a physician led by the Municipality, worked at the local hospital as a surgeon and gynecologist. The hospital of Umbertide, already during Fascism, had been downgraded to an infirmary and this status was still in force. Not having, therefore, a staff of its own, it availed itself of the work of doctors conducted on the explicit and formal assignment of the Municipal Administration. Only in 1969 will it be reclassified to hospital status with the consequent preparation of its own staff and with the possibility of planning adjustments and expansions that are still visible today. Dr. Migliorati was a gruff type in appearance, but good-natured, helpful and generous in substance. He knew how to combine the calm and reflexivity of his character with a decision-making and operational capacity worthy of all respect. He listened patiently, as he peered with a penetrating and understanding gaze that never made one uncomfortable. For these human qualities, as well as for the professional ones of the highest level, he instilled trust and security and was appreciated by all the citizens of Umbria. Not surprisingly, immediately after the Liberation, he was appointed "Mayor" of the city: the first, after the Fascist era. The official document of the Allied Military Governor, who had jurisdiction over the area, is very hasty. It limits itself to saying that Mariano Migliorati was appointed in the first week following the Liberation of Umbertide, which took place on 5 July 1944. Therefore, his appointment and his installation take place between 6 and 12 July 1944. He was 32 years old; was born on September 9, 1912. He remained in office for only a few months and resigned on 2 September 1944 to hold the position of chief physician of surgery at the hospital of Umbertide, a function incompatible with that of mayor since, for the reasons already set out, he would have found himself in the position of controller and controlled. The Allied Military Governor writes verbatim that this task was conferred by the desire of the population. It is an eloquent expression that indicates three things: the choice of the thirty-two year old mayor was prudent, being a very popular and respected character; his resignation was not related to dissent; the young doctor enjoyed such professional appreciation that he was preferred in the irreplaceable role of surgeon, rather than in the alternate role of representative of the community. Migliorati showed no attachment to the armchair and chose, without hesitation, the professional activity, like all those who have a profession, love it and honor it. He will remain in the hospital for a long time, until it is reclassified in 1969. In the summer of 1959, realizing the absolute need for blood, thanks also to his profession, he promoted a committee to set up a first nucleus of donors that could face the emergencies of the Umbertide hospital. The members of the Committee, in addition to him who was its soul, were Raffaele Mancini , Lamberto Beatini , Marta Gandin and Aurelia Nocioni. At the beginning it was a difficult job, both in terms of proselytism and organization, as always happens in the creation of the new, but the tenacity and wisdom of Doctor Mario and his collaborators overcame every obstacle. Along the way, the idea of founding a real section whose aims went beyond local borders took on more and more substance. He worked hard on this project, until 29 October 1969, when, during a visit to one of his patients in Niccone, he realized that the sudden illness he felt would be lethal. Any attempt to rescue was in vain. He left quickly, without disturbing anyone, he who in life and in his profession had chosen to be disturbed. Of Mariano Migliorati, the first mayor of the city after the Liberation, an appreciated and well-liked doctor, a talented gynecologist, a surgeon imposed by the desire of the population, founder of the AVIS section, only the elderly are remembered, even for some of his quick and happy jokes, and among some year will be covered by total oblivion. The younger ones, through no fault of their own, don't know who he was. In the sudden and voluminous urban expansion of our city and in the wide repertoire of street toponymy that had to be imprinted, not an alleyway, not a flowerbed bears his name. (Ed - After the publication of this volume, a street was dedicated to him in the expansion area of the city towards the Fontanelle). The naming of the streets does not respond only to administrative and logistical criteria, much less are they used by the dead since they do not appear to make them a reason for pride or ostentation with others. They have a meaning for the living as a testimony of a value, a document of a reality, a message of perennial relevance, gratitude for a remarkable work. Therefore, it becomes difficult to understand the inspiring logic, at least of a part, of the street toponymy of Umbertide and of certain systematic and deliberate silences which, in a small community, are hardly justifiable and very eloquent. Seven streets are named after Italian regions (Umbria, Tuscany, Piedmont, Marche, Lazio, Lombardy and Calabria) and eleven by cities (Siena, Perugia, Bologna, Rome, Florence, Venice, Novara, Pisa, Genoa, Naples and Turin). Upon immediate reflection, a badly concealed predilection of the Umbertidese community for central and northern Italy would seem to transpire. The flowers (azaleas and geraniums) and the ordinal numbers (3rd - 5th - 23rd - 28th - 33rd - 50th street) have bothered, as in the American metropolises, large yes, but poor in history. I stop here. Doing so dries up the memory and neglects the dutiful and grateful union with those examples that must link the past to the present. Unless the people in charge of managing public affairs have the modesty and the certainty to believe that history begins with them. I did not know Bruto Boldrini, but he should have been a balanced and generous man, as well as a present, wise and appreciated administrator for being the only contemporary Umbertide to have a street named after his name. I am delighted, but the exception proves the rule. In one of the AVIS rooms, hanging on a wall, there is the framed photograph of Doctor Migliorati, with an expression that hints at a thin smile and with the usual serene and penetrating gaze. Every time I look at it, the lines of a poem by Trilussa written in 1942 and full of bitter irony about the society of the time come to mind. It is called Lómo useless and describes the feelings of the poet through the mouth of a fetus, in spirit, which has a hand attached to the nose: "But instead I am drento ar museum, I look at the people and I make marameo. ...". Doctor Mariano Migliorati was not useless, even if he is locked up in the museum of oblivion. The committee The committees have a provisional function, aimed at achieving an objective or establishing stable and definitive bodies that can pursue the established goals and set up the appropriate organizational structure. With this understanding, the Committee, set up by Mariano Migliorati, set to work in that summer of 1959. Its members were well-known and credible personalities in the city environment, engaged in a professional activity that had forced them to the attention and esteem of the population. Marta Gandin and Aurelia Nocioni were the two Principals, respectively of the "G. Pascoli" Middle School and of the "Mavarelli" Professional Training; Raffaele Mancini and Lamberto Beatini, two elementary teachers. Beatini was secretary of the first Umbertide Didactic Circle; Mancini will become one of the second, a few years later, as soon as it is established. Aurelia Nocioni, generous and capable, sensitive to social problems and available to the spirit of service, which she already practiced with the boys in her professional activity, lavished energy and passion in this work. Marta Gandin, determined and strong-willed, was no less, and in the rigor rich in humanity, combined with the strong sense of duty, which has always distinguished her, she re-proposed those family values that were already witnessed by her father's brother, that General Antonio Gandin , Gold Medal, Commander of the Acqui Division, who on 24 September 1943 was murdered by the Germans, together with five thousand soldiers, in the massacre of the island of Kefalonia. Lamberto Beatini, the gentle giant, represents historical continuity. He was present then, in the constitutive phase of AVIS, and is now present in the life of the section, as a member of the Board of Directors, of which he has always been a part since its establishment in various roles, including that of President. The AVIS will not get rid of him easily, fortunately, and we will meet him later. Raffaele Mancini was not only the secretary of the committee, but also the right hand of Doctor Migliorati, and at that time he held the position of councilor of the municipality and of the hospital. In the initial phase, his work was instrumental. It should be remembered that the Umbertide hospital had been downgraded to an infirmary and for its redevelopment to a third category hospital, a substantial strengthening of the two nursing departments (medicine and surgery) then existing was necessary, with the creation of auxiliary services, the increase in hospital stays and building extensions. This objective began to be pursued with great tenacity since 1952 with the Benedetto Guardabassi administration and then continued with that of Alessandro Renzini until 1969, when the coveted recognition was formally granted. The hospital and the citizens of Umbria owe a lot to Renzini, Guardabassi and Mancini because it was precisely to their insistence and their personal sacrifice that our hospital obtained the desired requalification. Naturally, as always happens among humans, once things have been done, everything appears easy, due and taken for granted and to put it in a very significant rural proverb, the cage is made, the bird is dead. Those who most of all had worked to reach the goal and whose docility had been hardened by the obstacles encountered and overcome, did not enjoy the success for long as they were set aside for opportune alternation. Among the auxiliary services to be activated, that of blood donors was also taken into consideration. Mancini aims at a twofold purpose: that of strengthening the hospital for the reasons set out above and the other of constituting in Umbertide a service of high social and human value that was extremely valuable for any hospital emergencies. I spoke at length with Mancini, who in addition to having a fresh memory of past events, also has a good personal archive on the administrative events of which he was the protagonist. And he tells: "Dr. Migliorati, who came from a serious experience in Milan, immediately understood the great importance that a nucleus of local donors could have and, therefore, set to work briskly. The Board of Directors of the institution (the hospital), in perfect agreement with the initiative, made its administrative secretariat available to Migliorati for the necessary bureaucratic acts and invited me to closely follow the interesting attempt. The doctor immediately referred me the most urgent problems to be addressed, such as: - the possibility of visiting the volunteers who wished to register in the hospital outpatient clinic; - a room where to keep the medical records and the register of visits; - the purchase of the necessary material for the bureaucratic formalities. Thus it was that, with the approval of the President and the Council, they too understood the enormous importance of creating a group of donors available to our health facility (not only for the legal recognition of the hospital, but especially for the defense of citizens' health), I flanked, for the bureaucratic part of the work, Dr. Migliorati and his first collaborators: Maestro Lamberto Beatini, 1st Dean of the Middle School, Prof. Marta Gandin and the Dean of Vocational Training, Prof. . Aurelia Nocioni and some other willing people whose name escapes me now. I placed myself at the doctor's complete disposal to perform the functions of secretary and to draw up the first donor records. I had a small room adapted in the mezzanine of the hospital where the folders and other material relating to the nascent service were kept. Thus, the first nucleus of Volunteers was born spontaneously, but marked by great seriousness, which was to give life, then, to the AVIS Section of Umbertide, whose importance and availability are still cited today as a model of solidarity and altruism in the time of need, and also as a model of organizational efficiency. I believe I can affirm that, if in 1969 the Umbertide infirmary could be reclassified as a third category hospital, this is also due to the creation of our AVIS, as a support body of primary importance to the health unit ". The logistical and bureaucratic support, therefore, for the first years, is ensured by Mancini in the name and on behalf of the hospital administration, while the other members of the Committee carried out proselytizing work for a kind of voluntary service that was not so well known and widespread. as it is today. In the fatigue of the first moments, there are also some pleasant episodes. I mention one. During the thorough and meticulous examination, Dr. Migliorati asked an would-be donor if he had ever had mumps. The person concerned, who was unfamiliar with medical terminology because he was a typographer, asked what the mumps were and the doctor made it clear that it was the mumps. The typographer, known for having not really reduced auricles, replied promptly: "Ah, I was born with those!". The seed was now sown, and in fertile soil. This small group of bourgeois, to use a terminology then more in vogue than now, had created the premises for one of the most urgent and indispensable voluntary associations to help life and nourish hope. It must be acknowledged that the school world is in the front row. This school, like a karst river, appears only in moments of acute social crisis as accused of omissions and insensitivity, which generally belong to others, but it is always present in a happy and creative way even when, hidden and silent, it runs through its course. At the end of that year there were seven AVIS members. The magnificent seven The Committee began the search for volunteers starting from the known people who resided in Umbertide, following a centrifugal path. Do not forget the demographic and social situation of the city and its surroundings, described above, because the history of AVIS is closely linked to the evolution of that factor. As the capital of the municipality expands, so does the number of memberships and donations. The phenomenon recurs even today, in the youth sector, in the sense that the settlements of high schools, factories and services, appropriately reached by the AVIS propaganda, have determined a considerable influx of young and very young donors, more tiring in the fragmented reality of a time. The first adhesions, therefore, are those of volunteers close to the members of the Committee or their friends. At the head is Lamberto Beatini who affirmed his Avisian faith not only as an organizer, but also as an active member (he is the only member-donor of the Committee) who periodically underwent regular withdrawals over the following years, until the statutory provisions, relating to age limits, have allowed this. Followed by Bruschi Fernando, a veterinarian, who for professional reasons has left the city to visit it every now and then. Gambucci Luigi is the third, among the first to be called and among the most present and active in the daily life of the Section, even today. Gigetto is one of the pillars of AVIS, alongside a few others, and without his presence and his commitment, perhaps I would not be here writing this story. He works a lot, with dedication and competence, not only now that he is retired, but also before, when he was employed and then director of the local Post Office. Benedetto Guardabassi, the good and combative professor, could not miss it, just as he never missed any appointment in which something had to be built for Umbertide. He too represents a good piece of history, not so much of AVIS because his participatory state, through no fault of his own, did not last long, but of the post-war Umbertide reality. Rondini Aldo, a calm and taciturn traffic policeman, immediately boarded that Avisian train, making an important contribution as the only representative of the municipal employees in the group of seven. Silvestri Francesco, an elementary teacher, fully honored his choice and the always punctual response to the call for withdrawals demonstrates this abundantly. The last of the seven is Valdambrini Mario, an elementary teacher, who with generosity and enthusiasm answered the first call. Also in this case the school world offered strong signals of presence, implementing in practice the values of civic solidarity that in the classrooms it transmitted, in theory, to the pupils. By now the Committee was facilitated in its work, since these first seven donors became, in turn, the best external persuaders to increase the adhesions to the new initiative. And they were also ready in replying to the call for withdrawal if at the end of that year, according to what the individual files tell us, they managed to make a total of ten donations in just a few months. Not only that, but their avisian longevity demonstrates that the initial adhesions were not dictated by short-lived outbursts of enthusiasm if three of them were awarded the gold medal for the fifty donations achieved (Beatini, Gambucci and Silvestri). It is worth mentioning a few other characters who, at this starting point, had an important role, even if they were on the other side of the needle. He was a bleeder and not a donor. I refer to Staccini Mario (Mariolino) and to Lotti Italo. They were the pickers and, very often, also the authors of the donor calls. On the other hand, their work as technicians within the hospital placed them in a privileged observatory in terms of recording emergencies. They too were, in their own way, spreaders of the AVIS novelty and some good bottles of blood will have come out smiling when hearing Mariolino's jokes, to the benefit of the patient's depression. Valuable help was also offered by Franco Natali, the first collaborator of AVIS (1960), who worked generously for the affirmation of the Avisian voluntary service. His popular work continues today within the section. I pionieri La crescita I donatori I pionieri GROWTH Fervor and industriousness After the initial impulse, in 1960 there was a situation of worrying stagnation. The adhesions did not rise according to the hoped rhythm and throughout that year there was only one, that of Mario Cerrini. Donations also suffered a halt: only nine over the entire year, compared to ten in the last part of 1959. It was a physiological phenomenon, typical of the introduction of every novelty and linked to the difficulty in finding information tools for adequate propaganda, to the mental reserves with respect to a form of voluntary work, such as that of the gift of blood, which had not entered the common culture, waiting for the majority, who wanted to realize the following received. This state of affairs continued into the following years as well. In fact, 1961 did not yet allow the leap in quality. There were only two new members, Alpini Mario and Valdambrini Maria, with an evident drop in donations: seven overall, with an average of less than one for each donor. The situation did not improve in 1962 with only one new presence, that of Norberto Conti. On the other hand, donations increased slightly and reached the number of twelve. A sign of recovery occurs in 1963 with four inscriptions (Baldoni Domenico, Foni Raffaele, Sonaglia Luigi and Tognellini Rolando) and 14 samples. With Rolando Tognellini, from Pierantonio, the world of hamlets enters the group. The initiative was not in decline, but its growth was struggling and it was now clear that the difficulties were inherent in the organizational structure. The Committee had carried out its task very well and could not be asked for more, in addition to the promotional launch already given. The fervor and enthusiasm were not subsided, but alone they were not enough to pass from the avant-garde to the system. It was a question of asking for inclusion within the National Association of Blood Volunteers, to have an explicit and formal recognition by the provincial AVIS, to acquire the official Statute and to establish the governing collegial bodies. Among other things, there was to settle all the previous paperwork that went from the regularization of the membership, to the periodic call for withdrawals and the timely registration of the same. In the Garibaldi phase of the beginning, there was limited to the essential: visits to donors, the preparation of their folders and a provisional registration of donations. It also seems obvious to me that he acted like this. It was important to reach the goal and not get lost in the maze of procedures. But, by now, the time had come to take a reflective pause and from it emerged the not inconsiderable element that an efficient Board of Directors, in terms of external visibility and propaganda, would have been much more valid and appropriate than a spontaneous Committee that had operated with merit, but also exhausted the propulsive charge of the initial moment. These aspects were carefully evaluated by the members and Dr. Migliorati himself, meanwhile delegate of the provincial president of AVIS, Mr. Vincenzo Innocenti, was indicating the path that should be taken. Which then was only one and consisted in the preparation of all the requirements to have the recognition as a municipal section. The adhesions reached were not exceptional, just 15 in just over three years, but there was a lot of passion, combined with the desire to go forward in the certainty, not unfounded, of giving life to a Sodality that could reach remarkable levels. The awareness of the goodness of the purpose and the knowledge of the soul of the people of Umbertide, who never back down in times of need and solidarity, moved the intentions of the first donors, who had clearly seen the path to take. On the other hand, the experience and prestige of Doctor Mario, the founding doctor, instilled courage and confidence. Therefore, the time had come to make the qualitative leap, urgent and indispensable. We are moving towards the foundation of the AVIS Section of Umbertide. The birth of the section Foligno has always been at the forefront in the promotion of humanitarian initiatives and the coordination of the provincial AVIS, in 1963, was based in the city of San Feliciano where the President Vincenzo Innocenti resided. The same thing happened for AIDO (Italian Association of Organ Donors). In this regard, there is an episode that is worth remembering. In the autumn of 1977, the provincial councilor Hans Schoen, of Foligno, asked me to receive a person in my capacity as councilor for health of the province. "He is worthy of esteem.", He said to me, "He is a priest. Listen to him, then you will tell me." And he added no more. A few days later a priest showed up, already over the years, but still vigorous in appearance, his face with marked features and hollowed out by deep wrinkles. He told me his name was Don Pietro Arcangeli and to take care of the coordination of AIDO on behalf of the Bergamo headquarters. After having illustrated the aims and characteristics of the Association, he solicited my interest in a more stable organizational structure at the provincial level. And we talked about something else. The meeting and subsequent contacts with Don Pietro were a reason for reflection and interior enrichment. His generous humanity and willingness to serve suffering did not arise only from the pastoral mission he had chosen or from the reading and practice of the Gospel, but also from the profound knowledge of another book of the New Testament: the Apocalypse of the Mathausen concentration camp, from which he had had the rare privilege of coming out tried, but alive. Shortly after, the AIDO di Umbertide municipal group was formed and, later, also the provincial AIDO, based in Perugia. Don Pietro left us, giving us the work he had carried out on his own. Hans too is gone and his untimely and unexpected death took away from his family an exemplary father and from politics an intelligent and capable, open and honest servant. But let's get back to our topic. The Perugins arrived later, with the important contribution of the organization and the greater diffusion of the associative image, also due to their proximity to the buildings that count. The first nucleus of Umbertide donors, therefore, made contact with Foligno and in particular with Vincenzo Innocenti, the provincial president of AVIS. On June 2, 1963, the General Assembly of Members was convened at 8.30 at the hospital premises. Vincenzo Innocenti was also present, who assumed the presidency of the Assembly, convened to discuss three items on the agenda: the report by the delegate Dr. Mariano Migliorati, the constitution of the AVIS municipal section of Umbertide, the appointment of the Board of Directors and other corporate offices. Raffaele Mancini, appointed secretary, recorded the progress of the work in a detailed and precise manner. At the opening of the session, the President officially declared the UMBERTIDE MUNICIPAL SECTION AVIS and addressed words of applause to the donor members and thanks to dr. Mariano Migliorati and the members of the promoting committee, who had given life to the Association. Migliorati took the floor and reported on the activity carried out by the Committee, referred to the posters posted in 1961 and the consents and concrete contributions that followed, so much so that he could allow the opening of a postal current account with 125,850 lire, partly already spent for propaganda, the competition held in schools and insurance for members. The organizational situation was also described in detail: 44 the applications presented, 27 the diagnostic tests performed and 17 to be performed, the suitable 19, the unsuitable 8. The balance sheet was somewhat spartan: AVIS only had a refrigerator, donated by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and a wooden cabinet, donated by the Hospital of Umbertide. The report was unanimously approved. It was necessary to proceed to the election of the statutory bodies and here arose the first obstacle that Innocenti solved with intelligent speed. The statutes are made for the established bodies and not for those to be established and, according to the literal application of the rules, it would have been necessary to appoint an electoral commission to prepare for the holding of regular elections, with the loss of other precious time. Being a new institution, Innocenti unified the procedures. The commission was appointed (Cerrini Mario, Silvestri Francesco and Silvestrelli Antonio) which, on the spot, started the electoral operations, after having established that the Board of Directors would consist of five members. Silvestri Francesco, chairman of the commission, directed the voting operations. The Assembly was attended by 17 members, but only 15 voted because Dr. Migliorati and Raffaele Mancini, the only two present on the organizing committee, abstained. I report the names of the seventeen participants in the Assembly and, in parentheses, the votes obtained. It should be noted that, in addition to the presence of Raffaele Mancini as a collaborator, there are some donors who had already undergone the suitability visit with a positive outcome, but were not yet formally registered. It is the practice of the Section, in fact, to start the registration not from the moment of the presentation of the application, but from that of the acquisition of the active participatory status, which begins with the first donation. Present were: Migliorati Mariano, Mancini Raffaele (10), Alpini Mario (2), Beatini Lamberto (12), Cappanna Alberto (6), Ceccagnoli Orlando, Cerrini Mario (4), Faloci Serafino (7), Foni Raffaello, Gambucci Luigi (3), Guardabassi Benedetto (8), Pucci Angelo, Rondini Aldo, Silvestri Francesco (4), Silvestrelli Antonio (5), Sonaglia Celestino (2), Tacconi Mario (7). The five most voted members were elected: Beatini Lamberto, Mancini Raffaele, Guardabassi Benedetto, Faloci Serafino and Tacconi Mario. Another vote and another ballot for the election of the Auditors, with the following results: standing auditors: Alpini Mario, Cerrini Mario and Gambucci Luigi; Alternate auditors: Baldoni Domenico and Silvestrelli Antonio. Without proceeding to vote, the board of arbitrators was appointed by acclamation, consisting of the Mayor of Umbertide, Cavalaglio Umberto, the President of the IRB Celestino Filippi and the Director of the Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia, Umbertide branch, Carlo Bufalari. Again by acclamation, Doctor Mariano Migliorati was given the position of Medical Director. All the elected bodies would remain in office until the end of the year, since the Statute at the time provided for an annual and not a three-year duration for the corporate offices. The Board of Directors met immediately after the closing of the Assembly for the distribution of offices within it and agreed, without many dividing preambles, that Beatini Lamberto was the President, Mancini Raffaele the Secretary and Tacconi Mario the Bursar. From that Sunday of 2 June 1963, the anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic, Umbertide had its AVIS Section, with all the statutory bodies elected and animated by a great operational will, the banner and the Members, who represented the true capital of the newly formed Association. Beatini and his friends on the Board began to work with great determination, especially in the propaganda sector. The results were seen very quickly because the number of members of the Association, from that year onwards, increased dramatically. On the more strictly bureaucratic and administrative level, very little could be done because the lack of an adequate location will prevent, for some time yet, the complete deployment of the available energies. On January 19, 1964, just six months after the first, the Shareholders' Meeting met to proceed with the renewal of the offices. Already the Donors had reached the number of forty and twenty-five of them were present at the meeting. The statutory provisions on the electoral procedure, even in this circumstance, were opportunely disregarded. There was no need to set in motion secret voting mechanisms for the renewal of a Council that had been installed six months earlier and which needed a longer period of time to carry out the announced programs. Antonio Silvestrelli, therefore, proposed the reconfirmation of all the positions assigned by acclamation and the Assembly stood up clapping his hands, while the President, Mr. Adriano Pasquarelli, Vice President of the provincial AVIS, twisting his mouth, timidly made a present that the procedure was not quite regular but, since it was a particular situation, an exception could be made. Headquarters Even after the constitution of the section, the logistical reference was that of the mezzanine at the hospital. There was no better and more the hospital administrators could not offer. A different, even if not definitive, arrangement was necessary. It was not possible to manage a sodality in evident growth and in defense of vital emergencies, with only a refrigerator and a wardrobe. It needed an easily accessible address, a minimum of furniture, a telephone. Until then, the first partners had also fulfilled the commitment of domestic availability, calling each other in case of need. From the very first meetings, therefore, the Board raised the problem of the seat. The situation did not improve when, after leaving the hospital, the section found accommodation in via Leopoldo Grilli, in the building of Mario Codovini, which was used as the headquarters of the ECA. I say accommodation just to be clear and certainly not why it was so in reality. The space reserved for AVIS consisted of a passage corridor and, given the use of the ECA, one can imagine that the traffic was intense, creating evident operational difficulties. The urgency of an adequate and definitive solution is gaining momentum. And both the oral history, narrated by the protagonists, and the documentary one, described in the minutes of the meetings of the time, indicate with what commitment and tenacity this objective was pursued. The problems were twofold: the economic one of finding resources and the functional one, relating to the structural characteristics and location of the headquarters. In terms of economic resources, Beatini and the other members of the Board worked hard on all fronts, soliciting contributions and making savings. In the session of 1 July 1965, the Board decided not to make the social trip to set aside an economy to be allocated to the headquarters. The decision was ratified by the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of the following 25 July. The argument was resumed at the Ordinary Assembly of November 4, 1965 and the need was argued to seek every way to increase the capital of the section (subscriptions, parties, limitation of any superfluous expenditure) in order to be able, by the end of next year , put in concrete terms the problem of the purchase of the registered office. As we can see, following an ancient and healthy popular wisdom, among the sources of income (subscriptions and parties) there is also the limitation of expenses, according to the ineluctable logic that, if the revenues are important, the prudence of the their use. With these criteria, the section will go ahead in an agreement and without hesitation whatsoever. On the other hand, the orientation regarding the structure and location of the headquarters was more vague, at least in this first moment. In the aforementioned Assembly there is talk of purchase and the expression clearly indicates that the intention was to buy a building that already exists and is available on the market. It is no coincidence that in the meeting of the Board of Directors on October 14, 1966, the problem was re-proposed in concrete and more explicit terms. President Beatini, after having communicated that 1,761,940 lire was available, pointed out that in via IV Novembre there was an apartment for sale at the price of 2,500,000 lire negotiable. The building was a little out of the way, but it could have done with us. The Council took note and undertook to submit the proposal to the Assembly. The following November 4, the Assembly was confronted with the problem of the apartment of four rooms which, with the demolition of a base, would become three, obtaining, in compensation, a room of m. 4x9 (little more than a dining room) for meetings. Any other solution would have been more expensive. The Assembly gave a mandate to negotiate, but no one negotiated. Tacconi, the bursar, did not express himself in the circumstance. Obviously, the purchase of the building did not convince anyone for reasons of location and scarcity of surface, much less Tacconi, who was thinking about different solutions. Mario Tacconi, who entered the first Board of Directors and has always been reconfirmed to date, was the soul and mind of AVIS in all circumstances, dividing himself between the position of head of public works of the Municipality and the activity of Avis volunteer. Even now that he is retired and with some health problems, he does not spare himself and his presence and his contribution are decisive for the life of the section. It is an irreplaceable pillar of AVIS. The organizational and functional explosion of the Umbertian Sodality is due to him and a few other executives. Tacconi, therefore, did not express himself at that meeting, because the solution did not convince him. Instead, he will express himself in that of the Board of Directors of 9 February 1967 in which he proposed the construction of a new headquarters, rather than the purchase of an inadequate structure. It was decided to call the Assembly immediately on the 19th of the same month to discuss the proposal. On that occasion, Beatini illustrated the hypothesis of choosing an area in the very central area of the old market, the opportunity of a tailor-made venue, and the like. Then Tacconi intervened who, having seen the building land, as a good surveyor, already had the project in mind. The report says: Tacconi goes on to illustrate, in its general lines, what would be the construction to be carried out and the possible savings that could be realized during the course of the work (to be carried out in economy), taking into account the current of sympathy among the population and the possibility that building contractors, transporters, skilled workers, unskilled workers, etc. can give free services, thus significantly reducing the costs that will be incurred for the construction, up to the coverage of the building. The building itself, which may have a size of m. 12x14, will consist of a hall on the ground floor, several rooms on the upper floor and, taking into account that the land used forms a certain depression with respect to the street level, carrying out the construction so that the floor of the aforementioned hall rises from the floor. of countryside of about m. 2.50, the lower part can be used as a warehouse, or for the heating system in the event that one day this system becomes necessary. In his capacity as financial director, he informed the Assembly that the financial situation of the section was as follows: postal current account 521,545 lire, deposit at the Cassa di Risparmio lire 600,000, deposit at Monte dei Paschi lire 631,360, deposit given to the seller of the land 400,000 lire and so for a total of 2,152,000 lire. He also pointed out that during the course of the work it was possible that the public bodies, given the good performance of the same, decided to intervene with extraordinary contributions. As you can see, the site is meticulously described in its current structure. The Assembly approved the proposal and gave a broad mandate to the Board to proceed with the utmost promptness. The subsequent formalities followed one another with enviable speed, considering the bureaucratic slowness of our public apparatuses. Architect Narciso Mariotti was commissioned to prepare the project, which saw the light in a very short time and, confirming the contributions provided by Tacconi, the professional offered his work completely free of charge. On 6 June 1967, the notary Mario Donati Guerrieri drew up the deed (Repertoire n.76519) with which the owners of the land, Wanda and Giacomina Rosini and Pierina Guardabassi widow Rosini, donated the building area to the AVIS section of Umbertide, whose value was calculated in 400,000 lire. On June 8, 1967, the building permit was granted (F. 59 - P 82) by the Municipality. The excavation work began and on Sunday 23 July 1967, with a solemn ceremony, in the presence of civil authorities (the mayor Cavalaglio) and religious, members and numerous citizens, the first stone was laid. The solidarity competition was unleashed by transporters, companies, workers to the point that a loan was drawn up with the Cassa di Risparmio of only two million which, together with the accumulated savings, allowed the coverage of construction costs . The attachment of the people of Umbria to their Avis section, as well as for reasons of solidarity and culture, is linked to the history of participation, involvement and legitimate pride that began here. The following year there was the official inauguration. It was May 26, 1968. In ten months the work had been completed! The ceremony was solemn and was celebrated in the presence of national and regional AVIS authorities, civilians, religious, and a large presence of citizens who, after Holy Mass, concluded the rite at the table. The headquarters were built, central, beautiful and functional. The furnishings were missing. And the solidarity competition continued with two talented artisans from Pierantonio, Giuseppe Ugolini and Rolando Sonaglia, who offered their free work to create the excellent and robust full-wall wooden shelving, which are visible and appreciable in the premises of the section. A few years later, for the needs of custody of various and voluminous materials, necessary for the planned activities (charity fishing, equipment for stands, etc.), the SEAS company granted the section a large basement of a new building for use, located in via Roma. In 1994, the section became the owner of it for twenty years with the consent of SEAS, the disinterested contribution of the surveyor Gilberto Pazzi and of the lawyer Vittorio Betti, who promoted and followed the issuance of the sentence of misappropriation by the Judicial Authority , renouncing their fees. Starting from the initial refrigerator and wardrobe, generously donated, AVIS now has a heritage worthy of respect, which belongs to all the citizens of Umbria. The affirmation The verification of the affirmation of a Sodality has two parameters of measurement: the number of members and the consensus enjoyed within the territory. The latter, in particular, is crucial in not making it appear an elitist phenomenon, entrusted to enlightened avant-gardes. There is no doubt that the voluntary service of blood donation soon entered the consensus and sympathy of the people of Umbria, who have always supported it in a generous and concrete way. The initial balls, the bicycle ride, the charity fishing, the donor's dinner, the social outing, have always recorded a massive participation of several hundred people, testifying to an attachment that is not episodic and occasional, but the result of a deep conviction and a widespread culture, which has made its way around the drop of blood. The economic contributions that the families of Umbertide pay to AVIS, through the bulletin attached to the Christmas newspaper, are not only the confirmation of a consolidated solidarity, but also the vital food that allows the deployment of initiatives and does not make the volunteers who work there every day. The annual budget of the section, approximately 40,000,000, is made up of three basic items: the proceeds of donations by the ULSS, the voluntary contributions of supporters and benefactors and the proceeds of some initiatives, such as charity fishing. While the former represent, in theory, certain and predictable income, the other two are entrusted to a magnanimity that may not always be certain and predictable. A real paradox occurs in Umbertide: certain entrances become uncertain, certain uncertainties. To be more explicit, it is good to remember that the regional contributions to be paid to the AVIS sections, through the territorial ULSS, established by a formal agreement with the Region in 13,100 lire for each bottle of blood and 17,100 of plasma, are far from timely, and considerable arrears accumulate. While understanding the economic difficulties faced by health care in general, this practice speaks volumes about the exaltation of a voluntary service, much acclaimed in words, but little honored in deeds. And to think that the blood drug, obtained free of charge, represents a considerable economic income in the regional and national health budget, so much so that the Region of Umbria has stipulated an agreement with the SCLAVO company of Siena, to which it entrusts, for a fee, the bottles exceeding the requirements or not usable by the expiration date, for the separation of the various blood products. It is an alarming phenomenon, which does not encourage volunteering, even if it seems consistent with the law of the market economy, which is so fashionable today, and according to which what is free it is worth little, it is due, and, in any case, it does not claim bills. If it depended on the expected and coveted contributions, the AVIS sections would be like Christmas lights, they would work intermittently with long and irregular intervals, to turn off definitively, after the party. It is a bitter observation, but also a solicitation addressed to those in charge, so that the commitments towards the Avisian volunteering, which produces resources, are among the first to be honored. On the other hand, it is a dutiful recognition to the people of Umbria and to their Municipal Administration, without whose substitute role the life of the Association would be difficult. Thanks to this support, the AVIS headquarters are open every weekday, from 3 to 7 pm to deal with emergencies and daily administrative work. This is a considerable amount of time, considering the voluntary nature of the commitment. In the beginning, when operating at the ECA headquarters, the opening hours were only Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 6 to 7 pm. Since November 18, 1963, the section of Umbertide extended its sphere of propaganda and proselytism to the municipalities of Montone and Pietralunga (which has only recently become autonomous) and informed the respective mayors by letter, based on territorial divisions decided by the Council Provincial of AVIS. The territory became increasingly vast and the adhesions more numerous. Therefore, the need arose for a systematic contact between the section and the members, which could not be entrusted to the traditional letter, for economic reasons and lack of personnel. Hence the idea of the bimonthly magazine VITA AVIS which, since 1982, has never failed in appointments, with its 13,000 copies a year, produced in an artisanal way. The reports on the activities carried out, the proposals on the working hypotheses, the invitations for the many types of initiatives, the meeting calls take place through the columns of this modest information tool which, in its simplicity, has proved useful and appropriate in terms of effectiveness and savings. In a world that was becoming computerized, AVIS could not remain tied to the uncertain amanuensis exercises. An adjustment was required to make the whole mechanism of internal procedures faster and safer. The donor cards, the calls for collection, their registration, the achievement of the merit quota, the statistics are entrusted to the electronic system of a software that two talented and willing young people, Luca Inghirami and Fabrizio Bagiacchi of STOA, have elaborated and customized, free of charge, for the needs of the section. Thus the computer has become a precious and faithful collaborator, which anticipates and controls the various work plans. A very happy idea of the Avisian management was that of setting up the library. It does not appear rich in the field of fiction, but it was not, and is not, the intent of anyone the bibliographic enhancement of this literary genre, easily available elsewhere. Instead, it collects the entire series of UTET classics, which ranges from literature to science, from religion to economics. It is a valuable heritage in terms of quality and value, open to all those who need to consult. The TRECCANI Encyclopedia, now increasingly rare, and other encyclopedic works complete the book frame of this pearl of the section. The new headquarters, the consensus received, the clarification of the organizational structure and the provision of complementary subsidies, went hand in hand with the conspicuous increase in donor members. I do not dwell on the analysis, however boring and sterile, of this aspect. I prefer to let the following table speak for itself, which I think is more useful and immediate than any other consideration. The organisms The AVIS has an organization and a structure governed by precise statutory rules that derive from the institutive law n. 49 of February 20, 1950 with which the Association was recognized as a juridical body of law with humanitarian and moral purposes. The regional and provincial, district and section councils refer to the central promotion and coordination body, represented by the National Council and its internal functional divisions. It is a pyramidal organization, necessary to ensure that the apparatus of the Sodality mirrors the political-institutional structure of the territory. The need for contacts, planning and collaboration with Local Authorities is vital for the Association whose operational contents cannot disregard, for example, the situation of the hospital structures and, even more precisely, that of the immunotransfusion services, in charge of medical checks and blood samples. Mirroring, therefore, responds to criteria of functionality and referential parallelism. It is no coincidence that the district councils were born only recently, when, not only in Umbria but also in other regions of the country, the health organization of the territory largely coincided with the size of the districts themselves. The detailed analysis of the skills and work of all the bodies indicated does not fall within the scope of this work. I will limit myself only to saying that the Umbertide section has expressed its representation in each of them, including the highest level, the National Council of AVIS, of which Mario Tacconi was an alternate member for two three-year periods from 1987 to 1992. Systematic, on the other hand, is the presence in the regional and provincial councils, while the presence in the district council is very active which, from its birth onwards (1983), saw Mario Tacconi and Rolando Tognellini alternate as presidents. For our needs it is interesting a review of all the Boards of Directors of the section, which have followed one another from the foundation onwards, not only for a historical reconstruction which, with the passage of time could be more difficult, but also for a dutiful tribute to all those who have lavished energy in a spirit of solidarity and service. YEAR 1963 SHAREHOLDERS 'MEETING of 2 June 1963. PRESENT n. 17, VOTERS n. 15. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (President), Mancini Raffaele (Secretary), Tacconi Mario (Treasurer), Guardabassi Benedetto (Director), Faloci Serafino (Director). AUDITORS: Alpini Mario (effective), Cerrini Mario (effective), Gambucci Luigi (effective), Baldoni Domenico (alternate), Silvestrelli Antonio (alternate). PROBIVIRI: Cavalaglio Umberto, Filippi Celestino, Bufalari Carlo. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Migliorati Mariano. YEAR 1964 SHAREHOLDERS 'MEETING of January 19, 1964. PRESENT n. 25, VOTERS n. 25. By acclamation, all those elected in their respective bodies are reconfirmed in office. TWO YEARS 1965/1966 SHAREHOLDERS 'MEETING of 4 November 1964. PRESENT n. 30, VOTERS n. 30. Following statutory changes, all bodies have a two-year duration. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (President), Mancini Raffaele (Secretary), Tacconi Mario (Administrative Secretary), Bruni Giancarlo (Director), Alpini Mario (Director). AUDITORS: Luigi Gambucci, Mario Cerrini, Benedetto Guardabassi. PROBIVIRI: there is no mention in the relative report. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Migliorati Mariano. TWO YEARS 1967/1968 SHAREHOLDERS 'MEETING of 4 November 1966. PRESENT n. 36, VOTERS n. 36. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (President), Bruni Giancarlo (Vice President), Tacconi Mario (Administrative Secretary), Natali Franco (Secretary), Tosti Mario (Public relations). AUDITORS: Pistoletti Boris, Chicchioni Giuseppe, Dario Dario. PROBIVIRI: Cavalaglio Umberto, Renzini Alessandro, Palazzetti Candido. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Migliorati Mariano. THREE YEARS 1969/1970/1971 SHAREHOLDERS 'MEETING of November 17, 1968. PRESENT n. 26, VOTERS n. 26. Following statutory changes, all the bodies have a three-year duration. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (President), Bruni Giancarlo (Vice President), Tacconi Mario (Administrative Secretary), Natali Franco (Secretary), Gambucci Luigi (Public relations). AUDITORS: Giuseppe Chicchioni, Boris Pistoletti, Dario Destroyed. PROBIVIRI: Palazzetti Candido, Cavalaglio Umberto, Renzini Alessandro. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Migliorati Mariano. THREE YEARS 1972/1973/1974 ELECTIONS of February 20, 1972. VOTERS n. 79. Considering the high number of members (204), the renewal of corporate offices no longer takes place in the meeting of the ordinary Assembly, but after regular voting, after setting up the polling station which remains open for the whole day. The members of the Board of Directors are raised from five to seven following a regular shareholders' resolution. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (Chairman), Gambucci Luigi (Deputy Chairman), Tacconi Mario (Administrative Secretary), Natali Franco (Secretary), Tognellini Rolando (Director), Tosti Gualtiero (Director), Mariotti Adriano (Director). AUDITORS: Lisetti Renato, Chicchioni Giuseppe, Pistoletti Boris. PROBIVIRI: Palazzetti Candido, Cavalaglio Umberto, Renzini Alessandro. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Bruni Giancarlo. THREE YEARS 1975/1976/1977 ELECTIONS of 22 February 1975. VOTERS n. 82. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (Chairman), Luigi Gambucci (Deputy Chairman), Tacconi Mario (Administrative Secretary), Natali Franco (Secretary), Mariotti Adriano (Director), Bei Alberto (Director), Tognellini Rolando (Director). AUDITORS: Lisetti Renato, Chicchioni Giuseppe, Pistoletti Boris. PROBIVIRI: Palazzetti Candido, Cavalaglio Umberto, Renzini Alessandro. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Bruni Giancarlo. THREE YEARS 1978/1979/1980 ELECTIONS of 5 February 1978. VOTERS n. 85. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (Chairman), Luigi Gambucci (Deputy Chairman), Tacconi Mario (Administrative Secretary), Natali Franco (Secretary), Tognellini Rolando (Director), Tosti Mario (Director), Bistoni Renato (Director). AUDITORS: Lisetti Renato, Chicchioni Giuseppe, Pistoletti Boris. PROBIVIRI: Palazzetti Candido, Renzini Alessandro, Cavalaglio Umberto. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Bruni Giancarlo. THREE YEARS 1981/1982/1983 ELECTIONS of 21 December 1980. Voters n. 275. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (President), Luigi Gambucci (Vice President), Tacconi Mario (Administrative Secretary), Natali Franco (Secretary), Tacconi Cinzia (Public relations), Tognellini Rolando (Director), Venturi Otello (Director). AUDITORS: Lisetti Renato, Chicchioni Giuseppe, Pistoletti Boris. PROBIVIRI: Palazzetti Candido, Renzini Alessandro, Cavalaglio Umberto. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Bruni Giancarlo. THREE YEARS 1984/1985/1986 ELECTIONS of January 29, 1984. VOTERS n. 82. The ordinary Assembly had previously resolved to raise the number of Directors from seven to nine. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Beatini Lamberto (President), Gambucci Luigi (Vice President), Tacconi Mario (Administrative Secretary), Natali Franco (Secretary), Tacconi Cinzia (Public relations), Tognellini Rolando (Director), Lisetti Renato (Director), Venturi Otello (Director), Bistoni Renato (Director). AUDITORS: Sciurpa Roberto, Rubolini Renato, Pistoletti Boris. PROBIVIRI: Palazzetti Candido, Cavalaglio Umberto, Montanucci Giuseppe. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Bruni Giancarlo. THREE YEARS 1987/1988/1989 ELECTIONS of 8 February 1987. VOTERS n. ninety two BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Tacconi Mario (President), Tognellini Rolando (Vice President), Gambucci Luigi (Administrative Secretary), Beatini Lamberto (Secretary), Tacconi Cinzia (Press and Propaganda), Bendini Giancarlo (Organization and Development), Venturi Otello (Organization and Development), Bistoni Renato (Director), Lisetti Renato (Director). AUDITORS: Codini Orfeo, Rubolini Renato, Sciurpa Roberto. PROBIVIRI: Broggi Umberto, Cavalaglio Umberto, Palazzetti Candido. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Bruni Giancarlo. THREE YEARS 1990/1991/1992 ELECTIONS of 25 February 1990. VOTERS n. 57. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Tacconi Mario (President), Tognellini Rolando (Vice President), Gambucci Luigi (Administrative Secretary), Beatini Lamberto (Secretary), Venturi Otello (Propaganda), Bendini Giancarlo (Propaganda), Gianfranceschi Graziano (Propaganda), Bistoni Renato ( Director), Lisetti Renato (Director). AUDITORS: Codini Orfeo, Sciurpa Roberto, Rubolini Renato. PROBIVIRI: Broggi Umberto, Cavalaglio Umberto, Palazzetti Candido. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Bruni Giancarlo. THREE YEARS 1993/1994/1995 ELECTIONS of December 20, 1992. VOTERS n. 288 The Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting had previously resolved to raise the number of Directors from nine to thirteen. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Tacconi Mario (President), Tognellini Rolando (Vice President), Gambucci Luigi (Administrative Secretary), Beatini Lamberto (Secretary), Sciurpa Roberto (Press and Propaganda), Mariotti Walter (Recreational activities), Tognaccini Marco (Recreational activities) , Venturi Otello (Director), Lisetti Renato (Director), Bendini Giancarlo (Director), Gianfranceschi Graziano (Director), Magrini Sergio (Director), Tosti Paolo (Director). AUDITORS: Codini Orfeo, Bazzarri Luciano, Baldoni Domenico. PROBIVIRI: Broggi Umberto, Cavalaglio Umberto, Palazzetti Candido. HEALTH DIRECTOR: Bruni Giancarlo. La crescita DONORS Solidarity without a name Those who, for various reasons, are involved in the AVIS volunteer work hope to represent the moment. pioneer of the Association and hopes that scientific research, applied to the production of a blood substitute, will soon see his efforts crowned. Not because the practice of Avisin solidarity weighs on the choice of donors, but because it is desirable that a laboratory product is available more immediately and eliminates any possible area of risk that may be inherent in the methods, albeit scrupulous, of current sampling. Unfortunately, the prospect of the production of artificial blood, like any other human organ, is still very far away, the faintest horizons are not seen, and the practice followed today will remain in force for many years. The voluntary service of the donation therefore takes on very particular characteristics. Unlike any other kind of service based on solidarity and civic commitment, it is characterized by its essentiality and indispensability, aimed at life. It is a choice of life, for life; it is a silent pact whereby part of oneself is offered for the survival of others; it is a hidden bond that binds the donor to an ideal of the highest moral and civil profile and not to the recipient. Indeed, the most absolute anonymity must exist between the two. The donor knows this and has made his choice for this reason as well. The ostentation of merit and the solicitation of gratitude for the work done are attitudes that belong to other sectors and to other characters, certainly not to those who give blood with total disinterest. Thus, at the scheduled deadlines and for a lifetime, the generous, heroic volunteer receives the invitation to be taken from the section and fulfills the commitment, honoring a choice made at the time, without disaffection or second thoughts. The reader will be able to see on the following tables, how the average avisine longevity is very high, a sign of a strong ideal, alive and not weakened by the repetitiveness of the routine that flattens life in every field. It is difficult to make an identikit of the donor: it has no face, nor a particular physiognomy. It belongs to every possible social class, to every type of ideology and religious conviction; he chose to serve. Stop. In moments of crisis, such as those that our country is going through, the first values to be overwhelmed are those of support and altruism, the first subjects to suffer are the weak and the marginalized. In Umbertide, AVIS denies this trend line and reaffirms the meaning of human solidarity as a social cement and a lofty message of civilization, which does justice to any convenient individualistic utilitarianism. In this path many meet, over a thousand. And it is comforting, and full of hope, the observation that the young and the very young stand out, alongside numerous representatives of the female sex who, following the example of the first woman from Umbertide (Valdambrini Maria, 1961), have strengthened the ranks that wind behind the banner of the drop of blood. The happy island of Umbertide The title is neither boastful nor triumphal. The data speaks volumes. Every year in Italy about 2,000,000 units of whole blood are donated with a national per capita ratio of 0.03 (3%). In Umbertide, as can be seen from the following tables, the ratio is 0.09 (9%), three times higher than the national average. The more than 25,000 total donations made from the birth of the section to today, based on an average sample quantity of 350 cl, total 9,000 liters of blood. For those who like weight measurements, instead of capacity ones, I point out that it is about 90 quintals. The donations of the section, in the last decade, have been around 1200 on average every year, with a contribution of about 420 liters of blood. For our territory these are significant figures, that if they were extended nationally, we would not have problems with blood imports. Our country, poor in raw materials and therefore dependent on foreign countries for many aspects of its economy, is forced to import solidarity as well! It is a bitter and disheartening observation because it refers to a product that should abound in the Center of Christianity. Blood donations cover only two thirds of the national needs and for about one third it is necessary to resort to foreign support, with the relative fee. In Umbria, the situation is very comforting: self-sufficiency has been achieved on the blood side (red blood cells) and we are rapidly moving towards self-sufficiency on the plasma side. The donation index (donor / donation ratio) is also very good and stands at around 2.06, compared to 1.7 for the national figure. In Europe only France, Germany and Holland equal it, while Portugal surpasses it. The Umbertide Avis has lavished his generosity in many neighboring municipalities and also in distant areas of the national territory. He went where help was needed, as can be seen from the second table. Also in Arabia and Libya there is a trace of Umbertidese blood, following the presence of members who were in those countries for work reasons. At this point I would like to clarify the meaning of a terminology, already used several times. I have repeatedly used expressions such as "avisini umbertidesi", "donatori umbertidesi" and so on. I would like to clarify that these are synthetic lexical conveniences to indicate all the members who refer to the Umbertide section. I am well aware that some donors belong to other municipalities (Montone, Perugia, Lisciano Niccone) and I apologize to them, but I am sure they will understand the technical reasons of linguistics and synthesis to which the writer is subjected. The AVIS COURIER n. 3 of April / May 1995, reports the report given by Dr. Anna Lucia Massaro, Director of the AVIS Center in Turin, in a congress held in Rome at the end of April. The report is full of statistics. I use two that are very significant and show the most recent data on donations and donors. The numbers in the first row indicate the resident population with the relative percentage of the total national population. The numbers in the second row indicate the donations made and the relative percentages with respect to the total of them. The data in the third row indicate the ratio of donations for every 1000 units of the resident population. If the same method were applied to the Umbertide section, in 1994 (1385 donations) the index would be higher than 90. In the following table we can see the increase in the number of donors in the last three years and the tripling of those who have chosen the donation in apheresis. At the same time, a decline in the donation rate of the U.15 is clear. The increase in volunteers has, in any case, compensated for the slight reduction in the donation index which is very important in itself, but not to the point of preferring an increase in the solidarity of a few, instead of its extension to the greatest possible number of citizens. THE COLLABORATORS There are few moments of pause in the life of the section. As soon as you have finished working for one initiative, you begin to trade for the next one. Alongside the statutory obligations, which absorb a considerable amount of time, some demanding and consolidated appointments are now recurring. The donor's dinner, the social outing, the bike ride, the charity fishing and the newspaper are the main ones. Behind each of these deadlines, the purposes of which will be dealt with in another chapter, there is an intense and little-known work, which is well known. The members of the Board of Directors, or rather some of them, dedicate themselves almost full time and with the utmost self-denial to Avis volunteer work, but in some circumstances even their availability would not be sufficient to meet the needs, if not there was the precious contribution of the collaborators. Some of them are former donors, now emeritus, others have never been and contribute with the work performed to the needs of the Sodality. The dinner and the excursion require presence, availability and patience in collecting the memberships, registering the wishes of the participants about the group of friends not to be separated at the table or on the bus, dealing with the restaurant manager or the travel agency. Sometimes it is difficult to please everyone, since we are in the order of a few hundred people (dinner always records 5/600, the trip a little less) and some discontent escapes us, with relative protest. By now in the section we are used to and endure everything with great stoicism, even if some futility could be done without. The bike ride requires a stressful and concentrated effort in a few hours in the preparation of the refreshment baskets, in the assembly of the stand, in the preparation of the lunch at the Pineta Ranieri and so on. Also in this case it is good to keep an eye on some figures to understand the quality and quantity of the work. Participants are never less than seven hundred and the pasta being cooked exceeds two quintals. Charity fishing is the most laborious initiative. It begins in July with the mischief of 20,000 tickets and their housing in the broth ring. We continue with the procurement of prizes and the setting up of the structure to arrive at the most visible phase which consists of the drawing and delivery of prizes. The need for collaboration is essential to be attentive to requests during fishing, to supply the various sectors with prizes and to organize night surveillance shifts. The stand, which was originally set up more in the center, between the Collegiata and the Coletti Bar, has recently been moved (1986) to the square adjacent to the headquarters, precisely for reasons of functionality and speed of service. Even the newspaper, punctual to the scheduled deadlines, requires a lot of work. Drafting and printing are the simplest and most immediate tasks. Then there is the photocopy reproduction (1700 copies every two months and 7000 at Christmas), the folding, the set of addresses, the sorting by destination. I wanted to recall only some of the Avisian obligations and I apologize for having provided a sterile and boring list, but it was necessary to solicit, once again, a wider collaboration also on the part of those who have never been donors and want to be useful, in somehow, for AVIS. Fortunately, there has been no shortage of collaborators in the history of the section and they are the sixteen listed in the following table. At present, there are only 11 assets left, as can be seen. Among these, some offer occasional but timely and important services, such as the assembly of the various stands, others are present on a daily basis and are involved in all sectors. The problem of staff mobility, at AVIS, has been solved for some time and without grumbling. Lisetti Renato belongs to the latter category. He is always present and knows how to do everything, with unique precision and tenacity. He hasn't built eyes on fleas yet, just because he hasn't had a chance. In the Extraordinary Assembly of Christmas 1994 he was awarded the Silver Drop. LEISURE The focus on free time and the proactive role of related initiatives were a constant feature of the section. The logic that inspired this orientation is not competitive with other subjects, more qualified for similar tasks, nor the post-working one to satisfy the needs of the workers. Much more simply, it is the natural and necessary logic of an Association that intends to achieve its objectives. The first is that of the diffusion of nature and tasks. It is a propaganda requirement. In the society of commercials, one can easily grasp the importance of this aspect, which is not linked to the marketing of a visible and perhaps even useful product, which recurs on its own, but to a choice that is not very visible and which, referring to the solidarity, could be considered a problem of others, like the altruist of jokes who, engaged in powerful reflections on the evils of the time, bitterly concluded: "How selfish the world is! Everyone thinks of himself, only I think of me". In truth, the diffusion of the associative image, its indispensability and its tasks should also take place for other channels with greater audiens, such as those of a state television, paid for with the contribution of all. But in a corporate conception of life, based on costs and revenues, there is not much room for these utopias and you have to fend for yourself. For a very short period and on the initiative of the national AVIS, a beautiful and effective television advertisement on Avis volunteering was broadcast. Then nothing more. But AVIS is also the Association of Hope that confidently awaits some Minister of Health who, counting in hand, may realize that donors, after all, are also an investment. In the meantime, we do it alone, organizing those moments of associative life that best respond to the characteristics and requests of a specific territory and witnessing the practice of essential volunteering. The second is connected to the typical needs of each association, which must also look internally and prepare opportunities for meeting between its members and their respective families to strengthen the association ties. The characteristics of our reality have meant that this aspect has never been pursued in a restricted way and the initiatives of the section have always been proposed and open to all, so as not to give the impression of a reserved club. In general, the obsessive attention to the internal dynamics of any type of group, provided that it strengthens its vitality, always goes to the detriment of the consensus and sympathies that must be sought from the outside. Finally, some initiatives aim at creating economic resources, even if modest and marginal, which are essential for normal functioning. This key has already been touched previously. Rather than complaining about the delays of others or pitying around paralyzing difficulties, Avisian creativity has always placed itself in the forefront to overcome arduous obstacles and widespread institutional negligence, finding, among the people, consensus and concrete answers to its appeals. Consistently with the associative nature, which lives to give, it has aimed at its statutory duties, rather than at the rights sanctioned by complementary agreements, albeit important, which it is to be hoped that they will be respected with greater punctuality. Thus, since its inception, the section has organized parties, very fashionable at the time, today a little less so that they have gone into disuse, charity fishing and more. The fruits have been seen and are seen. Not only was the headquarters built, but the vitality of the Sodality is in good health. The party Leafing through the old archive papers gives off a subtle smooth smell. The notes chase each other quickly and the dance steps of the fans embroidering the floor can be glimpsed. Going into more detail, there are those who really dance and those who, arranging themselves as best they can, just squeeze. All around, attentive and inquiring eyes, they analyze clothes and attitudes, commenting on the party. It is the show within the show. The AVIS series of balls is quite long. To be exact, it has 23 editions. Begun in 1964, it was repeated until 1986 with punctual regularity. Inside, two phases can be distinguished: that of TEACINE and that of the PEOPLE'S HOUSE. There are also attempts to replicate Pierantonio (three veglioni) and Montone (one), but they don't last long. Clear sign that organizational investment did not find adequate participation responses. The Teacine phase runs from 1964 to 1979. For the first three years (1964/66), the archive is not of great support. The dates of the parties, the indication of the orchestras and the number of participants are missing. In a separate note, as well as on the relative report, the 1965 collection, equal to 412,000 lire, is reported. More details can be found in subsequent editions. In 1967 the party took place on February 4 with the presence of the singer Maria Doris, accompanied by the pianist Cappellari and the I RILEVATI orchestra. The animator of the party was Tonj Bani who successfully entertained the 420 people present at the Teacine. The two years that followed saw the same PINUCCIO orchestra and the MORITATs and the women's ensemble LE NAIADI on stage. The attendances on February 3, 1968 were 520, while those of January 25 of the following year dropped to 451. In 1970 the participation registered a further decline, despite the presence of a famous orchestra LA BANDA DI DON BACKY with the singer Bruna Lelli. Only 380 were present on that evening of January 24th. The following four years marks the era of LOS TROVADORES with the singer Eliana. It seems that the musical group has received a good approval rating to be reconfirmed four times. Participation also remained high, constant and loyal: 430 present on 1/30/71, 420 on 1/22/72, 480 on 1/7/27 and 575 on 2/23/74. On 3 March 1973 Pierantonio also made his debut with his first AVIS party. Things did not go badly. 410 people participated, cheered by the complex THE NEW FORMULA. Even two years later (8/2/75), the second Pierantoniese edition held up enough with 320 participants. But the following year (21/2/76) the organizers were disappointed by the 190 appearances alone. And the experience closed. Pierantonio ends and Montone tries. On 11 January 1975, there was the only Montonese edition of the AVIS party with 215 admissions. Too few. It is right to give blood for others, but not in all fields! The twelfth Umbertide edition took place on January 25, 1975, with the MARIOTTINI orchestra and 430 participants. The same orchestra will also be present in the 14th with 520 participants, on January 29, 1977. In the interlude (29/1/76) the Teacine hosted a complex with an interesting and fashionable name, the LIVING CROUP, which attracted 510 people. The series of the first phase is closed by the I MONELLI orchestra which on 28/1/78 and 10/2/79 was followed by 520 and 410 people respectively. By now the construction of the Casa del Popolo was finished. For the very young who will read these pages in a few years and will no longer find the building, I remember that it stood next to the Sports Hall, in the area currently occupied by the COOP, whose needs have left the people homeless. The AVIS section aims at a qualitative leap in the organization of the party. The new structure not only offered much larger spaces than those of the Teacine, but also allowed the possibility of restaurant service. From 1980 onwards there will be a party with dinner (based on fish). The mechanism worked, if we take into account that on March 15, 1980 the participants in the party were 2,070. Even if the call of the Goggi sisters, who animated the evening, was decisive, it alone does not explain the participatory success. The novelty factor also played a role. But it was the beginning of the end. Subsequent editions, prepared with care, maximum commitment and with the hiring of famous names, recorded a constant and worrying decline in attendance. On 17/2/81 with Ivan Graziani, there are 1,645 participants. The following year (13/2/82), with the PIERONI orchestra only 1,030 presences. By now the trend was downward and in the following years there will be a three-digit participation: 930 on 29/1/83, 759 on 4/2/84, 926 on 2/2/85 and 525 on 2/2 / 86. The preparation work was enormous and in remittance, despite the contribution of a massive volunteer, and it was appropriate to suspend the initiative. The last party, which closed the series and the story, was the 23rd, that of February 2, 1986. Tastes were evolving, nightclubs were in full swing, and television was offering competing shows. In this overall picture, the younger Avis people preferred other haunts and the older ones were getting a taste for slippers. The donor's dinner The dance ended, but dinner remained. From 1988 onwards, AVIS organizes this moment of meeting between donors, their families and friends, at carnival, during the month of February each year. It is a real opportunity to be together and in solidarity, without other reasons. From an economic point of view, in consideration of the symbolic price charged to donors, it represents a significant burden for the section's finances. The circumstance always attracts many people, equal to that recorded in the last party, between 500 and 600 people. Such participation posed various organizational problems and required adequate choice solutions, such as the search for a large restaurant, a not too sophisticated menu, quick table service and an affordable price. For now these characteristics have been found at FARO ROSSO, the Montanaldo restaurant in the municipality of Gubbio, which has always given satisfactory answers to the needs represented. The only problem is the distance from Umbertide, but there seem to be no better alternatives and once a year, it is worth facing the inconvenience. Charity fishing The first days of September are those in which the Umbertidese community finds itself, or at least found itself in the recent past, to rediscover its roots. In that period is the Nativity of the Madonna (8 September), Patroness of the town, and around the religious event, recreational and recreational events with an ancient popular flavor have flourished which, framing the Sacred Rites, re-propose ancestral uses. This happens almost everywhere on the feast of the patron saint. But even this dimension of authenticity is disappearing, under the banner of a mercantile and false triduum, represented by the Fairs which, moreover, give abundant signs of tiredness and decline. Among the customs that have remained there is only the bingo in the square and the charity fishing of AVIS, one of the first initiatives of the section that has happily survived since 1964. Its location among the celebratory events of the patron saint wanted to represent a modest but significant contribution of presence and involvement and, in a market season, it remains the only beneficial opportunity. And if luck helps you win something you like, so much the better. AVIS does not skimp in the selection of prizes to be offered, as the history of recent years can confirm. Thus charity fishing is becoming one of the few remaining traditions, despite its youthful thirty years of life. When the location of the structure was changed, from the Collegiata to the square adjacent to the headquarters (1986), serious fears emerged because the Fairs had moved the epicenter of the turnout to another part of the city, while moving further away from the transit area. . The fears turned out to be unfounded and the request and the exhaustion of tickets, with the same timeliness of the past, give hope that the Avisina proposal has become commonplace. It is a hope on which the AVIS counts a lot because fishing represents a source of contribution, even if limited, directed towards the self-financing of the section. The calculation is transparent and within everyone's reach. There are 20,000 tickets and knowing the price, you can establish the collection. According to the provisions in force on the subject and the practice generously followed, the value of the prizes is always much higher than half of the planned revenues. In each edition the net profit exists only thanks to the contribution, never lacking, of a significant number of volunteers and commendable quality. The contribution of the very young of both sexes is very significant, who, instead of going up and down the fairs, lend a hand in the distribution of prizes. The cycling walk The penultimate Sunday of June each year (the last, in case of bad weather), is dedicated to cycling. The event is truly spectacular and sees hundreds of cyclists with the AVIS insignia wind their way along the established route. There is everything: men, women, young people and boys. There are entire families who face the path according to the available energy. It's a walk, not a race, and there are no winners or losers. The organization is accurate with lots of relays, security staff, checkpoints and refreshment points. The vehicles that collect the participants in crisis and the medical ambulance close the colorful serpentine, as in all competitions worthy of respect. The itineraries, in general, are those of the city center and the outskirts of the Municipality for a length of about 20/30 kilometers. Twice the walk crossed its own territorial limits, in 1980 and 1982. In the first case it started from Città di Castello, after having mobilized the Umbrian Central, which transferred participants and bicycles to the Tifernate capital. In the second, the departure took place from Gubbio where the cyclists were transported by bus and the two wheels aboard the four trucks. The event is a good opportunity to make the presence of AVIS visible in the area and to stimulate curiosity and interest, but it is also a valid associative moment that enlivens interpersonal relationships between those who participate in it. The first moment of fatigue is followed by that of relaxation represented by the lunch at the Pineta Ranieri, set up by the AVIS volunteers, and by the musical show in the afternoon. The participation, always high, indicates the goodness of the choice and the growing satisfaction contributes to making the event an Avisian tradition, which has been repeated since 1979. Amateur sports groups Under the banner of AVIS, amateur sports groups have arisen which have contributed to spreading the associative image and its role. The sporting commitment, especially at the level of amateurs, is linked to passion, a little sacrifice and above all to age. When any of these requirements fade, the disintegration of the group is the natural consequence. This is what happened for the AVIS PODISTIC GROUP , founded in 1980 with excellent intentions and interesting initiatives. It remained active only for three years and from 25 April 1982 all traces disappeared. In 1993 the Umbertide AVIS CYCLING GROUP was born, equipped with a regular and lively sporty outfit with the colors and the symbol of the Association and animated by a great desire to do. The Board of Directors has deliberated the initiative with pleasure, with the hope that its presence and its activity will have long and happy results. The social outing The organization of trips for recreational purposes is quite common in all associations. In that of Avis the attention to free time is even greater because it is an important vehicle for the dissemination of voluntary blood work and propaganda, urged on several occasions by the statutory and regulatory provisions. In Umbertide the reminder was collected and also the trips, together with all the other initiatives previously described, became part of the associative practice. The social outing has the charm of escape, of curiosity for a new experience, of cultural and human interest in aspects of the world that are not directly known or not very usual in the flow of our existence. Furthermore, "traveling" realizes a natural necessity in every phase of life and in every epoch of history (Ulysses) because it interprets one of the intimate characteristics of the human soul, the desire for discovery and the thirst for knowledge. A little for these reasons and a little because the AVIS trip has entered the deadlines to be met, the request is always numerous and the participation is high. In some cases, and when it was possible, contact was made with other avisine sections of the areas visited, with the possibility of reciprocal exchange, which allowed a useful and constructive comparison of ideas and experiences. Even the trip, like the other events, is a familiar attraction and it is not always easy to reconcile the individual costs with their global impact within a nucleus that intends to participate fully. In the Extraordinary Christmas Assembly this aspect is the most debated to make the proposed itineraries compatible with the expected costs. The history of Avisi travels has already turned 125 and has allowed the numerous groups of participants to visit interesting cities, landscapes and monuments of our country, with a few trips abroad, as can be seen in the summary table below. All the AVIS trips, with the exception of the first two in 1970, were organized by the TUTTOTURISMO agency of Perugia with competence, high professionalism and general satisfaction of the participants. The Avisini and the Pope The trip that seventy Avisini from Umberto I made to Rome on Saturday 26 April 1980 was quite different. On that day the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, had set a special audience reserved for blood donors, in the Nervi room. The section did not desert the appointment. I apologize to those who consider it inappropriate to mention the event in this chapter, but the others lent themselves even less. On the other hand, free time is also a dimension of the spirit. AVIS AND THE SCHOOL Blood volunteering is not a missionary choice, but a civic commitment of solidarity on which, moreover, every form of social coexistence is based. It therefore affects the level of culture and education and directly calls into question the school, as a privileged place in which educational processes develop in an intentional and systematic way. The same Statute of AVIS, in article 6, explicitly reaffirms this concept and recurring agreements between the National Headquarters and the Minister of Public Education have planned various interventions in the school field. In Umbertide, the section was very prompt in collecting the proposal and schools of all levels have always offered the maximum availability and the widest collaboration. The first initiative addressed to the world of schools took place in 1961, by the Organizing Committee. The section wasn't there yet. Little is known about this "competition", the traces of which appear on a simple sheet of notes (the outline of the intervention of Doctor Mariano Migliorati at the founding Assembly of the section, June 12, 1963) and any type of material produced is missing. More documentation we will have later. It should be noted that the meeting with the school takes place on two tracks with different but convergent and complementary contents. In the first there is the direct relationship with the students, held by some members of the Board and above all by the Health Director, Dr. Giancarlo Bruni, to illustrate the association's purposes and the specific problems of blood. It is a fertile and constructive moment in which the interventions of the pupils enrich and personalize the debate, while building, on the inner level, the conviction of a noble and attractive objective to be kept in mind at the right time. The youthful age, charged with rigorous and disinterested ideal impulses, lends itself very much to a proposal of altruism and self-denial. And there is a sequel. It has been the practice of the section, for many years now, to send wishes for the completion of the eighteenth year of age, to all the young people of the Municipality. The letter, one of the first or the only one, that the recipients find in their hands on the day they come of age, also refreshes the seed thrown in the school desks. It is a kind and very fruitful initiative, if only in terms of human contact. The second consists in announcing drawing competitions or free compositions that stimulate youth creativity and end with the award ceremony for the best works. This sector is well cared for by the district management and in particular by its President, Tognellini Rolando, who dedicates a lot of energy and a lot of passion to it. In truth, Tognellini is also dynamic in the relations of the section (of which he is Vice President) with the outside world, both institutional and private. The second competition was launched in 1966. It was a free composition and there was a large participation. The works judged the best and awarded were those of Riccardini Graziella (class 3 ° B Middle School "F. Mavarelli"), of Boldrini Maura (class 1 ° B Middle School "G. Pascoli") and of Galeati Rita (class 4th Institute Professional for Commerce). It is a pleasure, after many years, to rediscover a piece of history from the past and I propose the compositions in the full text. “Why was this Association born? Why is everything done to spread it among men? These are questions that can only be answered: love of neighbor. By giving only a little of our blood we can give life back to a person who, although unknown, belongs to us because he is part of a large family: Humanity ". Boldrini Maura, 1st B “Who are you illustrious unknown, creator of AVIS? I don't know your name, but I can appreciate you, understanding how important the work that blood donors do. Where and how do you get the idea of such a beneficial initiative for humanity? Perhaps they were scenes of pain similar to those that inspired the well-deserving French officer who, on the fields of San Martino and Solferino, had the idea of founding that noble institution called the Red Cross? Now the white ambulances arrive in the most distant countries of the world to bring help to those who suffer, defying dangers of all kinds. Alongside this work, I place that of blood donors because they too, committed to the defense of human life, run right where life struggles most severely with death. I admire them and, if I can, I will also want to imitate them. It will be the best way to give thanks to God for making me strong. Bloodless bodies abandoned on white hospital beds pass before the eyes of my imagination, I imagine people anxious at those beds and I can therefore understand what satisfaction the blood donor will feel, if he helps to revive those who were about to die. I read in my anthology a phrase that made me meditate: "There is no more sacred good than life" and therefore I feel that it is admirable who runs where life launches its desperate SOS. At the ceremony held in my country in honor of blood donors, next Sunday, I would like all citizens to participate united in a true spirit of brotherhood and understanding for the great pains that illnesses and serious road accidents cause, so that we can all be hit ". Riccardini Graziella, 3rd B “There are particular moments in life when we need to feel close to our neighbor to hear the immeasurable value of a word of comfort, a good gesture, a smile. It is amazing, however, how easily we forget who has lent us a hand. It makes us wonder if altruism still exists or if it was the invention of some unrepentant idealist. No, altruism still exists because there are those who believe in love, in generosity, in neighbor. Our fault, if we can define it that way, is to live in the world, isolated from the world. We are used to looking at what happens outside our family, our environment, with a detached, foreign eye, participating only for pure exteriority in universal pain, without reflecting that there is someone who needs a word, of affection. Perhaps the fault lies with modern society, the frenetic evolution of progress, the intense rhythm with which the hours of our day, always full, are marked. But let's be honest, it's our fault too. We do not seek, as usual, a justification; we admit that we have dried up, that we have become socialists, opportunists, selfish and have forgotten the just, the true human values; we have distanced ourselves from those who suffer without thinking of finding ourselves at any moment in a hospital ward, looking for a friendly look, even just with our eyes, a reassuring and understanding smile. We expect a lot from others, but what do we do? Looking at the question from a religious point of view, the solution is at hand. “Love your neighbor as yourself”; the rest is peaceful. We know this too, but let's not lift a finger. When we are scrupulous we look around in search of a good work to do, but we never find it, perhaps because when something is uncomfortable, we prefer not to see it. This is reality, the worst side of reality, but fortunately there are still those who feel human pain and sacrifice themselves to relieve it. Is it possible to give back to a mother her own dying child, to save a life, a family? Yes, it would be enough for us to feel more human, more alive, more real. It would be enough for us to strengthen those bonds of brotherly love that unite us Christianly and make us feel a part of humanity. Have we ever thought about donating our blood, a part of ourselves to those who need it? Maybe yes, but we considered it almost absurd, beautiful, so beautiful as to make us feel heroes, but absurd. We have all experienced the anguish, the fear of losing a loved one. Amidst tears, with despair in the heart, it is too spontaneous to say to the Lord: "I offer you my life in exchange for his". This is not absurd, it is love, love that knows no selfish limits and repressed generosity, it is love in the evangelical sense of the word. We all have a heart, perhaps we don't listen to it often, because we could find what we are anxiously looking for all our life in a simple, very sweet smile of gratitude from an unknown person. Galeati Rita, 4th Institute Prof. There were numerous similar initiatives in the following years. The last was from 1995 on the theme AVIS, LIFE and the language chosen by the participants was that of drawing. The jury found itself in the embarrassment of having to choose one, because all the works presented were of a high level, both in the expressive technique and in the quality of the contents. The award ceremony took place in solemn form in the "S. Francesco" room on June 3, 1995 and one of the first prizes was awarded to Marcucci Maura (3rd class "F. Mavarelli" Middle School in Pierantonio) for the drawing that is reproduced . The world of school, a privileged sector of the Avisian attention, did not prevent a broader view and in 1967, a poetry competition was launched open to all on the theme MY VALLEY: MEN AND THINGS, PROBLEMS AND ASPIRATIONS. The copy of the announcement, due to the interest and participation it obtained, is reproduced here and the three poems that obtained the first prize ex aequo are also reported. They are by Roselletti Achille , Tosti Mario and Cancian Antonio . THE ABSENT Sooner or later it happens to everyone to wage the last battle of life, the one that no one has ever won. Those who have supplied considerable troops to the battles of others and after a generous militancy, suddenly misses the call, also undergoes this ineluctable fate. It is difficult to closely follow the personal stories of each donor. The number is high, the places of residence are more disparate, the sectional presence of volunteers employed only in the afternoon. It happens, then, that some mournful event becomes known in untimely circumstances to externalize a formal act of condolence. The subject has been debated for a long time and for some time, in the various Directors. On the one hand, systematic silence, even if innocent for failure to communicate the event, could appear as a symptom of indifference and insensitivity, inconsistent with the associative purposes. On the other hand, external participation in pain only in the cases of which we know, could be interpreted as discriminatory attention for some particular partner. The prevailing and practiced orientation is that of not resorting to any formalities, in cases of mourning involving the shareholders. But the Avisian family is not insensitive to a disappearance that also affects it directly and wanted to make a more lasting gesture than a simple crown of flowers. In the city cemetery a stone was erected, three travertine steles of unequal height, the DONOR'S CLIP . The names of the emeritus and active members, of the collaborators and of the founder who left us, are all there, engraved in bronze, and exposed to gratitude and memory. The list is already long and frames many other names of that strip of land where love and hatred, vainglory and humility, generosity and avarice end. The cippus, in its simplicity and harmonious composure, wants to be, in death, the emblem of the life of the avisino. It was conceived and edited by the architect Bazzarri Luciano . The inauguration took place in a solemn form on June 24, 1990. Many will remember that on that Sunday the cycling tour took place, which started after Mass at the Cemetery and the short inaugural ceremony, in the presence of numerous participants already in their starting clothes. . COMMIATO And the story continues. It belongs less and less to the elderly person who writes it and more and more to the young person who reads it. It is natural that this is the case, to reaffirm life with its burdensome commitments, sacrifices, pains, joys and hopes. It is a bit like the physical law of ice formation in the polar cold, which if they were not lighter than the underlying liquid that originates them, they would settle without the possibility of life on earth. The founders of AVIS found those who supported them and then replaced them in their daily organizational work; the first donors were joined by a large group of young people who grabbed the baton to pass it on to others, in the interminable relay race of solidarity. This will also be the case in the future, because the choice of volunteering from Avis has become connatural to the people of Umbria, testifying to the solid roots of human sensitivity and high civicism, not yet completely contaminated by the contemporary categories of prevailing individualism. In giving this modest work to the press, I feel the duty to thank those who gave me a hand: Luigi Gambucc who, with solicitude and concern, provided me with all the archive data, checking them with scrupulous diligence and with the competence of those who the history of AVIS has it in mind. Without his help, these pages would have come to light much later. So much gratitude also to the Publisher, the GESP of Città di Castello and to its owner Paoloni Sandro who, as a good Avisino, wanted to contribute with the utmost generosity by offering the section the free printing of the book, with the participation of Mrs. Franchi Roberta and the Mr. Ascani Ascanio. But I have to thank, in particular, all the people from Umberto I whose hidden and silent effort was a high teaching for me, which made mine lighter. Precisely to contribute, in a minimal part, to the concrete testimony of solidarity that is usually practiced at AVIS, I assign all the copyrights inherent in this volume, except for the right to modify its content, to the AVIS SECTION OF UBERTIDE which, with the offers obtained from its diffusion, it will be able to better meet the economic needs of its many initiatives. I donatori

INTERESTING INSIGHTS HISTORY OF MARIO TOSTI L'Enigma della Collegiata La grande diga sul Tevere La Meridiana della Piazza Grande della Fratta The great dam on the Tiber In 1983 a large number of poles came to light in the Tiber and were photographed by Renato Codovini. From the investigations of Mario, Marco and Matteo Tosti, it has been hypothesized that they formed the basis of the dam, born in the 12th century, up to 6 meters high, which enclosed the Fratta fortress in a basin. From a document of 1527, in fact, we have news of an artificial basin upstream of the bridge over the Tiber whose waters could form a "very clear lake", as it was described in 1565 by Piccolpasso. We leave the floor to the study of the engineers Mario, Marco and Matteo Tosti who have kindly allowed to report on this page. Study published in “L'Ingegnere Umbro” n. 43, December 2002 and reported to us by Alvaro Gragnoli. Photos added by Fabio Mariotti. (edited by Di Mario, Marco and Matteo Tosti) The discovery of a foundation piling. Dredging works on the Tiber bed in 1983 brought to light a large number of piles about 80 meters downstream of the bridge. It was Renato Codovini, unrivaled researcher of local history who noticed them, photographed them and understood their importance as the remains of the foundation of an ancient lock. A few years later, in their valuable thesis ("Discovery of the dam on the Tiber river, Umbertide in the province of Perugia", University of Florence, academic year 1987/1988), Alberto Crocioni and Roberto Codovini extensively documented the structure and the construction technique of the work, characterized by an original checkerboard foundation in oak planks and river stones. Thesis We wanted to deepen the subject, trying to bring engineering to the aid of history, intrigued by the imposing foundation piling in the direction of the river current, for an estimated length of at least 15 m: this clue suggested a huge investment, both financial and technical-organizational and, therefore, a purpose of great strategic importance. We tried to imagine what the clients intended, which could not only be to operate the blades of the nearby mill, which could have been built elsewhere with a much more modest barrier, perhaps on a small tributary of the Tiber. The most plausible and fascinating hypothesis was that the dam served to create a reservoir so large that it permanently flooded the moat all around the city walls; perhaps Cipriano Piccolpasso had not exaggerated in 1565 in using a superlative - “very clear lake” - at the sight of the Fratta river, which he described and represented in the oldest panorama of the place. And this is precisely the thesis we intend to demonstrate, reconstructing the history of the "great dam" and its structural and functional configuration. Archive news There is no direct and detailed information on this work, about which all the writers of local history have been silent. Only the military engineer Piccolpasso, in the aforementioned drawing, traced the structure of the dam, albeit with barely hinted lines, perhaps because at that time it had already lost its importance from a military point of view, which represented the topic of main interest for the author: commendable example of a good engineer who does not waste even an unnecessary pencil stroke. Or a sign of low satisfaction for the reimbursement of expenses requested in the parcel: "30 bajocchi for the horse from Castello alla Fratta, 30 bajocchi for dinner and dinner at Fratta, 10 bajocchi for those who will help me to measure, 30 bajocchi for the horse for Perugia ; and more 50 bajocchi made to give to the femeglia de messer Paulo, called messer Gherardo soldier of fortress for the fatigas of said messer Paolo ”. The surrounding tour of these last 50 bajocchi - delivered to a soldier to give to the family of Mr. Paolo who had struggled - arouses some suspicion, dear engineer Cipriano! Instead, there is indirect information on the existence of the barrier, the oldest of which dates back to a registration dated February 6, 1527, where the expression versus clusam molendini is used, in describing the activities carried out in the buildings adjacent to the barrier, at edge of the river, at the end of Piazza S. Francesco. In fact, in that area the dam made it possible to supply the necessary energy to various factories: the water, conveyed along a derivation canal, through the opening of the respective doors according to agreed shifts, operated the millstone of the Molino di Sant ' Erasmus; he made the wheels of the blacksmiths turn for the grinding of sickles and other irons (swords, spears…); he operated the wooden mallets in the fulling machine, to compress and firm the woolen cloth; it flowed into the public wash basin; finally it returned to the riverbed of the Tiber downstream of the dam. The lack of other more detailed information has prompted us to seek objective elements to find out more. Photo by Fabio Mariotti. La grande diga sul Tevere The simulation of the reservoir First of all, an attempt was made to estimate the extent of the reservoir. In a first phase, the configuration that would have today, in the event of restoration of the dam, was identified after evaluating the height of the dam: for this reason, the level of the floor of the ancient public washhouse of Caminella was taken as a fundamental reference, where in the 1960s the original tank was still visible, even if its use had been converted into a breeding leech for the pharmacy, using the stagnant surface water that was collected there. This reference is certain, as the share has remained unchanged with respect to the period of use; on the other hand, the presence - in the immediate vicinity and at the same level, of the other users of the dam just described, much more relevant - excludes the hypothesis that the wash house, with the abundance of the reservoir, used vein water. The height of the floor of the public wash house, which was equal to 238.25 m asl, can therefore be reasonably assumed as the overflow level of the reservoir, the contours of which have been defined on the basis of the corresponding level curve in the current configuration of the land. The boundaries as determined above were subsequently corrected on the basis of changes made by man and the river over the centuries, of which traces have remained. These elements reasonably lead to the conclusion that, in the period of maximum military efficiency of Fratta Perugina (15th century), the reservoir surrounded the entire islet of the historic center, which could only be accessed through the rampant bridge of the Piaggiala, the drawbridge. della Rocca and the bridge over the Tiber. The height of the barrage The difference between the overflow level at 238 m asl deduced above and the altitude (232 m asl) of the river bed area from which the foundation piles emerge today, allows us to estimate the height of the dam at about six meters: for those times the great Fratta dam was truly a gigantic work. Site plan in a drawing by the authors (1) Public wash house; (2) Molino di Sant'Erasmo; (3) Churches of Santa Croce, San Francesco and San Bernardino; (4) Great dam; (5) Tiber; (6) Bridge over the Tiber; (7) Regghia stream; (8) Rocca, with drawbridge and “calzo de fuora”; (9) The rampant bridge of the Piaggiola, the round tower and the Porta della Campana. The functions of the barrage The significant complexity of the project, the grandeur of the structure and the economic burden of its construction confirm the thesis of a military use of the large dam: its primary utility was to keep the moat around the walls constantly flooded, for safety. of the inhabitants of the castle, and to reduce the stresses on the foundation pillars of the bridge just upstream. The other benefits of an economic nature (supply of energy for production activities and taking fish from the weir), although more important for the well-being of the population, were collateral and irrelevant to the decision to build the work. The birth The non-existence of records relating to these works does not allow us to establish with certainty the period to which they date back. However, the hypothesis is likely that only after the passage to the dominion of Perugina (1189) did the conditions exist to build such an imposing work. Only a city like Perugia could have had the necessary economic capacity, technical-military knowledge and political motivations: this is precisely the period in which it pursued a strengthening as a Municipality, to consolidate its vital space among the great powers of the moment in the Center- Italy, capitalizing on the advantage of equidistance from Florence and Rome. On the contrary, in previous times there were no conditions to justify such a huge effort: at first - until the death of Matilde di Canossa - it was marginality, as a remote border place of the Marquisate of Tuscany, to discourage the investment. Then after the dismemberment of this in many territories dominated by small lords, it was the scarcity of economic resources that made the enterprise impracticable. The same lack of news relating to the construction of the dam, attributable to the disappearance of the Annals of Perugia - from 1190 to 1230 - relating precisely to the presumable period of construction, constitutes a confirmation clue of the thesis that is being supported, as it is not likely that such an impressive work no formal acts have been performed. It can be concluded by affirming that the construction of the great dam can be placed between 1189 (beginning of the dominion of Perugia over Fratta) and 1230 (availability of the Perugian Annals). The overall design system Let us now try to define other details of the dam and its functional organization. The reservoir was divided by a "central guardian", slightly inclined with respect to the flow direction of the river. Between this and the left bank - the western basin - the main current had to flow, which flowed downstream from the top of the dam perpendicular to the bank. The other segment, arranged obliquely so as to extend the length of the front of the jump, was perhaps of a higher height so as to contain the damage on the left bank, of great value for the presence of production activities: the mill, the blacksmiths, the fulling machine; in short, a kind of industrial area of the lower village. The capacity of the reservoir, considering the height of the dam equal to 6 m, the width 70 m and the length of the lake upstream of 1,200 m, was estimated at 250,000 m³. The maximum power obtainable, with a useful flow of the river assumed equal to 10 m ³ / s, has been estimated at 600 Kw, based on the following relationship: P = p Q g Δ H P = power; p = water density; Q = volumetric flow rate; Δ H = geodetic difference in height Assuming a width of the adduction channel to the mill equal to 1 m², a current speed of 2 m / s, a head of 3 m and a reasonable efficiency for those times, the order of magnitude of the useful power can be placed around 100 Kw. For a correct functionality of the military security system, precautions were also taken to prevent the ditch being buried due to the debris deposited by the floods of the Regghia, at the point where it flowed into the reservoir under the Rocca, slowing down its fury. We think that this was precisely the function of the “ … lock of the river of the Regghia alter dicta el Battifosso which is contiguous to the horto della Roccha and to the walls of the said castle… ”. The death Let us now try to clarify how and when the barrier ceased its function. In this regard it is known that on 20 October 1610 two arches of the bridge and the Mulinaccio tower collapsed at the corner of the walls along the river; the contemporaneity of the collapses, just upstream of the great dam, made us suspect that the disaster had originated - with a "domino effect" - from the deterioration of the dam. Archival records confirmed the hypothesis: as early as 1606, in fact, the barrage had shown the urgency of repairs. The question became the subject of a legal dispute on the occasion of another flood, in 1611; the tenant complained that the mill was " spotless and unsuccessful " and the dam had been " badly kept and badly restored ". The subjects called into question - the Bishopric of Gubbio and the Community of Fratta - tried to discharge each other the responsibility and the burden of reparation; the first claimed that the dam had been damaged by the collapse of the bridge; the second claimed the opposite thesis, attributing the expenses to the Bishop, as in fact " it had always been ". It seems to us that - Monsignor forgive us! - the Community was right, as it is really strange that the very heavy debris of the bridge, instead of lying on the bottom of the river, overwhelmed the barrier a hundred meters downstream. However, for our deductions, it is only interesting that the mill did not grind since that time, demonstrating that the dam had just collapsed. But there are many other confirmations: even the blacksmiths were forced to go to other mills in the vicinity that had suitable wheels; but the loss of those of Sant'Erasmo was incurable if, a few decades later (1647), four blacksmiths from Fratta brought 14,000 raw sickles to Rome (hammers were not yet produced in the red Umbria), entrusting the finishing to grinders of the capital . Therefore, even the wheels had finally stopped. Similarly, the activity of the fulling mill was moved to a similar factory, in Pian d'Assino, whose structure is still visible on the left bank of this stream, just upstream of the bridge that crosses it just before flowing into the Tiber. All these facts concur to confirm the dependence of the factories in Piazza San Francesco on the large barrage and the superimposition of their respective periods of operation (from about 1200 to 1611). In short, the dam was born when it was necessary to protect the safety of the castle with a lake and no one wanted to take care of its maintenance since these needs were overcome by the evolution of warfare. For all the time in which it was of military interest - and only for that - it was also a source of work and well-being, respecting a sad priority to which man has always had to submit. The death sentence of the Great Dam was issued for the opposite reason that led to its conception. Here below some photos with Mario Tosti and the Tiber river south of the bridge in the place of the "great dam"; photo compared with the 1565 drawing by Piccolpasso showing the position of the dam. Picture of by Fabio Mariotti. Sources: - " The Great Dam of Fratta Perugia ", by Mario Tosti, Marco Tosti and Matteo Tosti, in “ The Umbrian Engineer ” n. 43, December 2002 - Photos and original article drawings: Renato and Roberto Codovini, Mario, Marco and Matteo Tosti. - Photos added: Fabio Mariotti THE ENIGMA OF THE COLLEGIATE by Mario Tosti (taken from "Pagine Altotiberine" *, n. 45, 2011) * "Pagine Altotiberine" is a series of books published by the historical association Alta Valle del Tevere, which gathers members from our valley. The main objective of the Association is to provide citizens with the possibility of publishing texts on local history, without any charge for the author, who receives five copies of the book that contains his work free of charge. The association is financed by the members' fees, who receive the three books that are published every year for free. The history of the construction The history of the Collegiate Church has been the subject of research that has made it possible to know the events in an exhaustive way. In the first place, they were deepened in the monographic book by Monsignor Pietro Vispi (1) , from which we extracted a summary of the information regarding the origins and construction details of the church. We also submitted to Monsignor Pietro, who kindly made himself available, the thesis supported in these notes, to exclude that any additional information to his knowledge would dismantle some links in the logic of the deductions. The chronicles of the time tell that, on 14 September 1556, "A girl of 7 years old ... who was struppia [crippled] in a cossa [thigh], so that she could not walk without support, while she was praying in front of this image [Editor's note: the Majesty painted in a small chapel near the Collegiate building ], it is said that this spoke to him and incontinent found herself free and healthy, and walked frankly ". A few days later the bishop of Gubbio sent his vicar Cesare Sperelli, who "... visitevit ecclesiolam beate et gloriosa virginis marie vulgo called the madonna della regghia prope et juxta muros castri fratte ..." Therefore: the small church in which a miracle took place stood near the walls of Fratta, in the word "Madonna d ella Regghia". Out of thanks, it was decided to build a temple in the immediate vicinity. From the deed of sale of the land of 15 April 1559 we learn that the owners, Graziani of Perugia, "Give and concede for the Madona and the chapel in writing to the Comonità della Fratta all the reasons that they have above the Capella or true Oratory of the Madona de la regghia in front of the walls of said Castle and also above the houses in the said adjacent Chapel and such a quantity of land contiguous to the said chapel that it will be necessary for the construction of a church to be built in that place in Honore de Dio and Della Glorioss. Virgine Maria provided it does not exceed the containment of the garden contiguous to said Capella ... ". So: the church was surrounded by a group of houses and a vegetable garden. Shortly after, thanks to the copious alms of the people, the construction works of the temple began, with the contribution of various architects: Galeazzo Alessi, Giulio Danti, Bino Sizi, Mariotto da Cortona. A drawing by Piccolpasso shows that in 1565 the construction of La Madona had reached its first register and leads us to believe that the houses adjoining the chapel with the miraculous image, designed to the west of the church, towards the Regghia, were in the area of the current Reggiani palace. The Collegiate was completed in 1597-1599. After about twenty years, in 1619, the original dome showed a lesion: consequently it fell or, more likely, was demolished. Today you can get an idea of the primitive dome from the painting by Bernardino Magi kept in the church of San Bernardino. The reconstruction of the current dome, no longer with a lowered sixth but with a round sixth, with a smaller base diameter, was entrusted to Filippo Fracassini (until 1650) with the architects Rutilio, first, and Beniamino Sermigni, later. In order to consolidate the base of the vault, without compromising “The ornamentation of the interior ... the order of the beautiful columns, to whose transport is to be attributed one hundred and forty-one pairs of oxen were needed in 1623 ”. The lantern on top of the dome was finished in 1664, along with the wooden doors. The clues to the solution of the riddle The above information tells us everything about the reason for the location of the Collegiate Church, about the artists who built it, about its main events; but they do not reveal the reason why the church of the Patrona has been set up in the configuration from which, for over four centuries, it has scrutinized the life of the mortals who alternate around its bulk from the top of the lantern. By asking ourselves this question during a walk with friends around the octagonal church, the intuition emerged that the orientation had been chosen with the intention of offering the best scenery to the faithful who proceeded to the temple. The research that followed led to the emergence of several elements that seem to support this hypothesis, as we will try to demonstrate in the following pages. Starting from the assumption that the orientation of the church could not have been accidental, let us analyze the objective elements of knowledge currently available, from which a reasonable answer to the enigma can be deduced. For this we make constant reference to figure 1, where the essential elements of the church plan and the nearby buildings indicated by historical sources are shown. 1. "In the Italy of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries ... the formation of sanctuaries on places of miraculous events attributed to the Madonna ... There was also the trend, made known by the solution of the Sanctuary of Loreto (started in 1469 ), to incorporate the pre-existing chapel inside. " (2) 2. The small church outside the walls of Fratta with the miraculous image was adjacent to some buildings, as evidenced in the historical summary reported above. Therefore there were not even the practical conditions to incorporate it, unless the adjacent buildings were demolished. 3. "The attention to the astronomical orientation of places of worship, carefully researched in the Middle Ages, disappears in Renaissance buildings when the introduction of the compass and modern philosophical and scientific theories loosened the bonds of a mythical, magical, mysticism that united the men of the Middle Ages with the observation of the sky, favoring instead the positioning of the building in relation to the urban context. In the case of the Collegiate Church, some measurements were nevertheless carried out to verify the actual orientation of the building with respect to the astronomical cardinal points and to identify any related explanations. The results of the surveys, shown in figure 2, allow us to deduce some considerations. The eight-pointed decoration visible on the floor in the center of the church, similar in shape to the wind rose, is not related to the cardinal points, but is only a decorative element subordinated to the shape of the building, which in some way reflects. The particular historical methods of foundation of the octagonal buildings were also verified: " Generally the orientation of the octagon required that the cardinal directions pass through the vertices of the polygon, a rule that was not always respected during the construction of the baptisteries while it was respected, in the period around 1000, when several octagonal churches were built. " (3) In our case, the orientation of the octagon does not respect the criterion of cardinal points passing through two opposite edges. It would seem to be possible to say that the altar is oriented at the dawn of the winter solstice, with the sun rising behind the celebrant, but there are no openings in the wall that capture and highlight this phenomenon which, consequently, does not seem to have been priority in the plant of the building. In conclusion, it seems unlikely to attribute an astronomical explanation to the orientation of the church. " (4) 4. The sandstone portal to the north, consisting of two columns surmounted by a tympanum, projects perpendicularly to the wall face. Above the tympanum there is a round arch of unloading (platband), made of bricks in a radial arrangement, which is used above the architraves in order to reduce or eliminate the bending stress. 5. The west portal, apparently the twin of the north one, has several peculiarities: it protrudes from the wall facing in an oblique direction, with an angle of about 24 ° with respect to the perpendicular to the wall; the brick arch above the tympanum is not visible on the outside. 6. A panoramic drawing of Fratta (figure 3 shows the detail of the area in question), made in 1565 by the military engineer Cipriano Piccolpasso, does not seem to show the opening to the west of the Collegiate, although the church appears to have been erected until the first register: the signs on the left of the wall are not in the center of the side of the polygon and do not have a regular geometric shape, but seem similar to trees, such as those shown also on the right of the building. It should be noted that the design is to be considered very reliable, as evidenced by the accuracy of the details represented in the other more important buildings. The drawing highlights another important detail: the original path of the Regghia is moved, compared to today, towards the Rocca, confirming the subsequent movement of the river bed and, therefore, the need to build a new bridge, as documented in point 9 following. 7. The differences between the two portals exposed in the three previous points reasonably suggest that the one to the west was opened at a later time, after the construction of the first register. In any case, the anomaly highlighted in the west portal suggests that this had been considered in the alternative to the north one: therefore the importance of the latter must have been truly extraordinary if it had prevailed, for the purposes of choosing the orientation, with respect to to the alternative of enhancing the chapel which had even motivated the work. 8. At the time of the design of the church, the oldest and most important access inside the walls was undoubtedly that of the Porta della Campana, which showed the emblem of the castle (the ancient lily in bas-relief, an ancient weapon of Florentines (5 ) ) and allowed the people to enter the main road network of the valley: the "Strada del Piano", which connected Città di Castello to Perugia, along the left bank of the Tiber, across the bridge over the Carpina, the church of Santa Maria, the Collegiata (in fact), the Madonna del Moro and Ponte Felcino. Therefore, for the inhabitants of the castle of Fratta, the most important way to go to the Collegiata was the one leaving the Porta della Campana, which entered the “Strada del Piano” through the Piaggiola and Boccajolo. It was also the shortest way, because the possible alternative was to go down the Via Retta (the Corso), leave the walls towards Piazza San Francesco and go up to the Collegiate Church on Via Soli. So: for the people of the castle of Fratta it was natural to access the large church outside the walls from the "Strada del Piano". 9. There is news (6) of an old bridge over the Regghia starting from July 1632, from which it is deduced that it was probably composed of masonry heads where wooden beams rested for crossing. The continuous adjustments and renovations in the seventeenth century indicate how much it was subjected to wear. In particular, he had had to work overtime in absorbing the transit of heavy loads of materials coming from the furnaces of the Borgo Superiore, necessary precisely for the "factory" of the church of the Madonna della Regghia. Other consolidation works were carried out in 1726. Furthermore, the state of the bridge was a source of dangers, so the situation became increasingly unsustainable. Finally, in the meeting of April 4, 1770, the City Council took the question head-on: "Being that since some years ... several times thought by the Defenders and by the representatives of this Earth to obviate the dangers that have occurred and that can happen in the future in passing with horses slaughters and some over the bridge that passes over the river Palace under the church of the Most Holy Virgin, which being so narrow and without sides or parapet, it happened several times that horses and oxen were in danger of rushing with loads and wagons, and other hauls. " By cutting off the bull's head, it was decided to redo the now unsafe bridge from scratch, making it wider, with sturdy sides and suitable for bearing greater loads. In confirmation of this intention, the Chapter of the Collegiate gave the Municipality "land for the construction of the new bridge over the Royal Palace in the direction of Montone" (7) . The project was promptly carried out, if in the rough color plan of 1780 by Giuseppe Fabretti (8) (figure 4) the bridge is located in the new position and is connected through a twisted junction to the old route of the “Strada del piano”, which in the meantime had become less and less important, compared to the more recent road on the right bank of the Tiber. The road will only subsequently be rectified and enlarged, forming the current Via Veneto. The construction of the new bridge in a location other than the original one was also determined by the need to expand the square under the Rocca (9) , whose first modest works began in 1803, in order to solve a very old problem. At the end of 1846 the Judiciary of Fratta bought, for this purpose, another piece of land with these reasons: "... the need for this expansion [Editor's note: of the area for the livestock market] is making itself felt every more and openly demonstrated by the last Cattle Fair in which not only the current square was filled with oxen, but even though the adjoining road that leads to the house of Signor Mavarelli and a large part of the Collegiate field that would be occupied by the proposed extension ... ". It is reasonable to think that on that occasion it was decided to move the riverbed of the Regghia away from the tower. The refurbishment of the area was completed in 1880, with the construction of the retaining walls and the raising of the level of the market square. Ernesto Freguglia had just had time to paint the area (1875) in its original configuration, with the clearing still at the level of the bed along the river bank. In this year 2011, a suggestive realization has turned back the hands of time, restoring a condition similar to that of the seventeenth century, demonstrating how man does not disdain to emulate Penelope in adapting the environment to his variable needs. A hypothesis for solving the riddle On the basis of the objective information detailed above, it can be deduced that the configuration of the area of the Collegiate and the surrounding area in the year 1600 (immediately following the completion of the church) was that shown in figure 5, which can be compared with that of figure 6 , relating to the year 2000. For a more immediate perception of the changes undergone over the last four centuries, the situations indicated in the plans are replicated in the drawings of figure 7 - taking advantage of the prodigious pencil of Adriano Bottaccioli, used to photographing scenarios that have now disappeared from our castle - and in figure 8 , in which the changes that led to the current scenario are superimposed. At this point we can deduce a likely explanation for the enigma posed to us, which we set out below. Already in the positioning phase of the new church, it was decided not to incorporate the small chapel with the image of the Virgin, as was customary in that period (point 1), because it was too close to other valuable buildings existing nearby ( point 2). The church was originally conceived with the main entrance - and, initially, probably the only one - corresponding to the current north portal, aligned with the main access road from the castle, as shown in the drawing in figure 7. In this way the scenography that was presented to the faithful on their way to the church (point 8) was of the utmost spectacular. On this portal, at the same time as the construction of the wall, the discharge arch was created above the opening (point 4). It is probable that only later, during the construction of the church, did someone come up with the idea of "uniting" the old chapel and the large church in some way. The goal was achieved with the opening of a second access (not drawn in the overview of the Piccolpasso referred to in point 6) on the side facing the original aedicule, which was obtained by tearing apart the masonry. On the occasion, the platband was not built on the external face, for various possible reasons: either because the engineers were less scrupulous; or because it was more complicated to obtain an aesthetically acceptable result, having to inscribe the arch on an opening obtained by tearing. However, it cannot be excluded that the platband was built at a lower level, so as to be hidden by the sandstone tympanum. Jutting out from the wall, a twin portal to the existing one was built, but with an anomalous angle, in order to orient it towards the original chapel (point 5); in fact the land donated for the construction of the church was in fact "contiguous" to the chapel, as reported in the deed of sale of the land of 1559. The anomalous angle can have two different explanations, depending on whether the construction of the portal was started after or before having decided to demolish the chapel - perhaps due to the precarious state, such as not to justify its restoration - and to move the image of the Virgin inside the church. In the first case, in anticipation of the maintenance of the chapel, the new portal should perhaps have constituted one of the two ends of a portico connecting the new and old structure; faced with the decision to move the effigy and demolish the aedicule, the portico was no longer built, leaving the work unfinished, due to the unexpected disappearance of the final destination. In the hypothesis that the architects of the work were less fickle in their decisions, it seems more likely that the idea of building the anomalous portal was triggered after having decided to demolish the chapel, with the consequent necessary compensation by evoking it forever. in the imagination of the faithful. In any case, in all probability this architectural strangeness remains today to indicate the direction along which the ancient chapel with the Majesty must have been. The opening of the second portal will have involved the need to move the altar, placing it on the side of the octagon opposite the one between the two doors, in order to give a new symmetry to the temple. Conclusion If the one described was really the sequence of decisions and works, the enigma we tried to unravel was born, many decades after the completion of the Collegiate, following the decision to move the route of the "Strada del piano" and to replace the old bridge over the Regghia on the road to the upper Borgo with a new one, in a different position. There were two reasons: the state of decay and danger of the bridge; the need to expand the space around the fortress to be used for the livestock market, after having moved the riverbed of the Regghia and demolished the access ramp to the now obsolete drawbridge. Basically: the orientation of the temple and the presumed location of the original main access road to the church explain each other; with the modification introduced since, during the 18th century, the pre-existing bridge and road were moved to the north-east, the original scenography was canceled, creating the enigma for which this hypothesis of solution was proposed. PS In the recent restructuring of the area surrounding the Rocca, the opportunity was lost to restore the original scenography to the Collegiata, with the simple positioning of the new sidewalk along the route of the ancient Strada del Piano. * * * Thanks to Alvaro Gragnoli who, thanks to his intuition, started the research and to those who made their knowledge available: Giovanni Cangi, humanist engineer, as regards the engineering aspect; Francesco Rosi, architect, expert and passionate about archaeoastronomy; Monsignor Pietro Vispi, parish priest of the Collegiate, precious source of historical information, Adriano Bottaccioli, art director of communication and painter. Note: 1. PIETRO VISPI, The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria della Reggia, Radio Elettra & M SpA School, Città di Castello, 2001 2. LUCA SPORTELLINI, “The Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Assunta in Rasina”, Fabrizio Fabbri Editore, 2011, p. 24 3. A. GASPANI, Astronomy and geometry in the ancient Alpine churches, Priuli and Verlucca editori, 2000, Turin 4. Contribution by FRANCESCO ROSI 5. BELFORTI - MARIOTTI, History of Fratta, year 1780 6. CODOVINI - SCIURPA, Umbertide in the XVIII century, GESP, Città di Castello, 2003, p. 42 7. PIETRO VISPI, The Collegiate Church of Santa Maria della Reggia, Umbertide, 2001, note on p. 60 8. GIUSEPPE FABRETTI, News of the Land of Fratta, (ms BAP 2011) 9. RENATO CODOVINI - ROBERTO SCIURPA, Umbertide in the 19th century, 2001, GESP, Città di Castello, pp. 51, 122, 377. L'Enigma della Collegiata THE SUNDAY OF THE GRANDE PIAZZA DELLA FRATTA by Mario Tosti In the memory of Renato Codovini and Amedeo Massetti With the following notes I propose to shed light on the events of a sundial found in our historic center. I try to demonstrate the hypothesis that it represented the local reference for solar time: the time of Fratta, our local Greenwich mean time. For this mission, she lived in symbiosis with the clock of the Torre della Campana, which stood on top of the Piaggiola. His odyssey began on a window sill in front of the Rocca, on the first floor of the building that housed the headquarters of the Podestà and the hall of the municipal council, in Via Alberti. After a couple of centuries of honorable work, she was evicted and imprisoned under the plaster of the Garibaldi's room in Piazza Fortebraccio. Today he is enjoying his well-deserved retirement in the bucolic Umbrian countryside. For the sake of completeness, I have also tried to reconstruct the evolution of time measurement tools available to the community up to the present day. Let us hope that they continue to measure a time of peace and serenity. THE FINDING Around the middle of the twentieth century, in the course of renovations, a sundial was found under the plaster of the wall in front of the entrance to the room on the ground floor of the building at no. 9 of the current Fortebraccio square, in front of the Rocca (Figure 1). It was Rinaldo Giannelli, owner of the restaurant, who reported it to me, proposing to look for clues about the story. THE SEARCH FOR INFORMATION At first, I had come to a hypothesis that turned out to be incorrect after meeting Mauro Bifani who, together with Manlio Suvieri, was carrying out a research on the sundials of Umbria. I pointed out to him the existence of our find, which has become the subject of his expert analysis. In the book they subsequently published - The ancient hours, Sundials and Roman-style clocks in the municipalities of Umbria, Futura edizioni, 2017 - an entire chapter was dedicated to The sundial of Piazza Grande alla Fratta, in which I was able to integrate with my historical reconstruction of the results of their technical and functional research. STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS The small sundial (36 cm x 36 cm) of Fratta, in octagonal terracotta, at Italic hours, was designed to be used in a horizontal position. Several engravings are visible on its surface. At the top, the date of construction (1658) is engraved. A little below, a motto in Greek and another in Latin are engraved: “ΧΡΟΝΟΧ ΑΝΤΑΧΟ Υ ΑΝΕΜΕΙ” (Time resists winds). “AMBIGUIS ALIX LABILIS HORA VOLAT” (The fleeting hour flies on mysterious wings). In agreement with the authors of the book, I add a different translation reported by Mons. Pietro Vispi, also based on the identification of a Greek "p" partially canceled by a crack in the tile: "ΧΡΟΝΟΣ (Π) ΑΝΤΑΚΟΥ ΔΙΕΠΕΙ" (Time always arranges everything) “ΑΜΒΙGUIS ALIS LABILIS HORA VOLAT” (Time that passes flies with elusive wings). I gladly report the two translations, both fascinating, also to demonstrate the complexity in the interpretation of the thoughts handed down to us from the past. The inscription “AD ALTITUD GRAD 43” confirms that it was built for our latitude. The symbols of the four main zodiac signs are represented: Cancer, Capricorn, Aries and Libra. The names of the winds are engraved on the external frame: Mezzodì, Garbino (term used on the Adriatic coast to indicate the Libeccio wind), Ponente, Maestro, Tramontana, Greco, Levante, Scirocco. THE CLUES Hypotheses on the events of the sundial can be deduced starting from the information concerning the measurement of time in the castle of Fratta and the function of the existing buildings in the area of the discovery (Piazza Fortebraccio, Via Alberti, Piaggiola). A recording dated 1477 refers to a Porta della Campana (figure 2), open towards Montone in the north corner of the castle walls, at the top of the Piaggiola. Originally, a tower 22 meters high rose above the gate. In the 16th century it was raised with a wooden tower of 11 m, at the base of which a niche was obtained, with the painted image of the Madonna. At the top a small loggia was opened to house the public bell. The building became one of the main references for the people, so much so that the entire surrounding district took the name of Terziere della Campana. The donzello of the Municipality was in charge of ringing the big [bell] to signal, in addition to extraordinary events, the canonical hours: Lodi (at dawn), Prima (around 6), Terza (at 9), Sesta (at 12) , Nona (at 15), Vespers (at sunset) and Compline [sic], before going to bed. Where the bell was not within earshot, it was the position of the sun in the sky that marked the time or, if the sky was cloudy, the intensity of the light was enough to mark the slow life of our ancestors. Then, with the spread of mechanical clocks, one was installed below the bell. The task of supervising, maintaining and charging it passed to the moderator of the public clock [moderator: who knows if this name meant inviting the spheres not to be in too much of a hurry?]. It is likely that the imprecision of those first mechanisms made it necessary to put them back at the right time almost daily. This function, in the absence of today's time signals on the radio, could only be performed by a sundial. The symbiosis between the two instruments is confirmed by the coincidence of the presumable period of the installation of the mechanical clock (17th century) and the year (1658) engraved on the Fratta sundial. The room of the discovery (outlined in green in figures 3 and 4) is located on the southern edge of the fifth of buildings of the current Piazza Fortebraccio, originally "Piazza Grande del Comune", in front of the Rocca "(platea comunis dicti castri ante cassarum) . There are several documents that allow us to deduce the evolution of the buildings on the corner between Piazza Fortebraccio and Via Alberti. In the fourteenth century the building in which the sundial was found did not exist, but in its place there was an external ramp (figure 5), which was demolished (figure 6) when it became encumbered for the drawbridge that would lower towards the square from the Rocca under construction: in fact, among the works commissioned to Trocascio (27 May 1385) there was also that of demolishing it and rebuilding it inside ("Eo Trocascio I promise ... remove the staircase of the podesta's palace and remake it inside the said palace or elsewhere, so that it does not harm the cassaro [Rocca] "). Figures 5 and 6 show details regarding the rear building, towards the west, taken from deeds of the notary Nicola di Antonio. First of all it belonged to the Municipality, as shown in a document dated July 1443: "... in the square of said castle, in front of the Palazzo del Podestà and the Rocca (... in the stalls dicti castri ante palatium potestatis et arcem)" ...; in 1448, "in the Town Hall and residence of the said Podestà of the said Castle, in the upper room of the said palace (... in the palatio Communis et residentiae dicti potestatis dicti castri in the upper room dicti palatii) ..." (1). In another act of the following year we speak of the "lower room" (2). He refers to "upper room" in acts of 1464 and 1466 (3). It is therefore assumed that in the building there was a large room on the ground floor (current service entrance to the theater in Via Alberti, 22), which could be used for the meetings of the City Council, and an apartment on the first floor (with entrance at no.20 ) in use by the Podestà, which was accessed by an external staircase. Today the new staircase, whose intrados is visible just to the left of the entrance at no. 22, allows you to go up to the first floor from the entrance to n. 20 of Via Alberti. A map by Anonymous dating back to 1730 (figure 7) shows us that the building where the find was not yet existed. The same indication comes from a drawing by Fabretti of 1780 (see final note), which also highlights the existence of a chapel annexed to the Monastery of the Nuns of Castelvecchio, indicated in figure 4. THE DEDUCTIONS On the basis of the clues described above, I tried to reconstruct the events of our sundial. In the first place, it is presumable that it was not part of the religious complex adjacent to the site of the discovery. In fact, the monastery of the Nuns of S. Maria di Castelvecchio had been suppressed at the end of the fourteenth century, two centuries before the construction of the sundial. Furthermore, the hours engraved on the surface of the octagon - Italic hours for civil use, rather than Italic for bells used for bell towers - support the hypothesis of a civil use and exclude the religious one. A further trace: the small distance - a few tens of meters - of the room where the sundial was found from the civic tower of the Bell (and, later, of the Clock), suggests that the two systems of time measurement were in close symbiosis, confirmed by the coincidence of the respective construction periods. The adjacency to the hall of the municipal council and to the seat of the Podestà suggests that it was exhibited somewhere in the square. The window sill of the "upper room", on the first floor of via Alberti 20, was probably the ideal point (figure 8) on which to display it in the horizontal position for which it was conceived. In fact it was sunny and protected, within reach of the highest authority of the castle. Mauro Bifani confirmed the validity of this hypothesis, found in other situations: inside the Sperelliana library in Gubbio, the sundial originally exhibited on the window is preserved, where traces of the well-oriented seat in which it was positioned remain; also in the Marches there is another, still in its place, which makes a good impression on a window sill. The Platonic marriage between the solar instrument and the mechanical one, not consummated due to the distance of their respective residences, went into crisis in the nineteenth century, for various reasons. The signs of old age arrived for the bell tower: in 1815, due to a subsidence of the foundations, it had been shortened, but with poor results: in 1820 it was completely demolished. But the clock was too important for the inhabitants of Fratta to do without it: at the same time a new tower was built (figure 9) in the central square - Piazza del Grano - in front of the current Town Hall, which had become the new center of gravity of the country. But the purchase of a new watch resulted in the death sentence of the old one, already in bad shape due to worn and rusty wheels. The solution proved to be precarious because, after just half a century, in 1873 it was decided to enlarge the Piazza del Grano to give air to the current Piazza Mazzini; to make room, the fledgling tower was sentenced to death at the bitter age of 53. As can be seen, even in the past, not all choices were far-sighted. Even for the sundial, widowed, the end loomed. To put a load of eleven there was the construction of the building at number 9 of Piazza Fortebraccio, as shown by a plan of the Gregorian Cadastre (figure 10) dating back to the period 1830-1850. From that moment on, the area assumed its current shape. The new construction "blinded" the window of the upper room where the sundial had lived, depriving it of its function. As a result, she was fired and evicted. He found refuge in the room where it was found, downgraded to a simple decorative element, albeit with the advantage of protection from the elements. Subsequently it raged, segregating it under the plaster. In short: in addition to life, the solar instrument and the mechanical one also seemed united in the end. But there was a surprise for the sundial. THE FINAL REST Rediscovered in the third millennium, by the owner the sundial has been moved to its natural environment, outside a pleasant cottage in the sweet Umbrian countryside. Although hanged vertically - contrary to its nature to relax horizontally - and with a random orientation with respect to the cardinal points, it is very happy to have rejoined the sun, remaining an interesting testimony of the history of Fratta. THE HEIRS Since the appetite comes with eating, I was intrigued to know who took over the sundial and the clock her husband, in the task of marking the time of our community after the demolition in 1872 of the ephemeral tower in the square. Nobody could tell us better than Egino Villarini, who joined me at the PC keyboard. In November 1876 the works for the enlargement of the old Piazza del Grano were completed, decided by the Municipality due to the increase in the volume of commercial activities, the growth of the population and the fact that it "was in a cramped confined space. "; last but not least, "the not very decent appearance of the buildings" which impoverished the Sorbello palace, seat of the Municipality. The square (now Piazza Matteotti) took the name of Umberto I. A new bell clock was placed in the center of the building opposite the town hall (Figure 11). It was operated by large stone blocks which, hung from a chain, descended from the top floor to the ground, where the Post Office was located. In more recent times, the task of turning the crank to raise the weights could not fail to be entrusted to Gino Vannoni, watchmaker. It was the engineer Villarini himself who relieved him of his duty by automating the operation. In 1918, the primary school clock (Fig. 12) entered the life of the people of Umbria, with the task of informing the schoolchildren, at a quarter past 8, that it was time to set off and, at 8:30, that the it was closing. Today, clocks are everywhere - on the streets, in the squares, on everyone - to synchronize with the hasty rhythms of modern life. But it would be quite another sensation to respond, as yesterday, to the call from the voice of the school: a solemn rite of the community, testifying to the collective concern reserved for the process of integrating young people into the cycle of social life. Those familiar tolls were then perceived by everyone, thanks to the silence in the town and the concentration of the houses; today they would perhaps be suffocated by the noise of cars and muffled by the remoteness of the suburbs. Yet they could represent the symbol of a cohesive and harmonious community, sickened by decades of excessive individualism. They would be especially appropriate in these times of seclusion. NOTE Regarding the volume of Fabretti, I want to tell a singular detail. Together with Amedeo Massetti we were consulting it in the Augusta Library in Perugia, when we came across a map referring to “Fratta” (figure 13, left), but it appeared totally different from that of our country. We thought it was the result of an error, also likely due to the low quality of the drawing, attributable to a novice author. After various considerations, we discovered the dilemma: the image had been copied against the light on a window pane, but on the wrong side. It was enough to do the opposite operation - this time with the PC - to get the right drawing, but with the name “Fratta” inverted (figure 13, in the center). An enlargement of the plan (figure 13, right) reveals the lack of the building of the find. There is also an interesting detail: a small church is marked with a cross (barely perceptible) - indicating that it was still officiated - annexed to the adjacent monastery of the Nuns of S. Maria di Castelvecchio. NOTES TO THE TEXT: Arch. Notar. di Umbertide, Notary Nicola di Antonio, acts 1448 - 1450, cat. 276/74, card 11 / v Arch. Notar. di Umbertide, Notary Nicola di Antonio, acts 1448 - 1450, cat. 276/74, card 99 / Arch. Notar. di Umbertide, Notary Nicola di Antonio, acts 1464 - 1466, cat. 283/5, cards 10 / r, 120 / v, 225 / v THANKS For this little research, I have made extensive use of the work of friends: Renato Codovini, generous initiator and prompter for all researchers of local history, who exhumed historical documents otherwise destined to remain buried in the archives; Amedeo Massetti, unforgettable friend and perfect citizen; Egino Villarini, an inexhaustible source of the innovations introduced in the country, with the reliability and details of having been the protagonist; Adriano Bottaccioli, who imagined the missing pieces of our country from every point of view, reconstructing them with the artist's ability and with the affection of the ex-emigrant; Mauro Bifani and Manlio Suvieri, who provided the technical information necessary for the reconstruction of a plausible history for our sundial. Fabio Mariotti, who checked the text (once I relied on Amedeo), enriching it with images. La Meridiana della Piazza Grande della Fratta

La vita durante il ventennio fascista ad Umbertide. Memoria della vita di Aristide. Aristide and the twenty years curated by Francesco Deplanu Aristide Guardabassi, the first on the left in the photo was born in 1912, became an adult during the Fascist period. After the military started in 1931, participated in the "Ethiopian enterprise" from 1935 to '36, the era of the "great consensus", then he was recalled in 1941 in the military battalions of the "shirts." black " and died in 1942 at the "mouths of Cattaro" together with a commissioner, Massetti, from Città di Castello affected from "friendly" batteries. The remains of his body were tracked down by the Maggior Suppa of the Italian army only after twenty years and brought back to a now democratic and pacified Umbertide. His funeral, in a very cold March 1960, with the banner of the Municipality in front, climbed on foot to the cemetery with all the citizens in tow, after having crossed a plain that still showed the promiscuous culture of the vine, the last landscape of an ancient world. He had reached the "sixth" elementary and so on long years of military service and then as a "black shirt", volunteer for the AOI and recalled for the Second World War, he had a very long correspondence with his wife, Olinda Guardabassi. Linda, as she was called, responded less to difficulties between work as a "tobacconist" and other jobs to be able to live and raise the little daughter; moreover, like many girls before the war, he was prevented from finishing elementary school because he was "a woman". After the second class, in fact, it had been held home to provide for family needs ... his writing was therefore more tiring. In addition to many documents of the time among the many letters left, where they are substantially absent i references to the "enemy" e to war, there are affections, memories and common life as in an "escape" from a present that is difficult to live and tell. Linda kept everything she had left in her wooden barber box: her compass and sewing supplies, letters, postcards, some documents, the metal plate found with the remains of her body, the newspaper with the 'announcement of death and some letters from friends to alleviate his loss. The barber's box contained about 300 letters, 144 postcards, filled for almost all the space available, and some telegrams written in the decade 1932-42. Almost all the letters are by Aristide some by Linda. The letters are concentrated above all in the second year of the war, as many as 110 letters, when he was recalled and left for the conflict, and in 1942, third year of the war, 52 letters before dying. In particular 68 letters were kept during his military service and 10 postcards; between 1934 and 1936, during the African campaign, 66 letters, 1 telegram and 29 postcards remain; 170 letters, 105 postcards and 3 telegrams remain for the period of the World War: 1932 - 4 letters, 1933 - 61 letters from Vercelli, 10 postcards, 4 edelweiss, 1934 - 3 missives, 1935 - 38 missives 1 telegram and 29 postcards, 1936 - 25 letters, 1939 - 2 telegrams and 15 postcards, 1941 - 110 missives 2 post card, 2 telegrams 70 postcards, 1942 - 59 missives 4 postcards 1 telegram 35 postcards and 1 letter from Alberto Burri to his wife Linda after her death. Interno della cassetta da barbiere In addition, many personal photos were kept in the box, 30 photos of the funeral that took place in the post-war period in Umbertide, various personal and time documents, "Various materials" including, a compass used in the AOI, a needle holder and wooden thread, a branded cigarette holder with still some cigarettes inside, a small santino di Sant'Antonio kept inside a small bussolotto, the identification plate kept in a green canvas bag with the personal data, the flag with which the small chest with the remains of Aristide was displayed in the Collegiate Church for the funeral about twenty years after his death; Linda after many years used to say that only at that moment, when the remains were brought back in a small box, did she really stop hoping for his return ... A decade of alternating correspondence for a few years, after the "unlimited leave" from military service, first from the "African enterprise" and then from the outbreak of the conflict. A very long correspondence in which Aristide wrote almost exclusively of love, affection and everyday life; an aspect that goes hand in hand with the historical moments in which he writes, writes from Vercelli and Biella to the compulsory service of the state, writes from the "steamer" that takes him to Africa for the Empire, sends postcards where the propaganda phrases of the "Fascism" as he greets his Lindina, postcards that have as their theme the geographical map of the AOI or busts of beautiful African girls that the regime shows as trophies, he writes more and more often when he is sent to the coasts of Albania and present-day Montenegro . He wrote from Podgorica, from the "very Italian" Boka Kotorska, until his death at the hands of his own army in an Italy that soon will be divided in two, with the central part and its Umbertide that from that moment will live another story: drama and liberation. In addition to the correspondence, the preserved documents tell us about that moment: the cards of the fascist, workers and women's organizations, the lists of members of the Umbertidese militias of the "black shirts", the recall orders for the lack of behavior of these Umbertidesi militiamen on the part of the Perugian nucleus, an internal propaganda theme made to write to the daughter for the return of the father who will never return ... A remarkable material to be investigated at another time because it is too vast. The affections for the young Linda, first girlfriend then wife and mother of a child seem to be almost the exclusive subject to communicate. Here are some examples as a soldier of Leva in 1933 and then as a husband in '39 and on the day of his death in July '42: "Biella 04/21/1933 - IX EF ("Fascist year and period" Ed.) I reply to yours ("letter" Ed.) With a little nervousness caused by your silence. Lindina you will never imagine how I desire one of yours ("letter" Ed), and not receiving it, the saddest thoughts assault my brain, and the most phantasmagoric visions come before my eyes making me see who knows how many times you that you no longer think of me, that you do not love me, and who knows how many other bad things that my miserable language cannot pronounce ... " "Sora 16-7-39 - VII" ("fascist year" Ed.) Dearest love, with the greatest joy, I reply to your dear letter, which has reached me today. Lindina you will want to excuse me if sometimes in my letters I am a little impulsive, but you must understand, that it is the love I have towards you that makes me insane. Not a minute of the day goes by, that my thoughts are not turned towards you, and I remember all our talks, all our walks, every intimate we had with you and I wonder: what will my Linda do now without me? Maybe he will think of his distant love? And my heart answers yes. " "(Place not present for military reasons) - 29/07/1942 - XX ... I really liked the two conchigline I found in the letter of the 22nd from Imperia. Do you think Linda wanted to be a little bird, and see our daughter how he looked for them, and what he told you when he gave them to you to send them to me. I think of you how happy you will be, that you see Imperia growing like a flower, and that you guide it, and you look at it as you look at an angel. But for my part, I am happy all the same, because when it is joy for you, it is happiness for me too. Perhaps you will be even more worried than me, as despite being happy you have the constant thought for me, and who knows how many times you will repeat a name that with the help of our good God, will return safe and sound. "... He died immediately after the last letter together with his friend Massetti from Città di Castello, the other Umbertidesi present with him in Podgorica buried him. We insert here some images of 1933-34, the love letters and the envelope that Linda carefully preserved with the 6 edelweiss that Aristide had sent him; the letter of departure for the AOI; postcards, front and back from Eritrea with images that are racist and sexist in our eyes today; sheets for the symbols of the 1: 25000 tablets of the IGM, the patriotic propaganda theme made to write in class to the daughter ... 1/1 Linda also replied, although less frequently, moreover only a few letters have survived, those reported in the few licenses by Aristide. The writing is more tiring and with spelling errors that we decided to leave to remember the female condition of the time where compulsory schooling was not respected especially for girls. The last letter visible in the images inserted above was from Linda but he returned only later with the remains of Aristide in 1960; it was probably kept in its uniform. "Arille" was the affectionate way in which he called Aristide, and as usual the family affections dominate the thoughts of the two but the letter also briefly describes the situation of rationing during the war in Umbertide "nothing is found" and the solidarity between women with the wife of another "recalled" who brought food to their little daughter. “Recalled” indicates those who, like Aristide, had obtained “unlimited leave” but were “recalled” to arms with the worsening of the conflict; condition according to Linda suffered by Aristide and the other young people from Umbertide who left in '41. Linda also used to tell how the conflict led Aristide to moments of despair and that once, returning from leave, he seriously asked her to throw all three under the train nearby. "Umbertide 3-5-942 My dearest Aristide For a few days, I have not heard from you, the last of yours on the 22nd, Rille my thoughts vague, that again you will be moved, for another action, this is the thought that does not give me peace, Arille with a contracted heart , and full of hope I never tire of praying our good God, who is so good and merciful, will always watch over you, to make you return as soon as possible to your home, which is always full of your memories, where Imperia remembers its father a hundred, but a hundred times a day, your caresses, your sweet little words, full of fatherly love, Arille when our little one reminds me of your compliments, a knot tightens my tears, my heart no longer knows how to fight it has this great pain, of this your distance, that I do not know what I would give just to let me pass by in a moment to see you, and see the state you are in, Arille in these days that are without news from you the saddest thoughts assail me and make me suffer so much, Arille mirror everything as long as I get a line of comfort from you and relief, explaining the delay of this post. Arillino days ago I sent you the photo Imperia I hope it has reached you. Arille as I told you, indeed you will know, that times are difficult now and nothing can be found, but I tell you that our Imperia has lacked for nothing up to now, because there are the wives of those recalled who are with you that every so much they bring me eggs and flour, today Gigino di Dalai's wife came and brought Imperia 10 eggs and flour, dear kisses Linda and Imperia. " Linda young and still beautiful, with her darker and lighter eyes, peculiarity given by a benign neoplasm to the eye, found herself facing a life in poverty with a small daughter but with great strength and courage; with the bombing of Umbertide he welcomed Pompeo who was one year older than his daughter, who was orphaned by his whole family. They grew up as brothers until he had to send them far away to give them the future by making them come back whenever possible. Linda didn't want to anymore no one close to him waiting secretly and irrationally, in his heart, that Aristide's death had been communicated by mistake; conviction that ended at the return of the petty cash with what remained of his body. In addition to the family story, Aristide's documents tell us about our local history. Among the various documents that you can see in the gallery above, for example, there is one that can shed light, although it is undated, on the composition and structuring of the "umbertidesi fasci" system, part of history for obvious reasons not much in-depth since the war. up to the present day. In the typed document, with the caption "FEDERATION OF THE COMBAT BANDS OF PERUGIA" at the head, continuing underneath with the words "BAND OF UMBERTIDE", the distinction of the city is evident in at least five sectors, since this was the fifth. This "sector" concerned the area of Piazza S. Francesco, Via Secoli, Via Soli, Via Spoletini, Via Stella, Via Cesare Battisti. There was the "head of the sector": Ramaccioni Gino e 3 "nuclei". At the "head" of the first "nucleus" there was just Guardabassi Aristide with the particularity of being registered without the reference to be a "(CN)", or a black shirt. This writing instead appears next to the names of the "head" of the "II nucleus", Ramaccioni Dino, and of the "III nucleus", Pucci Carlo. Thus the list seems to have been written before the '' African enterprise, when Aristide was certainly a "Black Shirt" but was also used later ( 1935-'38) seen that in pencil you can read next to various names of the components of the "nuclei" the military destination of some: Bologna, Africa, Milan, Albania. However the components of this list are 17 in first “nucleus”, 17 the second and 23 the third. Overall, the "V sector" alone therefore counted on 61 belonging to the "Fasci di Umbertide". Here are the names present in the document relating to the "V sector" of the "Fascio di Umbertide": V sector (Piazza S. Francesco - Via Secoli - Via Soli - Via Spoletini - Via Stella - Via Cesare Battisti) Head of Sector - Ramaccioni Gino I Nucleus Head of core Guardabassi Aristide Burzigotti Eugenio Cardinals John Marine limestones Bebi Carlo Bebi Fausto Bico Antonio Cingolani Beetle Martini Adolfo Panzarola Nello Pini Giulio Ramaccioni Fortunato Ramaccioni Silvio Reggiani Francesco Santini Giovanni Tarragoni Ginetto pupils Tarragoni Students Enrico Zurli Arnaldo II Core Head of nucleus Ramaccioni Dino (CN) Alberti Alvaro Alberti Quintilio Angeletti Giuseppe Oreste children Baldelli Dante Ciocchetti Oliviero Corradi Anteo Fiorucci Thales Jets Decio Mancini Carlo Mancini Giuseppe Domenico Pucci Puletti Calisto Ramaccioni Ramiro Renzini Alessandro Renzini Pietro Renzini Oberdan III Core Head of Core Pucci Carlo (CN) Tullini Elmo students Anastasi Amedeo Bartoccini Pietro Becchetti Tito Giuseppe Becchetti Caldari Bruno Andrea Cecchetti Cerrini Renzo Ghisalberti Adolfo Lucaccioni Riccardo Lucaccioni Antonio Mariotti Ettore Giuseppe screeds Palazzetti Nazzareno Paoletti Antonio Paoletti Natale Rondini Aldo Rossi Vincenzo Starnini Warrior Serafino Fiorentino Tosti Quintilio Tognaccini Romeo Other letters speak to us, however, of historical events of national significance such as the departure for the AOI when he writes from from the ship Princess Giovanna: "Sender: Aristide Guardabassi Black Shirt, First Division CC. NN. March 23 202 th Legion, First BTG Second company, East Africa. 08/28/1939 - XIII EF ("Fascist Year and Epoch" Ed.) Dear Linda, first of all, I extend my affection to you, with the best wishes for a goodbye soon (before it is possible). Linda as she announces by telegram that you left on Sunday evening, the last 25th, with the ship Principessa Giovanna, and indeed it was. Our ship has lifted the anchors to head to Massawa in Eritrea, at 5 and 45 minutes, and we will arrive on 2 September the same day. Linda when the ship left the quay, to head towards the East, the immense crowd that filled the port, gave us a warm show of sympathy and affection, (and some faces were covered with tears) that you cannot imagine ... " An analysis of the long correspondence in search of historical elements as well as affective ones could reveal further information on the modalities of life during Fascism in the upper Tiber Valley and in our country. The correspondence is interrupted with the life of Aristide, just a end of July 1942, after 18 years his remains will return to Umbertide. A red envelope Linda kept inside the wooden box contained the last one missive written by Aristide, one page newspaper with the news of the death and the letter from her friend, Alberto Burri, written to Linda at the time of the news of the killing in July 1942. Burri, 3 years younger, was captured in Tunisia the following year, on 8 May 1943, and after several trips he was taken to the concentration camps of the United States . This is the text of the letter: " Dear Madam, You know how great our friendship was and you can understand how I too suffer for the loss of dear Aristide. However, the knowledge that he has left us in fulfilling all his duty as an Italian and a Fascist must help you and help us to bear this pain. He will always be alive in our memory with his eternally smiling face and with his good humor that increased with the difficulties of the moment. He was an excellent soldier and an excellent father, and little Imperia can be proud of him. You like mine Madam best regards. Alberto Burri " alberto burri 1 alberto burri 2 alberto burri 1 1/2 Aristide was one of the 93 dead or missing in the war of our country, but in addition to them the toll of lives for this war was very conspicuous because 70 died under the bombing of 1944 people, 22 were killed in retaliation (in Penetola, Serra Partucci, Civitella Ranieri and Montecastelli), 34 people died as a result of the war, 1 in prison camps and 2 at the front after 8 September as partisans. For those wishing to see their complete list, you can read the precious text by Mario Tosti " Beautiful works. Information, documents, testimonies and images on life and death events that took place in the Municipality of Umbertide during the Second World War ." Municipality of Umbertide, 25 April 1995. In total, therefore, a good two hundred and eighty-two Umbertidesi died during this conflict. Source: - Family archive of the Micucci-Guardabassi family - Oral source Fam. Guardabassi-Deplanu - Mario Tosti: " Beautiful works. Information, documents, testimonies and images on life and death events that occurred in the Municipality of Umbertide during the Second World War . Edited by Mario Tosti. Municipality of Umbertide, 25 April 1995. - Photo: Family archive of the Micucci-Guardabassi family

TERRITORY and MEZZADRIA (edited by Simona Bellucci and Francesco Deplanu) Flat land towards Montecastelli view give her hills of Spedalicchio di Umbertide: note the landscape characterized by the scattered settlement. The territory of Umbertide, like that of almost all of central Italy, was "shaped" by the very long choice of economic management of the properties that began at the end of the Middle Ages, it went into crisis after the war and ended in 1964 with the legislation that put an end to the new sharecropping contracts. Even the landscape of our area it can be defined with the terms of the rural landscape used for the whole of Europe, that is, it falls within the agricultural landscape a bocagé and does not belong to the other large category of openfields. Openfields that developed where the property came from managed directly by large landowners or jointly. In central Italy it was instead the indirect management of the land, through sharecropping, which gave rise to the division into plots and the distinction by hedges, trees and ditches, of the various plots. Plots that often went unevenly to form a farm, the economic unit of indirect land management typical of our areas. Thus from above the territory appeared completely fragmented. This subdivision, although decreased after the sixties, is also clearly visible from the satellite images that can be seen with "Google Earth": ditches, ancient oaks and other types of trees continue to be inexplicable functional elements within the fields without "seeing them. "with historical eyes. The plots of different positions and types that made up the farm they are a consequence of the need to make the family that settled there work well in several periods according to the different crops or maturation times. The economic management of the territory in an indirect form has therefore given rise to a particular rural landscape: the scattered settlement and polyculture. Particularly stable type of settlement with isolated houses in the plains and hills which today sees the replacement of the old farmhouses connected to the "Poderi" where the sharecroppers lived with houses often second property and, for 20 years and more, birth of a new economic use of the rural territory devoted to tourism. Farmhouses, country houses, holiday homes with swimming pools, often in the area of the old "ara", enrich our hills and flat areas. Polyculture was clearly visible in the so-called "Alberata", that is, in the mixed cultivation of vines alternating with cereals and in the small crops around the farmhouses. What is sharecropping The sharecropping is an agrarian contract under which the agricultural exercise was carried out on a farm. On the basis of the sharecropping agreement, a subject (grantor), holder of the right to enjoy a rustic land, associated himself with another subject (sharecropper), on his own and as head of a farmhouse for the cultivation of the land and the exercise of related activities, in order to divide the products and profits in half. In particular, the grantor conferred the enjoyment of the farm, while the sharecropper lent his own work and that of the farmhouse, with the obligation to reside permanently on the farm. On the day of San Martino, on the decision of the "owner", the change of farmhouse could take place based on the real ability of a "family", also for this patriarchal and numerous one, to make the "farm" profitable in an adequate manner. The first forms of sharecropping were born around the year one thousand but had a rapid growth in the fourteenth century. starting from the areas of the municipal counties. This form of contract dominated in our areas until the twentieth century, when after the war there was a rapid decline in sharecropping not only due to the push towards the direct cultivation of the farms, which took the form of the law n. 756 of 1964, but also due to the growing refusal of farmers to reside in old farmhouses, often without electricity and running water. Plain of the Tiber at the crossroads of the road to the Umbertide cemetery in the 1960s: you can see the use of the rural territory with the promiscuous culture of the vine, probably with field maples as a support, pruned like a candelabra, a useful form also for collecting vine shoots at the time of pruning and wood collected to dry. Plain of the Tiber at the crossroads of the road to the Umbertide cemetery in 2019, unfortunately in summer, among the leaves of the "downy oaks" you can see the complete disappearance of the arborata with the promiscuous culture of the vine; the division with the ditches of the plots remains. The same plain of the Tiber at the crossroads of the road to the Umbertide cemetery in the IGM "Tablets" with relief carried out in 1941, where you can see the cemetery on the right in the middle of the image and the land completely cultivated with the promiscuous culture of the vine: in fact it can be seen how the plots are characterized by "circles" to indicate the presence of a crop, with a sort of wavy line inside with shadow that characterizes the type of crop of the plots themselves, or the symbol of the vine. The "Tablet" thus represents the dominant presence of the arborata with the promiscuous culture of the vine. The Mezzadria in Umbertide Simona Bellucci who dealt with the sharecropping system and the relations between the two worlds of "owners" and "workers" writes about it in its " The incomplete modernization. Umbertide farmers and owners between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries ": " The form of land management determines the type of farmer prevalent in Umbertide, the sharecroppers, who are flanked by the laborers:" The sharecropping contract applies everywhere, There is a good number of laborers. "The sources never mention the small owners direct farmers because in the Municipality we find only medium and large land ownership. Small peasant property is scarcely present in all of Umbria, limited to certain Apennine areas, only "in the immediate post-war period there is a whole movement for the formation of small peasant speculative of the sharp rise in land and without adequate support for the necessary transformations and the exercise of the activity itself, it was quickly wrecked around 1930, after which it quickly returned to the pre-war structure. "" The large owners adopt the sharecropping management system, long-standing contract, dating back to the Middle Ages, which generally provides for the division of products in half, due to its characteristics of a corporate pact particularly suitable for maintaining social peace. In Umbria, however, there are clear signs of a worsening of the sharecropping contract at the end of the nineteenth century due to a relationship that becomes more unfavorable to workers due to excess labor. However, sharecropping is not a real corporate pact, because the settler suffers injuries to his individual freedoms, from those concerning marriage, to education, for which he must ask for and obtain the master's consent. The contracts, all disadvantageous, also provide for a series of obligations for the sharecropper, in fact he is subject to additional donations of poultry and eggs on certain festive occasions such as Easter and Christmas, he must also bear part of the land tax, the wife of the settler, in addition, she has to do laundry for the owner's family. The sharecropping contract has different clauses from area to area, in Umbertide «in principle the division of the products takes place in half; only for grapes to a third in favor of the owner ». In the general condition of poverty there are, however, sharecroppers who live in a better way than others, they are those who cultivate farms in the plains, more fertile than those of hills or mountains and where the number of arms is in balance with the extension of the earth. ". Consequences of indirect management Over time, this type of management of agricultural property also imposed a cultivation method: polyculture, exemplified in our area by the mixed cultivation of the vine mixed with cereals but also by the fruit and walnut trees in front of the house. It characterized the typology of human settlement in the Umbrian-Tuscan-Emilian countryside, that is the scattered settlement, or our "landscape" with our hamlets called "Ca '" or "Cai", the water mills, the country churches with their viability necessary for a world of faithful who moved on foot, and microtoponyms still alive in those who frequent the countryside. The characteristic of polyculture was combined with the need to produce cereals and grapevines taking the form of the “mixed cultivation of the vine”: that is, parts of a cereal field divided by rows of vines. Often "married" to trees, to favor their growth. In Umbria, especially in the south, usually the vine was associated with maple, even today, which has been replaced by concrete poles, the maple is visible in our countryside as a "residue" of the ancient way of farming. For aesthetic / affective reasons, the landscape has continued to maintain "survivals" that are no longer functional to the economic context that had generated them as in the residues of "promiscuous culture" that are sporadically encountered in the countryside. An example of "survival" can be seen just beyond the junction of the road that climbs to the cemetery in the direction of Montone, near the junction for S. Lorenzo. The end of Sharecropping the law N ° 756 of 1964 discouraged the stipulation of these contracts then prohibiting the establishment of new ones starting from September 1974, while acknowledging those already existing. The law No. 203 of 1982 then imposed the termination of sharecropping or middle-range contracts with their conversion into rental contracts. Rural architecture and appliances There is a commendable text, published by the Umbria Region and written by the professors, Melelli, Fatichenti of the University of Perugia that can guide us to re-read the historical stratification of the landscape both in terms of rural architecture and the appurtenances and open spaces of our Region and also of our Valley: Alberto Melelli Fabio Fatichenti Massimo Sargolini. “ Architecture and Rural Landscape in Umbria. Tradition and contemporaneity. "Umbria Region, Quattroemme Srl. But there are many human elements that are found in the apparently natural agricultural landscape, the fruit instead of one historical economic stratification that has remained stable for hundreds of years and then has changed rapidly, in the text indicated by prof. Fatichenti indicates in fact, as "historical assets" a series of elements: “ Minor elements of religious architecture (chapels, oratories, farm churches, country cemeteries, road crosses, niches or votive plaques, tabernacles, newsstands); - service goods (public springs and wash houses, taverns, springs, aqueducts, masonry huts, stone boundary stones); - appurtenances to buildings (farmyards in beaten or paved earth, wells or cisterns with or without cover, wash houses, fertilizers, ovens, dryers, barns, sheepfolds); - agricultural arrangements (terracing and embankments, dry stone walls); - hydraulic arrangements (embankments, canals, dams). " It must be said that in our area, unlike the rest of Umbria, the "barns" were not used, the hay was instead collected and left to dry outdoors, in the large "sheaf" near the threshing floor, a space that was also the small "square" of the farm house or of the groups of neighboring houses. Harvest time, Montecorona area, 1928 The rural house The rural house is an expression of the needs of the production system in which it is located. Its housing structure, the new parts that are built and the annexes are all functional to that economic cell of the exploitation of the property in an indirect form which is the appoderamento, or rather the farm with the typical farmhouse of sharecropping. The space in front of the house is used for the arrangement of agricultural work; new buildings, if they exist, are an expression of production needs, stables, dryers, any barns, even the external bathrooms are usually built in the same area where the excrements of animals taken from the stables for fertilization are kept. Usually the house has two floors, with an external staircase that ends in our areas with a small roof, in the basement often hens or rabbits were placed; downstairs there is the stable for the animals, now rearranged in beautiful halls; upstairs, with an internal hatch to go up and down with a wooden staircase for the winter, there was space for the settlers. The second floor always had a large fireplace in the central room which had to be enough to heat all the rooms, where we all ate together. Especially in the hills the external structure of the rural house appears from far away in harmony with the colors of the surrounding nature; this happened unintentionally because the building materials were being taken from the surrounding terrain. This last geological typology is clearly visible on the roads leading to Pietralunga or Gubbio with the yellow "sandstone" sections that protrude with "teeth" alternating with gray "marls"; marls also present as on some badlands forms visible going up from Umbertide towards the Monte Acuto area. The great majority of our rural houses have the use of marly stones, more gray, or sandstone, of a browning yellow, leaving the external appearance of the houses in harmony with the surrounding hills. The fortress of Umbertide itself is built from stones of this type and for the finishing of the portals and the first step is also the "Collegiate". From a geological point of view, the area of the Municipality of Umbertide insists on fluvial-lacustrine sedimentary deposits of the alluvial plain together with a Miocene sedimentation area, of marly-arenaceous type, which characterizes the high hill between the Tiber and the limestone ridge of the Umbrian-Marche Apennines. These geological structures they are interrupted by some calcareous rocky outcrops of more ancient formation which occupy a limited area of their own near Monte Acuto. Just look at the rural houses once you enter the Gubbio plain to notice of the difference with those of our area, and of how the limestone quarries have the choice of the construction material of the houses. The housing structures closest to Umbertide have the most frequent use of bricks deriving from clay. Stratification of architectural elements Let's have two here examples of historical stratification in the still visible rural buildings, an older one, the dovecote tower, and one much closer to us, but now already a "historical" stratification, or rather the "dryers" of tobaccos. Among the elements that the sharecropping system has left in our rural landscape architecture are the dovecote (or palombine) towers . Example of an Umbrian rural house rebuilt maintaining the previous characteristics, including the "dovecote tower" and with original materials, with the ancient housing structure on the upper floor with the old "shed" integrated, however, in the roof. "Buzzacchero" area. Photo 1. Dovecote tower in the countryside, located on the banks of the "Assino" stream. Photo n. 2. Dovecote tower in the ancient countryside, located towards the Polgeto road. Photo n. 3 Probable dovecote tower on the border between the urban area and the old one countryside, placed in front of the walls of Fratta. Other sources would be needed to be sure, but the four-storey height, the "roost" between the third and fourth floors suggest this type of architecture. They seem to have arisen earlier than the rest of the buildings and although it is thought that the use of buildings from urban towers has extended, they have become characteristic of the rural environment. They wore various advantages advantages in addition to the meat of the pigeons, there was the fact of eliminating the seeds of weeds from the farmyard to the fields and providing a precious fertilizer for the cultivation of hemp and flax, but in any case it was also used to fertilize olive groves and vineyards. They could have three, four or five floors (those born with defensive purposes) but usually the last level, still reachable from the inside or with an external ladder, consisted of the real diver. Levels could be used for different purposes. On its walls often numerous niches were opened with nest functions, they were plastered and made very smooth so as to prevent weasels, stone martens and other predators from climbing up and killing pigeons. "Outside there were the entrance holes for the doves, and the rose window for the ventilation of the compartment, both overlooking the" roost "(or" walk ") which served both as a shelf for the dove but also as a further obstacle to predatory animals. " Today many of these towers in our territory are used for tourism purposes and perform an attractive function for tourism. The breeding of doves or pigeons was an activity of breeding present well centuries before the construction of the dovecote towers in the area, just think that in the "Statutes of Fratta of 1535" we read a specific rule: " DELI PIGLANTI LE COLOMBE DOMESTICHE or DE COLOMBAJO ". The Statutes deal with "the taking of domestic doves ", specifying the penalty for those who have stolen or killed them: "... X de dinars worth of money for everyone who steals in any way, palomba de palomboro or domesticho or casalengho ". The characteristic tower probably acquired an aesthetic value and in the twentieth century also the rural houses that did not use them for such purposes they equipped themselves with towers, as reported by prof. Fatichenti for the Spoleto in “Architecture and Rural Landscape in Umbria. Tradition and contemporaneity. ". Our country lacks studies on this aspect and so we can hypothesize that the numerous turrets that can be seen which however have a four-pitched roof were built for aesthetic or "rank" reasons. We recommend reading the Degree Thesis on the "dovecote towers" of our territory created in 1990-91 by Professor Anna Maria Boldrini who kindly allowed us to show it on this page. Photo 1. Probably a turret built in ememulation of the "dovecote tower" for the fact that it is different type of cover (four sides). "Poste" area. Photo 2. Probably a turret built in ememulation of the "dovecote tower" for the fact that it is different type of cover (four sides). "Station" area. Photo n. 3 Probable tower built in ememulation of the "dovecote tower" for the fact that it is different type of cover (four sides). "Buzzacchero" area. Among the recent constructions that the introduction of a new culture has left over time there are the tobacco "dryers" , rather tall buildings with many chimneys, today sometimes replaced by "dormers" when the buildings were reused as homes. These annexes next to or directly separated from the farmhouse were connected to the cultivation of tobacco by carrying out the drying time here with the leaves strung on strings, placed on poles which were then raised to a considerable height. Tobacco production allowed the birth of a thriving manufacture. just think that in 1946 the "Tabacchi plant in Umbertide, employed 230 people, 180 women. The total rose to 315 people in 1951. Subsequently the shift to cooperative and mechanized (bulk-curing) forms of production first concentrated drying in large buildings and then replaced it with machinery. Thus almost all of the "dryers" lost their function. A similar fate also for the large buildings such as those of the FAT company in Città di Castello which today are used in a museum key for the works of Alberto Burri after the relocation to Regnano. Tobacco cultivation that contributed also to homogenize the use of agricultural land from the early 1900s to the seventies in our flat and low hill areas, contributing to the elimination of the "tree" with the promiscuous culture of the vine. 1/1 Figs. 1-4: we show here some of the many characteristic dryers of the whole upper Tiberina Valley, here photos starting from the border with the Municipality of Montone at Tenute di Montecorona. Buildings of this type can be seen almost in every area of the municipality. We present here in .pdf a reconstruction of the agricultural use of Tobacco made by Prof. Simona Bellucci who kindly grants us from her work: “ Tobacco and tobacconists. The tobacco plant in the economy and society of Umbertide ", Crace / Fondazione Museo Storico Scientifico del Tabacco, Città di Castello 2009, pp. 58-61. Umbertide and his countryside, year 1933. In the lower left corner it is clearly visible the mixed cultivation of vines on the right bank of the Tiber. To deepen the relationship between rural architecture and sharecropping in our territory, we refer you to the page of the "Graduation theses" where there is the beautiful and accurate work of Professor Anna Maria Boldrini: " Rural architecture in the upper Tiber Valley: Umbertide in the century XVI ". Clicking on the image below opens the complete work directly. We conclude by returning to the present: today between Farmhouses, Guest Houses, Bed and Breakfasts, Holiday Homes, etc. present in the Municipality of Umbertide in the "Alta Umbria" site are counted 96 accommodation facilities ... almost all of them belong to that agricultural system that it has today changed economic function. Facilities that usually must to the scattered settlement born with the appoderamento their existence. Sources: - Alberto Melelli Fabio Fatichenti Massimo Sargolini. “ Architecture and Rural Landscape in Umbria. Tradition and contemporaneity . " Umbria Region, 2010, Quattroemme Srl. We present some elements in summary - http://www.treccani.it/encyclopedia/mezzadria_%28Dtionary-di-Storia%29/ - IGMI Tablet, Series M 891, Edition 3, Sheet, NICCONE, 122, I, NO - http://umbertide.infoaltaumbria.it/Ricettivita/Dove_Dormire.aspx - Simona Bellucci, " The incomplete modernization. Umbertide peasants and owners between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries ". Edimond, Città di Castello 2004, pp. 18-20. - Simona Bellucci, “ Tobacco and tobacconists. The tobacco plant in the economy and society of Umbertide ", Crace / Fondazione Museo Storico Scientifico del Tabacco, Città di Castello 2009, pp. 58-61. - Simona Bellucci, Umbertide in the 20th century: 1943-2000, Nuova Prhomos Editions, 2018. - Photo: Francesco Deplanu. - Photo: historical photos of Umbertide from the web and from various private archives to which we applied the " umbertidestoria " watermark in this way we try to avoid that the further disclosure on our part favors purposes not consonant with our intentions exclusively social and cultural. Henri Desplanques, Campagnes Ombriennes, 1969 “ A complex historical stratigraphy is the basis of rural landscapes. . .. " Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

The crosses in the fields curated by Francesco Deplanu We are made of history ... of millenary traditions handed down from gesture to gesture ... One shot shows us a field at the end of the harvest in the southern area of Umbertide, in front of the so-called “Skyscraper”. If we look at this photo from an economic history perspective, we can see a productive world modified by mechanization. Change that we can immediately identify in the "round bales". Mechanization began well before, in the early 1900s and led to a sharp decrease in workers in the fields. This contributed to a radical change in the type of settlement: from scattered to centralized. Here it meant the beginning of a clear growth of the city settlement and also the extension of the inhabited area in a southerly direction, especially starting in the 60s ... up to "eating" the "fields" and the houses rural. If we place ourselves in the respective "immaterial culture", however, we also see a folkloristic-religious sign, of a simple religiosity that has been handed down for centuries: the " feast of the holy cross " or " Inventio Crucis ". A cross intertwined with blessed olive branches to protect the harvest, to "guarantee" one's life, manage the fear of the future to protect one's labors. In short, a propitiatory rite. The origin dates back to the recovery by the Emperor Heraclius of the "True Cross" from the hands of the Persians in 628 AD, but it is claimed that, with the celebration of this "recovery", a festivity of the spring period already present since the fourth century after Christ has definitively crystallized, in short, more than two centuries earlier. It was celebrated in May or September? In central-northern Italy, the "feast of the holy cross" is usually "celebrated" on May 3, although the religious feast is located in September. In fact, in the Gallican custom, starting from the 7th century AD. C., the feast of the Cross was held on May 3 but the feast in this month, already formally secondary to the Catholic rite, the Roman liturgical calendar was removed in 1960/1962, following the reforms of the "Missale Romanum" which took place with John XXIII. But it wasn't there the recovery of nature in September ... and in the countryside they continued to celebrate in May. These spring rituals, functional to propitiate the trend of agricultural life, took place during the period of the " Rogations ", or two holidays: the greater on April 25 and the lesser of three days in May, where with prayers and processions the deity was asked for clemency for the harvest. This is attested in different parts of Umbria, for example in Trevi, as well as in numerous areas of Italy. Today the processions of the " rogations " have completely disappeared ... however "the crosses in the fields" remain, even in our countryside. The current state of archival research it does not allow us to attest in what period the rituality of the "feast of the holy cross" was defined in a stable form in the area around Umbertide; there remains even the doubt that for the less recent past there may be a "secular" documentation that reports this aspect, because it belongs to the culture of the humble of those who could not write or had a "voice". Rather, the diocesan archive for past centuries should be investigated, as well as the secondary elements present in photographic sources from the early 1900s. and finally the oral sources. Fortunately, the memory remains by prof. Angeletti in his 2019 text " If only the stones speak " that fixed some moments of the "rogazioni" in Montemigiano, above Niccone, during the period of the world conflict. We are also certain that in the "Fratta" the rituality of the "rogations" existed for some time since in the period of French domination, and then specifically Napoleonic, the "Seminary", dependent on the Diocese of Gubbio, closed to celebrate the days dedicated to this holiday. Cesarina Giovannoni, in her unpublished graduation work “ Events of an Umbrian country in the French age. Fratta (now Umbertide) from 1796 to 1814 ", in fact, it lists these holiday periods. In a note, a "Table of holidays in the schools dependent on the Episcopal Seminary of Gubbio" appears, where it is indicated that the school was closed for the month of May for “ The three days of the Rogations, on the 15th eve of St. Ubaldo but only after lunch and for the feast of the saint, on the 26th for the feast of San Filippo Neri ”. In April the 25th of the month was already indicated as a holiday for the " Feast of San Marco Evangelista ". There persistence of the tradition of the "cross in the fields" is also visible in this other photo, near Niccone along the road that leads to Mercatale di Cortona, between the Niccone stream and the state road. Here we see how in a similar way the historical changes, that is, the cultivation of tobacco and modern irrigation technology, have not made this millennial custom disappear. The "holy cross" stands out on the hills with the Montalto castle in evidence. And then several crosses are visible in various plots that rise towards the Castle of Civitella Ranieri ... to propitiate the harvest of different types of crops. In the northern area of Umbertide known as the "Petrelle" it can be seen in the grasses ... and also in the first meters after the limit with the Municipality of Montone, at the crossroads of S. Lorenzo, you can see a cross between the fruit trees. But the custom is present throughout the territory as they are also found near the town of Spedalicchio di Umbertide, in the plain and at the beginning of the road that climbs towards S. Anna. Finally they can be seen again in the plain south of Umbertide, near the stadium and with Monte Corona in the background. But always observing in the perspective of "immaterial culture" we see how rites and traditions adapt, overwriting previous customs, even with deeply different cultural and religious systems. In fact, propitiating the divinity to protect the fruit of one's work is an action ancestral. In short, we are a complex stratification of "stories" ... Stories that have the common dominator in the connection between the material life and the spirituality of the men who have inhabited this territory, linked by the need to survive. In fact, ingratiating yourself with the divinity to protect the fruit of your work is not an urgent need that dates back only to the origins of Western Christianity: the " rogations " in fact incorporated the " Ambarvali " of the Roman period (a term that we can translate as "around the field ": etymology: from Latin ambarvalĭa, neutral term pl., comp. of the pref. ămb- 'around' and a derivative of ărvum 'field'). It was Pope Liberius in the fourth century after Christ who pushed to replace and incorporate in the Christian religious and ritual sentiment the festivities of the "Ambarvali" which continued to take place in the countryside on April 25 and early May. For the date of April 25 another Roman holiday is connectable and "superimposable" and was always linked to another "propitiation", that is a functional ritual to remove the scourge of rust: the Robigalia . This time, these rituals took place in a wood dedicated to the secondary divinity goddess with a double aspect of the “rust of wheat” (Robigus). Like most of the geniuses of vegetation and rustic life he was fatal and at the same time propitious, male or female. In this case, the sacrifice of animals was present in ancient Rome. In short, various propitiatory rites in the same period of the year and with the same dates, in the period of the "masses", date back to the Roman cultural system and refer to the same function. Detail of the inscription (also reachable by clicking on the image) from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inscrição_dos_sacerdotes_arvais.jpg What we can see is that even in the pre-existing "pagan" rites of the Roman world the request addressed to the deities was the dominant feature. We insert here a translation of the inscription relating to the "Ambarvali" in ancient Latin where you can see the request to the "cruel Mars" to "pass over", or to save the harvest. The Latin text of the above inscription can be found in several online sources, the Italian translation is taken, however, from the wikipedia page cited at the bottom, together with the image of the inscription of "carmen arvale" present only in the Portuguese wikipedia. « [...] enos Lases iuvate snow lue rue Marmar [si] ns incurrere in pleores Satur fu fere Mars limen sali sta berber. [sem] unis alternnei advocapit conctos enos Marmor iuvato. Triumpe triumpe triumpe "Oh Lari help us, do not allow Mars, that the ruin falls on many, Be sated, cruel Mars. Go beyond the threshold. Stand still there. Call upon all the gods of the harvest. Help us oh Mars. Triumph, triumph, triumph, triumph and triumph ! Similar invocations were also present in the "Rogations" which were still established liturgically until a few decades ago. In the "Blessing" of the Roman ritual of the CEI we can still read them among the "Other blessings for special occasions" (Appendix 1), specifically in the "supplications", to which they had to be answered every time "hear us Lord", the phrases: " Give us a forgiving season", "Give us the fruits of the earth", “Give everyone wisdom prosperity and health ". As far as we know during the Rogations in Monteleone di Orvieto the "invocations" for the blessing of the waters were declaimed ": " From lightning and storms, deliver us, O Lord; from the scourge of the earthquake, deliver us O Lord; from plague, hunger and war, deliver us O Lord; for the mystery of your holy Incarnation, deliver us O Lord. " This latest news comes by Fernando Corgna who wrote " Monteleone d'Orvieto: History of the town, of the churches and of social and religious life ". In Umbertide Prof. Angelo Angeletti tells some aspects related to the "invocations" that were recited during the processions between Montemigiano and Niccone when he was a child, in the period between the Second World War: << in spring the Rogations were made which had St. Vincent as patron saint, celebrated, honored and invoked to implore good harvests and to avert the many calamities that could put bread at risk; for this reason, in April, in the most delicate period for the countryside, the Rogations were recited ... >>. During the ceremonies, the men of the countryside listened to the Latin of the litanies and responded more heartily to what they heard precisely, that is the fear for the harvest, or that they really managed to understand in the language of the liturgy: << There were other things that left me perplexed: they were the litanies sung during the procession to which people responded in unison "Free nos Domine! " But when the priest sang "A plague, a fame et bello" the "Libera nos" dropped in pitch almost to become little more than a murmur because, after the invocation to keep away the plague and hunger on which everyone was dying. chord, that "beautiful" sounded somewhat out of tune; much clearer and more shared was the "Libera nos", when the priest sang "a fl agello terraemotus, a sudden death" and everyone, absolutely everyone, would have liked to respond a hundred times to the invocation "a folgore et storm": that was the prayer really important sung by men and women as they watched their fields and vineyards. >>. That deliver us from "beautiful", or rather from "war", was not understood, while it was well understood the reference to natural disasters. We are stratifications of stories ... always in our territory, in fact, we can see that the same need for propitiation of products by one's own work is easily traceable also in the previous agro-pastoral economy society of the period between the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Here the bronzes of the Umbrian-Etruscan world, found in Monte Acuto, in the shape of bovine, sheep and other animals served as " thanks and request for protection for the donor's breeding " Luana Cencaioli quotes, reporting the opinion of D. Monarchi in his work on the “ Votive bloodline of Grotta Bella ”. We conclude by showing below the entrance to the sanctuary of Monte Acuto seen from the south and from below. In the votive cabinet, the traces of which have been identified inside the "enclosure", immediately after the entrance highlighted in the photo, the votive statuettes now preserved in the Museum of Santa Croce in Umbertide were recovered. The need for "propitiation", or to invoke protection for the livestock that is found in the "bronzetti of Monte Acuto", belongs to that same need to protect ourselves from the uncertain and frightening future that has taken on different forms over time based on one's own religious reference system… and which we find in our “crosses of the fields”. PHOTOS: Francesco Deplanu, images taken between May and June 2020. SOURCES: - Roman Church Liturgy: http://www.liturgia.maranatha.it/Benedizione/a1/A2page.htm -Carmen Arvale: https://latin.packhum.org/loc/149/1/0#0 http://www.mikoflohr.org/data/texts/CIL_6_2104/ https://it.qwe.wiki/wiki/Carmen_Arvale https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inscrição_dos_sacerdotes_arvais.jpg -Rogations and Ambarvali: Angelo Angeletti: “If only the stones are left to speak”, Digital book Srl, Città di Castello, 2019 (pp. 54-55). https://www.garzantilinguistica.it/ricerca/?q=ambarvali http://www.treccani.it/encyclopedia/rogazioni_%28Encyclopedia-Italiana%29/ https://www.storiaromanaebizantina.it/ambarvali/ http://www.webdiocesi.chiesacattolica.it/cci_new/documenti_diocesi/207/2016-05/12-451/CAL_LIT_estrà_SULLE_ROGAZIONI_pag170_171.pdf https://storiediterritori.com/2020/05/18/un-tempo-questa-era-la-settimana-delle-rogazioni/ https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradizioni_di_Monteleone_d%27Orvieto Robigalia http://www.treccani.it/encyclopedia/robigalie_%28Encyclopedia-Italiana%29/ -Unpublished thesis by Cesarina Giovannoni: “ Events of an Umbrian town in the French age. Fratta (now Umbertide) from 1796 to 1814 ; "1968. (p. 38). - “ Umbrians and Etruscans. Border peoples in Monte Acuto and in the territory of Umbertide ”, edited by Luana Cenciaioli, Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage Archaeological Superintendence for Umbria - Municipality of Umbertide, 1996; (p. 41-44). Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRATTA curated by Fabio Mariotti THE CASTLE OF FRATTA The castle within the walls was divided into three areas: the Terziere Inferiore , the Terziere di Mezzo , the Terziere Superiore which included the northern part of the castle (Rocca, north-west bulwark and was also called Terziere della Campana). The Terziere di Mezzo included the part towards the Tiber, the houses in front of the church of San Giovanni, the central square (square of the Marquis of Sorbello), the northern part of the Vicolo delle Petresche with the hospice of the Capuchin Fathers of Montone behind it, the part north of the middle road near the central square. It was also known as Terziere della Greppa. The lower Terziere (or Terziere della porta di sotto, also known as the door of the slaughterhouse) included the area around the southwestern bulwark, the southern part of the via delle Petresche (via Spunta current), the via regale (or straight, via Cibo), of the middle road and the San Giovanni road that led to the church of the same name. The castle walls In 1736 the Tiber, with its floods, ruined the central part of the west curtain and destroyed four houses built on that point of the walls. The budget of the defenders of Fratta amounted to 1,032 scudi. Wanting to hasten the reconstruction, they asked Clement XII for a subsidy and the pope replied that he would give five hundred scudi, however, when Fratta proved that he had found the rest. The defenders were able in a short time to find their part but, seeing that that promise from the pope did not arrive, they began to buy the timber for the armor, the bricks and the lime and entrusted the work to the master builder Bartolomeo Ferranti of Rome. They took action on September 15, 1739, but the pope had not yet paid the promised subsidy at the end of the year. The defenders gave the task to a Mariotti, a Frattegiano resident in Rome, and he replied that Clement XII was very ill and that the defenders of Fratta had to work hard to get the five hundred scudi. He adds that if the pope had died, it would have been much more difficult to obtain them. It is not known when the work was finished, but it was certainly done very quickly as winter approached. A plaque was affixed to the wall with the inscription "Clem XII Pont Max MDCCXXIYIX.", Which can still be seen about fifty meters before the bridge. The Tiber It had a different trend from the current one and was dangerous for two reasons: - the current was perpendicular to the road that led to the Niccone valley and to Città di Castello, even then of great communication, so it could have been cut. By 1758 he had come fifteen meters from the road and was threatening to cut it off. - if this had happened, the bridge would have remained dry, with evident damage to the town and with serious compromise of activities such as military defense, weir, mills, gardens, public wash house, sewage disposal. Work was done, using many large poles. In 1726 the bridge of the Reggia was consolidated, over which all the traffic, even heavy traffic, passed from Santa Maria to the church of the Madonna della Reggia and to San Francesco and Montone. The bridge was made of wood, except for the two brick ends and in 1770 the judiciary of Fratta decided to enlarge it. In 1787 the municipality incurred an expense to cover the top of the Rocca. The roof of the tower is rebuilt. The villages adjacent to the Castle The Borgo Superiore It is located north of the castle within the walls and includes the Castel Nuovo (formed by the two streets of the Boccaiolo and the one that leads from the Piaggiola to the market gate), the "Mercatale di Sant'Erasmo" (today's Piazza Marconi), the area of furnaces and the church of Santa Maria della Pietà. Palazzo Ranieri Owned by Count Curtio Ranieri, son of Costantino, it was in the Piaggiola road. In 1756 the count enlarged it. In front there was a public well (the widening that forms between the end of the Piaggiola and the Boccaiolo road) called the well of Sant'Agostino, near the church of the same name. Mill of the Fathers of San Bernardo (Castel Nuovo) It is located along the small road (now called del Molinaccio) which leads from the end of the Piaggiola to the Tiber. It was close to the castle walls and belonged to the Fathers of San Bernardo or Barnabiti. These had two small convents, one in Fratta and one in Migianella. In the Borgo Superiore there are still two tower-houses, one in the Mercatale area and another at the Porta del Boccaiolo. They consist of a bottom below and a room above. They were built for peasant use. The Lower Village It is also called "le Fabbrecce" because there are blacksmith shops and in the mill outside the Borgo, the scythes were rounded (as in the fourteenth century! Nothing had changed). It included the area of the street that led from the bridge of the Reggia to Piazza San Francesco, the Via di Santa Croce (now Via Soli) and the area outside the Borgo gate. At the beginning of the century, the road that began outside the San Francesco gate and led towards the Madonna del Moro was called the Caminella road; then strada del Piano (during the French occupation at the end of the century, strada Consolare del Piano); at the beginning of the twentieth century via Secoli. Along Santa Croce there was the Osteria della Corona, owned by Count Ranieri. The square was already called Piazza San Francesco. It changed its name later to go back to that name. Roads In 1790 work was carried out on the road to Montone, in the section under the convent of the Observant Friars of Santa Maria. The width is eight feet, like all the other roads leading to Fratta, the bracing of which is redone every year. The doors In 1788 an arm wrestling was put on the Porta della Saracina (there was still this mighty tower at the beginning of the bridge). Other works were done on the door of the market and that of the nuns. In 1790 the door of the Saracina is set up. In 1792 it was the turn of the bridge and work was done to lower the door to the market. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). South-west bulwark of defense The plaque on the walls dedicated to Pope Clement XII The ancient houses on the Tiber. In the red circle the headstone - On the left, cadastral map of Fratta from the mid-1700s - Above, map of the medieval Fratta with the castle doors The cover of the 2001 Umbertide Calendar The historian Renato Codovini Il Castello di Fratta Il modo di vivere, di morire, la solidarietà e gli svaghi La chiesa di Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio Il Castello di Fratta Le chiese minori di Fratta e i proietti L'Amministrazione e la Pubblica Sicurezza Gli appalti e le proprietà pubbliche Agricoltura, Commercio, Mestieri e Istruzione Il Tevere, i ponti, le mura del Castello Il sistema elettorale comunale L'Amministrazione e la Pubblica Sicurezza ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC SECURITY The municipal administration In the eighteenth century the public administration of Fratta has two different offices. From 1700 to 1787 the building located in today's Piazza Fortebracci, formerly the seat of the convent of Santa Maria di Castelvecchio (current seat of the Riuniti theater). From 1787 to 1799 in the palace of Castel Nuovo, formerly the seat of the convent of Santa Maria Nuova, suppressed in 1787. There are three administrative bodies: the judiciary, the council of twelve and the general council (or 42). The judiciary is made up of the four defenders, also called "priors" or simply "the magistrates". Once elected, they met and nominated the "chief magistrate" or "first prior". Person of great importance in social life, he came from the "first class". The election of the council was made between only two classes, the primary people of the place, civilians and landowners and the artists (craftsmen). The former are destined to obtain the rank of head of magistrate, the office of public chamberlain and the harangue of the council. The second the other three parts of the judiciary: the second, third and fourth prior who are distributed by seniority. The council of twelve met for decisions of greater importance, when they wanted to be sure that there would be no opposition to what was to be established. It was made up of the four defenders, the four counselors of the defenders, the three health conservatives and the chamberlain. He could not impose new taxes, vary the prices of abundance, discuss quarrels between citizens and the public administration, make decisions about wars, invasions, earthquakes, plagues. He was summoned by ringing the big bell with twelve taps. The council of 42 was the general council, that is the council of the twelve, increased by the representatives of the classes that had the right to be part of it and by the exponents of the major villas (hamlets). Organs: - Councilors (municipal). People who made up the two municipal councils (12 and 42). They were partially renewable, one third at a time, always removing the oldest ones. They belonged to the first and second classes. In 1798, following the French occupation, women were appointed municipal councilors for the first time. Three in Fratta and one in Preggio. - Defenders. There were four of them and they remained in office for four months. They were elected by means of a "bussolo" vote, but they did not receive any salary since theirs were an honorary office. Only at the end of the mandate were they compensated with a small sum as a gift, not exceeding one and a half shields. - Counsel for the defenders . There were four of them and each "on the sidelines" of a defender (or prior), to whom he gave advice. almost like today's personal secretary. They were chosen from among those who had been defender in the previous quarter, assuming that he had acquired some experience in the affairs of comitative government. - Gonfaloniere. First prior and head of the judiciary, he was called so only at the beginning of the restoration, after the end of the Roman republic. in August 1799. - Consular prefect of Fratta. Office of the French administration, reporting directly to the prefect of the canton of Fratta. He was the head of the commune of Fratta and also "president of the commune". - Prefect of the canton. Figure established in the last decade of the century, when there was the French invasion. The prefect was responsible for everything that took place in our canton, including the municipality of Preggio and Poggio Manente (San Paterniano) as well as Fratta. Employees and officials: - Archivist. Usually a notary. He drew up acts for the municipality but also for the citizens. - Balio. He was in charge of liaising between the judiciary and other community bodies and private citizens. He took four scudi a four-month period. - Camerlengo. Collection and payment clerk. He did not take any premium on the collection as he received a normal salary. - Chancellor. He had more or less the functions of today's municipal secretary. His office was called "chancellery" or "priority secretariat". - Commissioner and judge. Public official appointed by Perugia. His main task was to enforce the law and punish the guilty, but in the most difficult, delicate and controversial cases he had the order to send the guilty to Perugia subjecting them to the examination of the higher court. - Conservatives of health. Three people who remained in office for two years and had to belong to the first sphere, that is, to the first class. They spoke to the city council when called and their job was to give an opinion on what was being discussed in the meeting. - Donzello. Clerk to all minor duties, he had the lowest salary paid by the administration to an employee. - School teacher. His salary was paid partly by the municipal administration, partly by the parents of the children and another by the brotherhood of Santa Croce. - Doctor led. He was also paid by the municipality. - Moderator of the public watch . Supervisor, maintenance, loading and various checks of the public clock. - Portinari. Surveillance of the gates of the town who opened every morning and closed in the evening at about "two hours at night". - Preacher. Ecclesiastical, priest or friar, about three times a year he preached in the churches of the town. He stayed in Fratta for a few days, staying in a convent. - Praetor. Charge born at the time of the French invasion. - Commissioner. Charge that arose at the time of the French invasion. He kept the books of the canton's administration. - Scribe. Person in charge of copying documents, letters, reports of board meetings, etc. - Sindicators. We find this use in the first half of the century. The mayors controlled the community accounts and remained in office for one year. - Letter dealer. He was the postmaster, also hired by the municipality. - Public appraisers. We find them in the first half of the century. They were people responsible for estimating properties or various activities both for the interest of the municipality and for private citizens. They remained in office for a year. - Community representatives in Perugia and Rome. People involved in unraveling community affairs in these cities. Being well established in state offices, they had practice in public administration and were known by various employees. Management of the Municipality Revenue for taxes There were the chamber tax, the municipal tax, the privileged and fair tax, the allotment of the ground coffee. The community of Fratta imposed them on the population and then calculated its percentage on the sum; the remainder was sent to Perugia. The chamber tax was requested by the reverend Apostolic Chamber of Perugia, which kept a small sum and sent the rest to the central government of Rome. The privileged and fair tax related to the various privileges that the city of Perugia granted to its dependent communities. The ground tax concerned everything that was brought to the mill and was the most detested by the peasants. Then there was the focatico tax. It hit all the "fires", that is, the hearths, the families. It remained until the 1960s under the name of "family tax". In 1706 only eleven families paid for it; in 1728, fifty-seven. The "property tax" hit the owners of houses and land. In addition, there was the "undressing and jail tax". By "bare" was meant unnecessary clothing and by "galleys" a tax intended to strengthen the state's navy. Finally, there were other occasional taxes, such as the "tax on the million", introduced in 1713 by the papal government which needed as many scudi. Revenue for procurement They were preferred by the municipalities as they were easy to manage and made it possible to collect the maximum on set dates. The contracts were made known by posting a notice outside the door of the town hall: on the appointed day, the "piper" would station himself in certain points of the town, sound the trumpet and let people know the time and place of the competition. Which took place with the "virgin candle" method every three years. Procurement of the oven. Granted in 1710 to Ercolano Fanfani. It ensured the production of bread for the whole country. Wage contract. The prerogative of distributing the salt belonged to Perugia, which gave it out to the various communities. Fratta, in order to get the necessary, had to go and pick it up in Perugia or, when there was none in the warehouse, in some town on the sea road: Fossombrone, Fabriano, Jesi, Ancona. Contract of the oil shop and grocery store. It consisted in granting a contractor the service of selling edible oil and kinds of delicatessens in the municipal shop, at the prices established by the municipality and written prominently on a sign. Procurement of the land stamp. Those who wanted to occupy a part of the public land (for example street vendors) had to pay a certain fee. Procurement of the meat stamp. The "butchers" of Fratta had to "skin" the animals in the public slaughterhouse. After removing the skin (which was used for the sole of the shoes) they cut the animal and the pieces were stamped by the "meat boiler". The operation served to make it clear to those who bought which was ox and cow, calf, sheep or mutton. The "bollatore delle carne" made the butchers pay the stamp, then paid the municipality, in two or three installments, as established. Public procurement slaughterhouse. Whoever won the tender sold the meat in this shop for two or three years by paying the agreed sum, in half-yearly installments, to the municipality which had the purpose of keeping prices calm to favor the poorest population. Contract for damage given and deposit of pledges. The depositary of the "damage given" was assigned to the surveillance of public goods, movable or immovable, he noted, in his interest, the damage caused by citizens to public goods, brought these facts before the judge and commissioner. This was also joined by the contract for the "depository of the pawns" , that is the office that advanced money to whoever deposited a pledge. Procurement of measures. The possibility of having large quantities of goods weighed was the prerogative of the Noble College of Exchange of Perugia. The operation took place with a large scale, publicly owned, called "the big steelyard". Procurement of firewood. Those who intended to bring firewood into the village had to pay a right in money to the municipality. Who contracted the collection to a private citizen. Procurement of the foietta. The right to tax the sale of wine "al menuto", ie sold by glasses or foiette, was also contracted out by the municipality to third parties. Procurement of the cenciarìa. He charged the collection of rags. The contractor collected a fee from those who collected the rags and was also a collector. Contract for the pen . Collection of the excrements of the animals that passed through the country, assigned by means of a contract to the one who offered the highest price. Tiber wood tender. It used trunks and branches that were deposited under the bridge after the floods. Tiber fishing contract . It struck those who wanted to fish in the stretch of river under the jurisdiction of the municipality, that is, upstream of the bridge. Expenses The municipal administration of Fratta divided the expenses into "recurring expenses", "Occasional outgoings and expenses", "various gratifications". The "recurring outings" yes they distinguished in outputs for the achievement of the purposes of the institution and for alms. Among the former, the main item is the payment of employees and employees of each degree. A recurring exit was the seasonal arrangement of the roads which, both in the country and outside, they had to be bridged every November. Another expense was the annual cleaning of sewers, wells and fountains. It does not seem strange to consider among the recurring expenses also those "for alms", because at the time the municipality used to give money to some brotherhoods for the patronal feasts of Sant'Erasmo, San Bernardino and SSma Annunziata. He also bought wax (candles), "powder" (for the barrels), oil for lighting and other useful things in the processions. At Christmas and Easter the municipality also used to give gifts: to the representatives of the community in Rome gave two capons; to the four defenders, at the end of the mandate quarterly, two scudi. The "occasional expenses" were used, for example, to repair municipal-owned houses and farms, roads, bridges, town gates, to pay interest liabilities on debts, cops' living expenses. All those rewards, finally, that the It was common to give the refreshments offered in the form of gifts and tips to distinguished visitors to guests (for example for the arrival of the bishop), gifts to the commanders of the foreign troops of passage so that they did not do too much damage, donations to the convents. Public safety While the public administration was delegated, in Fratta, to the judiciary and to the municipal councils, in the eighteenth century public security was strictly the responsibility of the commissioner, who was appointed decenviral (that is, of the Perugian judiciary). The commissioner and ordinary judge, in this double capacity, had in his first role the competence over the public safety of the whole territory and the investigating power given to him by the Perugian executive. On the basis of this power, it resolved all issues relating to public order that arose in a territory of about five or six thousand inhabitants (Fratta and hamlets), up to the arrest of those responsible. For certain crimes he sent the guilty to Perugia, to his superior judicial body or criminal office, as it was then called. In the event of minor disputes (those which today, for example, are the responsibility of the justice of the peace) he invited the parties to go to a notary and in his presence formulate a "peace act" between them. In case of crimes of greater gravity (usually acts of banditry), where the powers and possibilities of the commissioner proved powerless, he asked Perugia to send one or more teams of cops. They, with the force of arms, were able to put an end to those emergency situations and to restore the normality of life, bringing the offenders to Perugia. In the village the behavior of the cops was rather heavy and savage and the population paid the price, but this was well tolerated by the "good government" for which the fear that they knew how to instill in the people was obviously convenient, as it facilitated their way to act. The cops also came in times of epidemic diseases and if there was to fight the bands of brigands. In these cases they also went to guard the border areas and blocked the road with large iron gates to prevent transit in both directions. During their passage they stayed at the Osteria della Corona where they could stay for several days, but they were always frowned upon by the population as they committed abuses of all kinds and even harassed the hosts and their families. The Count of Civitella, who owned it, decided for these reasons to close not only this tavern to the public but also the one located in the San Giovanni street. It is the first case of "lockout" of an exercise. The municipality then bought a house to be used for housing the cops when they came to Fratta. It was bought in 1770, in via di San Giovanni and became the office and residence of the commissioner-judge. In this way it was possible to free the two rooms of the town hall which had already been used for this purpose for several years. Security problems also arose at the time of French domination, due to the harassment carried out by those troops. The commissioner-judge could not move as he wanted in these situations: the military occupation had effectively nullified many of his possibilities. In May 1798, for example, the French soldiers of General La Vallette, coming from Città di Castello, committed various abuses, including the destruction of furniture and books from the convent of San Francesco. It is due to such vandalism that nothing has remained on the life of our convents whose friars had come to Fratta in the last decade of the 13th century. In December 1785 the central government of Rome forbids all games in taverns and taverns. In 1788 soldiers were sent to Fratta to oppose a gang of criminals. In 1791 it was necessary to arm other soldiers, in the face of new raids by brigands who escaped, in July, from the Macerata prison and considered very dangerous by the government which had made prizes available to those who had captured them. A great scourge of time was that of collecting grains, which were then sold outside the kingdom. To put an end to this illicit trade, the municipality issues a notification against the "grabbers of wheat products". On August 13, 1795, a decree tends to limit the underworld of our province by forbidding those who go to the Monteluce fair from carrying weapons. In 1788 an ordinance was issued against "wounders and those who insult in the streets, with or without weapons". On 26 March 1797 two companies of the Colonna regiment pass through Fratta, the Vespiccini company and the Colonnello company. On June 26, Corsican soldiers "fled from Faenza due to the French invasion, commending themselves to the mercy of this public". He is fed. On February 2, 1798, carriages from Cisalpini pass. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Today Teatro dei Riuniti, from 1700 to 1787 seat of the Municipality of Umbertide The town hall in the early 1900s Old photo of the church of S. Bernardino Ancient image of the Castle of Civitella di Civitella Ranieri THE WAY OF LIVING, OF DYING, SOLIDARITY AND LEISURE The way of life At the beginning of the eighteenth century most of the people of Fratta struggled in misery. The few owners (and this throughout the Papal State) had a good game to keep wages low, given the large supply of labor, fed by many poor people looking for work. There were other elements to burden this picture: the frequent famines, the extraordinary taxes to compensate for the various flaws in the central administration, the devaluations of the currency to fill the sudden cash gaps. The people were totally subject to higher taxes. He didn't feel the need to rebel, but he certainly felt the weight of it. The entertainment The Frattegiani's opportunities for recreation and distractions were not many and all more or less orchestrated from above. The theater, as the local academics society had a certain activity; patronal and religious festivals in general; the public joy in the cases of the most sumptuous marriages and in the passage through Fratta of the cardinal protector; the festivities in the immediate surroundings of the town. They could lock themselves up to play in the Osteria della Corona or in that of the Staffa but, above all, they had the greatest set of distractions and entertainment during the carnival period. It began on the day of Saint Anthony and ended on the "fat Saturday" with the midnight dinner, called "la sabatina", made up of fatty foods. Weddings They were characterized by three moments: the private policy, the notarial deed, the ceremony in the church. With the private policy, the families established the economic conditions under which they would allow the marriage of their children. The parties then went to the "notary", together with the witnesses, to ratify the agreement. Finally, the ceremony followed, celebrated "according to the rite of the Holy Roman Church", preceded by a public "denunciation". The marriage was registered by the priest in the special book which, in 1741, had the five baiocchi stamp of the reverend Apostolic Chamber. The processions They all had a religious character and there were no civil processions or parades. Their development was linked to the many festivals of the time; then there were others that originated from contingent events (rain, earthquake, disease, etc.). In the seventeenth century they were still called with the old medieval name of "lumi", for which going in procession was said to "go to the light" (taking place almost always in the evening, there was a great display of lights, with candles, "fàcole" of pitch , oil lights). They were planned a few days earlier by a certain fraternity which appointed a group of five or six brothers who were entitled to the honor of the organization. These were called "above" and had the task of looking for the necessary money in the "begging" done in the countryside or in the streets and squares of the town, especially on market or fair days. Elements common to all the processions were the presence of (lay) companies and (religious) congregations with their brothers, closed in their cloaks of different colors and shapes. The representatives of the community for the occasion wore the ceremonial dress (the purple rubbone), while the soldiers, often Corsican mercenaries, came specially from Perugia. Another element was the "machine", that is the large wooden scaffolding equipped with two large and long poles which served to support the statue of the saint for whom the procession was made and which was carried on the shoulder. Finally, the banners of religious and secular associations among which wooden sticks with cloth and fringes sprouted, carried by the sacristans of the churches, in the midst of a cloud of smoke, smells and sizzles of burning pitch released from the many "fàcole", candles, lights and a burst of barrels that framed that whole. In the end, those who had intervened wearing the "hood" were given food consisting of bread, cakes, torcoli, wine, the distribution of which often gave rise to "abuses and dishonesty" and several times the bishops of Gubbio suspended "the brothers' tycoon that go in procession ", and replaced it with distribution of candles. But given a certain rarefaction of the people in tow, everything returned as before. Parties and sweets In the eighteenth century there were about twenty feasts a year and they all had the common and main component of religiosity. The banners of the art corporations, religious fraternities (or companies), congregations (only priests) intervened together with that of the community of Fratta. These associations, together with the municipality, thought of the decorations, both of the town and of the churches. They were made with great pomp, of the drapery type (the "drapoloni"), of silk or damask, as well as they could consist of light weaves (structures) of wood or light metal, of various designs, covered with fabrics or flowers ( even fake), ribbons and lace at will. It was possible then, but only on major occasions, to the construction of real triumphal arches for the streets and gates of the town. Among the characteristic festivals there was the "flower festival of May", promoted by the company of Sant'Antonio. On such occasions, in the organizing church, there was always a "choir of musicians" and singers. On 8 September 1795, for the feast, the famous Frattegiano singer Domenico Bruni arrived in the church of San Francesco, passing through one of his numerous artistic tours that he sang among the amateurs of the town, without any compensation. In the evening, the houses were lit with candles in the windows and everyone waited for the climax of the "barrels and rays". The costume In the eighteenth century the "sumptuary laws" of the seventeenth century on the way of dressing were in force in the Roman ecclesiastical kingdom, which forbade citizens (not the rich) certain luxurious ways, discriminating and further distancing the various social classes. In 1703 Pope Clement XI issued an edict in which he ordered low-status women to renounce any adornment, imposing the use of ordinary fabrics and non-violent colors. It was then forbidden to those of the people and petty bourgeois (edict of Clement XII in 1730) to put gold and silver trimmings on headdresses, fabrics and ornaments. The way to die In the parish books we find various "systems" to pass on to a better life. In 1715, with a touch of romanticism, - "... died at 10 pm on the moon ...". There are also descriptions of violent deaths, such as "... assaulted by two brothers, one of whom took his gun and shot him in the chest and so wounded he fled the Tiber on the boat of Ascagnano". In 1740, for a woman who throws herself into the Tiber "... At other times she had done other wisdom". A woman dies "from a serious fall made on the precipitous stairs of her house". Another, certain "Francesca di Brizio found in the house all burned with the exception of the head". Then there are death records and testamentary dispositions which show the religious sentiment of the people. Sant'Antonio da Padova enjoyed a certain cult in our country, so much so that he had his own altar in the church of the Compagnia del Soccorso, in the monastery of Santa Maria Nuova. In 1722 a Frattegiana told the notary "I want to be buried at the altar of St. Anthony of Padua, my lawyer and protector dressed in the habit of St. Anthony ...". In another testament of 1794 we find instead the extreme will of a sinner (or presumed such). He explains how his funeral must take place: "... from the house where I live my body is to be taken directly to the church without any turn of the streets and this in order not to remind the public of the scandals given in my life. When it reaches the church it is immediately buried without to expose the corpse of such a great sinner to the public's view, without wax, or music, or other similar things that vanity has been able to invent ". Funerals and burials The dead person, after having received, sooner or later, the visit of his parish priest for the absolution and registration of the death in the parish books, remains entrusted to the relatives and is stripped, washed, then wrapped in a sheet, ready for the funeral (or fùnere, as it was said then). That was the responsibility of the parish priest of the parish to which the dead man belonged and, if he was in a company or in a congregation, the association sent its own representation of brothers dressed in "hoods". The dead man was placed on top of the bier, with the top layer covering him, then carried on the shoulder to the church. Often the testator, among other things, indicated the place of burial. In fact, the dead were buried in the rear part (cemetery) of the church, but some were placed in existing mounds under the floor. There was therefore a distinction between outside, where the poorest were buried, and inside, where the brothers of the lay companies and the wealthy were placed (noble sepulchres), while the truly rich had their chapel. The noble tombs, for the rich, were obtained in front of the altars (even the main one) or on the sides of the same. In the entombment, the simple burial of the corpse wrapped in a sheet was carried out. The box was used only exceptionally, when it was a person who had acquired a great human value in life, or for the rich or for those who died outside the country and whose body had to be brought back to Fratta, transported on the wagon to horses. The burial in consecrated land was conditional on the fact that the dying person had first confessed and communicated, with the exception of those who had died suddenly. In the latter case it was the priest who ascertained whether the deceased had confessed some time before and, in any case, had always lived as a good Christian. The unconsecrated land was near the church cemeteries. Solidarity Wheat mountain It was commissioned by Don Giuliano Bovicelli di Fratta, a priest in Rome where he held the office of secretary to Cardinal Sacripante. Bovicelli, in the year 1715, donated the sum of one hundred scudi to the brotherhood of San Bernardino, of which he was a brother, with whom "... he wanted and longed for a mountain of wheat to be created in order to buy grain for the poorest population ". The brotherhood immediately bought two hundred wheat "stands" and started this institution. The wheat mountain stored grain for harvest and then gave it free to the poorest during the winter and spring, when it was difficult to find it. After the legal institution of 17191a confraternity began looking for a suitable seat where to arrange both the grain and the administrative office of the mountain. He succeeded only many years later, in 1764, when he bought a small house owned by the company of the Most Holy Sacrament in the central square, called "del Marchese" (Piazza Matteotti). The pawnshop Poor people who needed small loans of money turned to it and brought their little things as collateral, that is, movable goods of all kinds. For this service the municipality requested a sum to be calculated as a percentage. This was truly negligible, that is, much less than what would have been paid by resorting to the loan of the Jews, then present in Fratta, whose interest rates were much higher. The community of Fratta was authorized to manage this institution by the municipality of Perugia, from which it had contracted it out and to which it had to pay a sum. annual. The municipality could therefore manage it on its own but could also subcontract it, as it did in the year 1748 when the Monte was sold under contract to Ubaldo Moretti di Fratta. Free study The community of Fratta could send "two young people to the Episcopal Seminary of Gubbio every year, to remain free there, as long as they have the necessary requisites and are suitable to set out on the Ecclesiastical Way". Assistance to the "exposed" The "exposed" were newborns abandoned at the door of churches or hospitals, sent by the community to the hospital of Santa Maria della Misericordia in Perugia. Here many foundlings die because the nannies cannot be paid. Those who take babies to breastfeed them "... Also have five or six in the chest", so nourishment is scarce and deaths are many. Before 1739 the external nurses received a "dirty" grain mine a year, too little for Cardinal Martino Enrico Caracciolo, apostolic visitor in that year to Perugia, who assigns each six paoli a month, plus a shield, a tantum, after the eighteenth month. These children went around with a tag attached to their neck to indicate the date of baptism and the name. Gifts for spinsters In the eighteenth century some local brotherhoods, including that of Santa Croce which was the richest, bestowed a dowry on a spinster. In this way, girls who had to marry but who could not afford the necessary expenses were helped in this way since 1612. The dowry, one a year, was granted upon written request to spinsters born in the village (such as their parents), attaching a certificate from the parish priest who attested to both the birth, the age and the patronage of these girls. The brotherhood then chose a certain and limited number of girls and subjected them to an examination. The vinciti-ice could have the dowry only if and when he got married. There was also a deadline, which was 35 years; if the girl did not marry by this age, the brotherhood would take back the dowry. Another reason why the dowry was denied was that the girl, before marrying, did not live honestly. The entertainment Theater Already in the seventeenth century an association of theatrical art lovers was operating in Fratta called "Accademia degli Inestabili". In 1746 it had to proceed with its reorganization, which suggests that it was in a strongly negative phase. On the other hand, public and private music teaching was very active. In particular in the oratories, where the youth met for religious representations, with singing and instrumental schools linked to the various religious functions of the feast days. The Fratta theater was located since 1746 in the town hall, in today's Piazza Fortebracci. On the first floor there were some offices and the council meeting room which was given to the "unstoppable academics" for their performances. It had two "lodges" which probably served for municipal councilors, but were open to the public for the theater. You entered via a stone staircase placed outside. In 1770 it was still in the hall on the first floor of the town hall but this room was by now insufficient for the activity of academics. They therefore decided to expand it and asked for two adjacent rooms that served as the office of the commissioner and judge as well as for the passing cops. In 1746 we know that they wanted to reconstitute a theatrical association on a different basis from the old one: perhaps the "unstable academics" had dissolved, in whole or in part, towards the end of the 17th century. In the mid-eighteenth century the members of the "Accademia degli Inestabili" were eleven, from the main families of the town, such as the Fabbri, the Francesconi, the Burelli, but then the number grew and other illustrious personalities took part, such as Dr. Prospero Mariotti, his son Annibale and doctor Giulio Fracassini. The academy had a coat of arms formed by a noble shield where a hand was drawn. He held three gold cords intertwined together that ended with leads like a small tassel and, all around, the motto "Difficile solvitur" (it will hardly melt). Outside the theatrical season (ie outside the carnival), the amateur dramatists of the country acted instead, who were mostly the academics themselves and the members of their families. The plays were performed to train young people in stage disciplines rather than to give entertainment to the population. In the mid-eighteenth century, dramatic companies of a nomadic nature were a rarity and the first came to play in Fratta in 1748. It was the company of Giovanni Gazzola, a professional "histrionist artist" who, after many difficulties in obtaining authorization, was able to delight the Frattegiani with the affected parts of Pulcinella, Brighella and Doctor Belanza. Our theater closed, like everyone else in the Roman kingdom, from 1791 to 1795 by order of Pope Pius IV, due to the political events of the time, centered on the invasion of Italy by the French army. It was then reopened with the works "The guilty woman" and "The corsair of Marseille", where that "corsair" must have been a clear reference to the work of Napoleon, the most interesting character in the political scene of the time. The theater was granted on request for dance parties, elementary school work, occasions in which the best children were rewarded. Sometimes it was then granted for the game of bingo, introduced in Perugino in 1796. In the first months of 1798 the "Viva Maria" movement arose. In mid-February Fratta was invaded by these rioters who did various damages to municipal and private property, tampered with the theater and dispersed the administration documents. Free time In 1730, the "ox hunt", or "fence game", a sort of bullfight between oxen and dogs in a town square, usually San Francesco. In 1760 we have news that hunting was practiced in the months of September and October, the so-called "birding" (with the net). In 1794 the game of the "ball" or "ball" appears in Piazza San Francesco. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Il modo di vivere, di morire, la solidarietà e gli svaghi Procession of the Madonna - late 1950s. (Corradi photographic archive) The facade of the church of San Francesco The opera singer Domenico Bruni Piazza Umberto I (now Matteotti) in the early 1900s. (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide). In 1700 it was smaller and was called piazza del Marchese. Annibale Mariotti Giuliano Bovicelli AGRICULTURE, TRADE, TRADES AND EDUCATION Agriculture In 1700 the permanent settlement in the countryside was much safer than in previous centuries and the construction of farmhouses was no longer based on the tower-house system, the house with a minimum surface area but developed in height, suitable for housing and also for defense. of the peasant and his household goods. Now the type of house developed on a flat level is adopted, with a greater base, lower height, overall higher airspace. It has a ground floor used for agricultural management and a first floor for the farmer's home. The land could be "arable", "canapinato", "cerquato", "gineprato", "gengato", "working", "olivato", "ortivo", "pergola", "grass", "sodivo", "fucato" "," Vlneat0 "," silvato "," boschivo "(or" buscato "). The "cerquato" land was held in great esteem because the oak was even considered a fruit plant due to the great need for acorns that were used for pigs but, at times, in cases of great famine, they were reduced to flour as an aid to feeding. Human. There was a dominance of the pergola over the vineyard, a fair extension of the olive grove and the presence of the "canapinato" in the places richest in water. The extension of the land was measured in the capacity (rubbia, mina, stara, cup) of seeds necessary to cover the ground. The owners are very few. We find noble families such as Ranieri, Degli Oddi, Bourbon di Sorbello, Florenzi, Antinori, Crescenzi, Zeccadoro who had lands in Fratta but resided elsewhere, for which they did not pay taxes. There were resident families, also very rich: Alberti, Albanesi, Bertanzi, Bruni, Agostini, Burelli, Gnoni, Fracassini, Guardabassi, Magnanini, Paolucci, Petrogalli, Reggiani, Vibi, Cambiotti, Cibo, Mavarelli, Ramaccioni, Montanucci, Falici , Bartoccini. The leases were of two kinds: a temporary type, stipulated for three, six and nine years and the type called "emphyteusis" which usually covered a period of three generations. These were the most used but there were some valid for a single "riculture", that is, for a single crop or a single agricultural year. There are three parties to the dispute, even if only two stipulators, namely the owner of the land and the tenant who makes the peasants work the land, excluded from the negotiation. The owner had to allow the tenant to have the peasant's family members live in the farmhouse; he had to give vines and olive trees to be planted in the year. If he did not provide them, the tenant was released from the "planting" obligation and the owner could not oblige him the following year. The tenant was required to keep the plants found in the delivery inventory, he could send the farmers away at his will and pleasure. It was up to him to pay, in addition to the rent, the duties, the gabelles, the chamber's taxes. He had to leave the sown land as he had found it at his entrance; he had to return the barrels but be careful "that they are of good smell and without any vice, as he receives them". At the end of the rent, the pigs and the large cattle were given back according to the estimate; the sheep and goat cattle were made at the head. The farmer had to sow wheat and fodder with his own seed, prune and undermine young and old trees, plant a certain number of vines and olive trees every year with the system of formoni and that of single holes. Do not cut fruit trees, only lumber that has died from the fire. He had to take part of the land product to the master's house and for this he was paid in kind or in foodstuffs. The must was divided in half. At Easter he had to give a certain quantity of eggs and "pancasciato"; he had to give gifts and obligations in chickens and eggs. In the eighteenth century there was no "colonial pact" specified and imposed by law as will happen later, but only unwritten agreements. Of the products of the fields, half went to the owner (dominical part) and half to the farmer. In the cases of three-way relationships (owner, tenant and farmer) the division took place between tenant and farmer; the master took the rent. The owner was responsible for the costs of pruning and undermining the vines, the formoni and the pits, the fees to the farmer when he was called to give his "assistance" to the harvest work, to sift the wheat and shovel it, to do various jobs of the cellar, when it brought to sell the products to the market, the appraisals and the taming of the cattle, the construction and the accommodation of the rural buildings. They produced cecio, red cecio, hemp, cicerchie, cherries, beans, broad beans, mulberry leaves, opium leaves, figs, cheese, wheat, corn, acorns, lenses, lentils, wool, flax, lupins, honey, hazelnuts, walnuts , barley, olives, panic, pears, peaches, peas, grapes, vetch, vein, wine. The farmer had to pay a tax called "collar" when he used the oxen that belonged to the owner to work the land. The peasant's give and take resulted from the "workers' book". On the hill farms, sheep and goats were kept, but also many pigs. The Commerce The aspect that characterizes the economy is the static nature of values. There is no inflation and the differences in the prices of some commodities are caused by momentary extraordinary factors. Another component is the painfulness of work, of wages stuck on the verge of a tiring survival. The economy is very poor, both at the territorial level (municipality of Fratta) and in the Papal State. Another aspect is the almost total concentration of productive activities such as agriculture, for example, in the hands of a few nobles who also took possession of a certain industrial activity (wool mills). There was also a small artisan industry (iron and figulina [terracotta]), but it was limited by a limited availability of capital, always insufficient as it was available in the family. The large payments were made with "bank coupons", generic receipts issued by banks (the "Monti"). The deeds were stipulated by the notary who certified that the buyer was putting the money on the table. Sellers - Bocci (silkworms): Mavarelli, woman Caterina Igi. - Hemp: Alessio Moriconi. - Calcina: Mariangelo di Paolo, Domenico Stoppa. - Construction material: Giovanni Maria Diamanti, Menco di Natale, Andrea Fanfani, Molinari, Domenico Salvatori, Fortunato Agostini, Ludovico Cristiani. - Fronda dei mori (mulberry trees): Antonio called "il Regnicolo", the "Stinco". - Timber: Andrea Bellagamba, Raffaele Scapicchi, Antonio di Giovan Battista, Paolo di Giorgio, Gio. Tomasso da Monte Castelli, Giuseppe Jotti, - Straw: Girolimo di Rondino. - Hides: Pietro Baldoni is a seller (and collector) of goat skins and "white bassettes". - Stabbio: Donna Carolina Gratini (1712) to the brotherhood of San Bernardino; Costantino di Vincentio, Angelino Mavarelli, Giulio Rovinati. Mattio Massi, Filippo Leonetti, Filippo Carocci. - Wine: they received monetary compensation for each barrel of wine. Santi di Cristoforo (1700), Francesco Franceschini, Federico Palazzari (1701), Pietro Martinelli (1715/1749), Francesco Mercante (1722), Antonio Jotti (1726), Costanza Martinelli (1727/1738), woman Elisabetta Jotti, known as " the Padella "(1733/1735), Bernardino Cantelli (1741), Elisabetta Falcioli (1741/1747), Fabrizio Brugnoli (1749), Donna Francesca d'Andrea (1751), Donna Margherita Massi called" the Margarita "(1756/1759 ), Giovanni del quondam Andrea (1759/1760), woman Virginia Ciangottini (1767), Tommaso and Clemente Ciangottini (1768), Antonio known as "il Regnicolo" (1780), woman Maria Antonia Mercanti (1782/1784). Gambattista Fanfani (1787), Gian Maria Bartolini (1789). Shops and shopkeepers 1702 - Gregorio Molinari: glass. 1706 - Francesco Luminati: wax. 1718 - workshop of "Fabbreccia", in Piazza San Francesco, on the side of the Tiber. 1722/1730 - Sante Mavarelli: bread, lard, lard, wax, fàcole and gunpowder. 1724 - cobbler's shop. There were hammer, pincers, ligiatore, knife, stick. 1732 - Pietro Spaccini: glass, dies for windows (to be placed between the glass). 1732 - Gaspare Martinelli: lead for the dies. 1741/1749 - Domenico Cerbonelli: wax, string, nails, incense. 1745 - Borgo di Sopra, market area, Vasaro Giovan Maria Martinelli. 1745 - Borgo di Sopra, master Antonio Vibi, arquebusier. 1745 - Borgo Inferiore, three blacksmith shops. 1748 - Agostino Bettelli: wax. 1753 - Gaspare Martinelli: lead for glass. 1765 - Ercolano Roni: eggs. 1767 / 1797- Vibi: lace, wax, etc .. 1770 - Silvestro Jlartinelli has a "cossi" shop. 1770/1776 - Domenico Mavarelli: wax, lead for paints, canvas bombage . 1779/1795 - Donino Passalbuoni: shoe shop. 1776 - Burelli: "spetie", wax and shellac. 1781 - Vincenzo Mavarelli: wax. 1788 - Guerrini: wax. 1788 - Ubaldo Perugini: oil. 1791 - Alessio Vioriconi: cloth for sacks. 1792 - Girolamo Ciangottini: wax. 1794 - piazza San Francesco, a potter's shop with an adjoining furnace. 1794 - Piaggiola, shoemaker shop. 1794/1797 - “between the doors”. small square at the south-west bulwark (Tiber), the butchery shop, municipal meat resale. 1795 - 1799 - Vincenzo Mavarelh: balance bills, nails, pins, centaroles, silk buds. Taverns and hotels -Osteria della Corona "with accommodation. It was located in Piazza San Francesco, in front of the church of Santa Croce. It was owned by the Counts of Civitella Ranieri. In 1738, a Perugia cop died there, hit by a harquebus." Osteria della Staffa " , with lodging, in the street of San Giovanni, inside the castle walls.It was probably the property of Count Ranieri.There were also the taverns of Antonia Mercanti, with lodging, of Giuseppe Carocci, of Sebastiano Cesaretti. In 1721 there is "the Osteria di Pier Antonio", managed by a certain Bruscatelli. Next to it stood a "palombaro", the classic peasant house. The villa (hamlet) consisted of only these two or three houses. Nearby was the chapel of the Holy Spirit. "L'osteria della Mita" was owned by the Marquises Florenzi di Reschio, who lived in Perugia. Towards Città di Castello there was "l'osteria di Montalto", on the level of the Tiber, along the consular road from Fratta to Niccone. It belonged to the Counts Degli Oddi of Perugia, also owners of the castle of Montalto. Finally, there was "1'osteria della Nese", on the river of the same name, on the border between Perugia and Fratta. Fairs and markets Fairs were held in the first week of June and took place in the square of the church of Sant'Erasmo, also known as "il Mercatale". Only the cattle for such occasions found place in another location, usually the large municipal lawn located beyond the Tiber bridge. In Civitella Ranieri the fair took place between 20 and 25 July. In Montalto, on May 28th. The post office In the eighteenth century the Upper Tiber Valley was crossed by two services with diligence (two "mail courses", as it was then called). One came from Città di Castello and was directed to Perugia, the other departed from Montone and was also directed to Perugia: they stopped in Fratta to change horses, to pick up the mail and any passengers. These "mail courses" arrived in Fratta early in the morning, first that of Montone, then that of Città di Castello, with a delay that could be half an hour compared to the fixed time. They reached Perugia about four hours later. In addition to the "scheduled" service, there was also a special "course", for urgent community mail, called "lo sped" or "celerifero" (a kind of "priority mail). Provided by a man on horseback who brought "bolzetta" (leather bag) only the parcels of the municipality for which the departure of the diligence could not be expected the following day. Trades Oil mills There was one near the Lazzaro ditch, on the border between the "Mercatale di Sant 'Erasmo" and the area of Santa Maria. He probably also had a millstone. In 1794 it belonged to the Mazzaforti brothers who rented it for four years to Ubaldo Cambiotti. In the area there were oil mills in Cicaleto, Migianella, Monte Acuto ("Molino with its press and vine, in whose stump there are three iron circles, the millstone with its trestle and on an iron stake but with a wooden wedge" ), Racchiusole, San Patrignano. Grain mills In the "villa" of Cicaleto, in the parish of San Giuliano, property of the Camaldolese friars of Montecorona. It was located one kilometer from the Tiber river, south of Fratta and remained active until the early decades of the twentieth century. It had its own dam, the grinding wheel, the "cialandro", the hopper, the iron blades. And the "fulling machine", the mechanism for beating woolen cloths by means of large wooden hammers that were moved by the water. Other grain mills were located in Molino Vitelli, Monte Migiano, Serra "di Partuccio", San Patrignano and the abbey of San Salvatore (inside, it was called "mill of the cloister" and drew water from a ditch). I calcined In Santa Giuliana, owned by Mariangelo di Paolo. He made mortar which he sold the soma to four baiocchi. Another on the coast of Monte Acuto, belonging to the Fracassini family. Furnaces They had one Angelo di Roso and Fortunato Agostini, who in 1751 sold bricks for the facade of Santa Croce. In Carpini and Montalto, of the Degli Oddi of Perugia, owners of the castle of the same name. It was demolished by a flood of the Tiber in 1760. A bit of everything'.. Archibugieri: master Giulio Castellani, master Giuseppe and master Antonio. Gilders: Antonio Gabriotti, in 1717 gives gold to the candlesticks and carteglories of Santa Croce; Giuseppe Ferranti, from Gubbio. Silversmiths: Silvestro Angelini, from Perugia; in 1743 he sold a chalice and a silver paten to the Confraternity of Santa Croce. Bastari: Pietro Profili, Tommaso Mischianti, Giacomo Botti and Fabio Urbani. Bottari and bigonzari: Alessandro Jotti, Angelo Ciangottini, Francesco Puletti. Calzolari: were gathered in the congregation of the art of shoe-making (which had its own chapel in the church of Santa Croce, at the altar of Saints Crispino and Crispiniano, protectors of the category): Pietro di Angelo, Ubaldo Moretti, Carlo Guerrini, Donino Passalboni, Antonio Mariani. Hatters: Passalbuoni, Giuseppe Benedetti from Città di Castello. There was also a shop in Castel Nuovo. Canapari: Giovan Carlo Montanucci. Tanners: Giulio and Panfilio. Designers: Brischi, Giuseppe Notari and Giovan Pietro Gigli. Fabbri: Lorenzo and Pietro Martinelli, Carlo Francesconi, Domenico Paganelli, Raimondo Rotelli, Pier Giovanni Lestini, Francesco d'Agostino, known as "Ferraccio". At the end of the eighteenth century two blacksmith shops were in the small open space at the beginning of the road that leads to the Borgo Inferiore, immediately after the bridge over the Reggia. In 1798 Silvestro Martinelli and Vincenzo Jotti are the "officials" of the art and university of blacksmiths. Carpenters: Carlo Bolisi (1720), Ludovico Franceschini (1724), Alessandro Jotto (1753), Giovan Lorenzo Gigli (1750), Francesco Moscatelli (1745) in Pierantonio, Giuseppe Jotti (1749). Founders: Gregorio Righi, from Perugia, melts and accommodates the bells of Santa Croce in 1717. Fornari: Bartolomeo di Lorenzo, Domenico Lauri, Giovan Battista di Giulio, Bernardino Tassi, Olimpia Tassi. Carvers: Marco Batazzi, Alessandro Igi. Slaughterers: Santino, Andrea, Giuseppe Schiavini; Angelino Mavarelli, Marino Farneti. Magnani: Michele Aragoni (1698/1710). Laborers and porters: Tommaso di Francesco, Santi Paoletti. Giulio di Goro, Domenico Salvatori. Marescalchi: Antonio Mazzanti. Measurers, estimators: Fabrizio Mazzaforti (barrel meter), Lodovico Franceschini (grain meter), Alessandro Jotti (timber estimator), Antonio Brischi (wine meter), Vincenzo Mavarelli (wine estimator). Molinari: Tommaso Mancini, Giuseppe di Antonio. Masons: Giovanni, known as "Miracle", Costanzo di Cesare, Antonio di Giovan Maria, Ventura Bartoccini (master mason), Ercolano Corsini, Domenico Farneti (master mason). Mason's tools were the hammer, the spoon, the hoe for making mortar, the hammer, the lead, the archipendolo, the shovel to scornigate. Organ builders: Carlo Balducci, Pietro Forti, Orazio Fedeli. Pyrotechnicians: 1786, Francesco Natali; 1787, Bernardino Brischi Painters: Antonio Gabriotti, Francesco Leonardi, Ubaldo Vitaliani, Giuseppe Ferranti, Francesco Cocchi, Giuseppe Bertanzi. Pollaroli: Pietro known as "1'Anitraro", Giambattista. Pruners: Antonio called Sciuga, Francesco di Antonio; Francesco Scalseggia. Embroiderers: Colomba Vespucci. Tailors: Guerrini, Crestina Francesconi woman, Francesco Moriconi, Mauritio Pucci, Margherita Massi woman. Stonecutters: Francesco di Vincenzo, Lorenzo Brischi, Francesco known as "Borzicchio", Domenico Mavarelli, "il Riccio". Segatori: Giuseppe Moretti, Tommaso di Pascuccio, Belardino known as "il Regnicolo", Paolo Pieroni, Panfilio di Francesco, Paolo Ercoli. Saddler: Fabio Urbani Stucchi: Giuseppe Notari (1753, works in Santa Croce), Giovanni Cherubini. Weavers: Maria Cristina Francesconi, Aurora Roni, Elisabetta Cantelli woman, Margherita Massi woman. There are no factories, woolen mills and cloth factories. The processing is done in the homes of private citizens as many have looms. Dyer: Gerolamo Martinelli. Vasari: Francesco Fussai (1709), Giammatteo Martinelli (1742), Silvestro Martinelli, Gaetano Martinelli. Painters: Giuseppe Ferranti Carriers and couriers: Paolo Cangelotti, Marino Rotelli, Tommaso di Marco, Andrea di Ercolano, Giovanni known as "Spaterna", Pietro Simone Cicutella. Education In the eighteenth century there was a school where the first elements of reading, writing and arithmetic were taught, held by a clergyman. He was paid by the community with a salary that was, at the beginning of the century, of about twelve, fourteen scudi a year. To these were added three shields from the confraternity of Santa Croce as schoolmaster and another twenty-five that the same corresponded to him "for the chaplaincy", the task of saying masses in the chapel of the brotherhood. The employment contract was stipulated between the municipality and the master before the notary. In case of vacancy, the parents of the children signed a policy with which they agreed to pay a small sum to the municipality, in favor of the teacher. The school was located in the Borgo Inferiore, in the premises of the Confraternity of Santa Croce. At the end of the century, the master took thirty-two scudi a year from the community. In addition to this he received eight scudi from the Confraternity of Santa Croce again for the school and the "chaplaincy", to which were added the sums from other confraternities for various religious or occasional services such as musical performances on the occasion of parties. However, the annual income was sufficient for a decent standard of living. A teacher taught grammar and rhetoric for a salary of seventy scudi a year. At the end of the century this school was located in Castel Nuovo, on the premises of the former monastery of Santa Maria Nuova, purchased by the community of Fratta. In 1700 the schoolmaster was Don Pietro Cardoni, from Nocera. He lived in the two rooms above the Santa Croce hospital that the brotherhood had reserved for him. The latter retained fifteen paoli a year from the salary she paid him for the rent: thirty paoli in all, that is, three scudi. As was customary at the time, the maestro also performed the "music service" for the company of Santa Croce. In early August 1719 Cardoni resigned. Don Matteo Silvestrini took over and the brotherhood also rents the rooms above the hospital to him. In 1725 the teacher is Don Pietro Burli. In the early months of 1730 the school teacher was a certain Fabbri, but in April he was replaced by Don Innocenzo Diamanti, for four years. Then the Abbot Giovan Battista Orlandini and Don Lorenzo Meuccio. From 1741 to 1750 the masters were Don Ubaldo Balducci, Don Gerolamo Passi, Don Francesco Tosoni, Don Gaspare Mazzaforti, Don Lorenzo Pellegrini, Don Modesto Spinetti. From 1750 we find don Arcangelo Mischianti (teacher of sacred theology is fra 'Francesco Maria Calindri, guardian of the convent of San Francesco), don Alessandro Dini born in Urbania, don Matteo Tosciliani, don Paolo Costantini, don Ubaldo Menghini, don Stefano Loretti, don Angelo Mavarelli, don Antonio Giuseppe Gnagneri, don Cristiani, don Giuseppe Angelini, the canon don Paolucci. In 1787 the school teacher was Don Ercolano Mavarelli. He took four scudi a four-month period. He is a canon of the collegiate church of San Giovanni. In 1789, Father Fulgenzio Maria, a minor of the observers of the convent of Santa Maria, born in Città di Castello, was the master. In 1790 there is the canon Pecchioli followed by Don Luca Brami. We then find Don Sebastiano Riccardi and Abbot Paolo Padoni. The teaching of music It could be public and private. The first was entrusted to the chapel masters and these, having graduated in music in some school, were called and paid by the various brotherhoods and religious congregations. Their dependence explains the term "di cappella", as the brotherhoods had their headquarters in a church where they owned a chapel with an altar dedicated to their protector. The major brotherhoods, of Santa Croce and San Bernardino, had their own teacher but he did not take a salary that would guarantee him economic security; for this he also carried out occasional work at other brotherhoods and churches, managing, among other things, to earn enough to live. In addition to public teaching, there was a private one. There was the custom of entrusting a young man, from early adolescence, to a teacher who undertook, for an annual fee, to teach him instrumental music and singing and, at times, also to read and write. The boy, however, had to leave his family and move to the house of the teacher, who became father-master, staying here for the established time, about ten years. All this was agreed through a notarial deed comprising many clauses. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Illustrations by Adriano Bottaccioli. Harvesting of wheat by hand (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Peasant family (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Sul paiaio (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) On the ox cart (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Calesse (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) 1977. La Fornace (Giuseppe Severi Archive) 1975. Trace of a potter's oven in via Bovicelli (Giuseppe Severi Archive) Glimpse of Santa Croce Agricoltura, Commercio, Mestieri e Istruzione Le chiese minori di Fratta e i proietti La chiesa di Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio Church of Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio The ancient temple was located at the height of the current analysis laboratory in the old hospital of Umbertide The church, of very ancient origins dating back to the early twelfth century, stood in the Upper Borgo of Fratta, called Castelvecchio, right on the spot where the old hospital was built in 1870. It had a bell tower with two bells and several altars inside. One of these, dedicated to Santa Barbara, was built in 1735 (1). Despite the long life and the prestige it had held in the hearts of the faithful of Fratta, we know little of its characteristics. We do not know its shape and we are not able to know if it kept works of a certain value within it, which is possible given the long history of the temple. If we lack certain information on its origins and its structure, we have, on the other hand, detailed information on its end which coincided with that of the eighteenth century. The collapse, in fact, began much earlier, in the year 1751, when the parish priest, Archpriest Petrogalli, informed the Bishop of Gubbio that a part of the roof was collapsing and also the wall around the bell tower was about to do the same. The authorization for the "reduction" of the church arrived and as the collapses continued, it was further reduced to become a small chapel. In this capacity it was occasionally officiated for some time and later disappeared as the seat of the services of the cult. The "reduction" works were financed with the proceeds from the sale of the main bell (2) which also made it possible to embellish the altar of the church of San Giovanni Battista, where on 15 December 1752 the painting representing Sant'Andrea, painted by Benedetto Cavallucci of Perugia. Note: 1. See Umberto Pesci, History of Umbertide, Typography R. Fruttini di Gualdo Tadino, year 1932, p. 133 et seq. 2. Archpriest Petrogalli, with the Bishop's permission granted on 10 November 1751, had sold the main bell, weighing 220 pounds, to the Philippine Fathers of Montefalco for 38 scudi. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide - September 2003 THE MINOR CHURCHES OF FRATTA AND THE PROJECTS The minor churches The church of the Madonna del Moro was located just outside the Borgo Inferiore, in the center of a farm owned by the Savelli family, next to the farmer's house and a well. In 1746 the farm was sold to Bernardino Dell'Uomo with all the annexes and the small chapel followed the fate of the house and the fields. The instead, the small temple of the Madonna del Giglio was located near the Borgo Superiore, in a property of Donna Pellegrini Stella, widow of Giovan Francesco Paolucci. The lady contributed to the maintenance of the chapel with the sum of five scudi a year. On 16 September 1730 she made her will and ordered that, after her death, the heir, who was her nephew, Captain Giovan Tommaso Paolucci, should continue to pay the contribution. In the market area there was a small chapel, also called Chiesina del Boccaiolo , dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The news comes from very few lines of a notarial deed (1) . The church, which we do not know precisely where it was, was enlarged by Marcantonio Stella who did not have it as a property, but was obliged to maintain it as well as to have one mass said a month and six masses on the 10th. December each year. In front of the church of Sant'Agostino, before entering the Piazza del Mercatale, on the left, stood the Monastery of Santa Maria Nuova with the chapel of Santa Lucia attached to it. When the Monastery was suppressed on July 21, 1787, it continued to be open to worship. It was also called the "church of the blacksmiths" because that corporation had obtained it for use by the Municipality, which in 1787 had become the owner of the entire former monastery. Towards the end of the century, in 1790, it underwent substantial maintenance work for an amount of 140 scudi advanced by Lorenzo Vibi. The intervention suggests that the chapel was still officiated. There is little news about the church of Calatola . It was located in the homonymous farm word, above the hill where the Bertanzi house stands (Villa Pace). The chapel almost certainly belonged to the same family. Church of Sant 'Agostino Shortly before entering Piazza del Mercatale (Piazza Marconi), to the right of whoever descends from Piaggiola, stood the convent of Sant'Agostino and the church of the same name, right in the center of Castelnuovo. The temple was regularly officiated by the Augustinian Fathers who had the responsibility and care of it; it housed several altars, including one dedicated to Sant'Antonio, and communicated with the premises of the convent in the west. Above the ceiling of the church there were two large rooms and on the north side, between the road to Montone and the apse, there was a vegetable garden cultivated by the friars. The church was a thriving center of religious life and faith as long as the Augustinians who were its soul remained there, but when they left Fratta, the church also took second place. The convent, in fact, was suppressed and in 1738 its property, which also included that of the church, passed to the Municipality. The Judiciary of Fratta, in the same year, asked the Bishop of Gubbio for authorization to sell the buildings adjacent to the church. The permission was granted especially since the transfer was destined to remain "in the parish" because the buyer was a priest, Don Silvestro Fanfani, who offered 110 scudi. It was a forced choice since the administrators needed cash to pay the salary of the school teacher, since for several years and after numerous attempts, they had not been able to rent those premises. The church, which showed signs of subsidence in the wall along the road, was the subject of a careful restoration with the construction of a sturdy support spur. Towards the middle of the century, therefore, it was still officiated and was entrusted to the Company of Death. Note: 1) The deed reads: "Remembrance of the faculty given by Mr. Giambattista Bartolelli from Città di Castello to the late Marcantonio Stella of this land to enlarge and expand the church of the Madonna SS.ma di Loreto in the Market. Deed of the notary Michelangelo Cenni di Gubbio , on 15 September 1690, without reserve of patronage ". The projectiles (foundlings) One of the many painful problems of the century, of the previous ones and also of the following one, was the plague of projectiles (or foundlings, or exposed). There were many, more than one can imagine, and in some cases, in addition to the doors of convents, churches and hospitals, where newborns were usually abandoned, revolving drums were also put into operation, communicating with some convent, to to deposit defenseless children, wrapped in poor clothes as best they can. Also in Fratta there was one (1) , near the “scortico”, in the inter portas square that led to the Tiber bridge. It was called "The wheel of the exposed". The painful phenomenon had deep social roots and did not bear the signs of the scarcity of the maternal sense. The mere thought of such a hypothesis would be an offense to feelings and history. The mother was certainly the first person to feel the agony of the dramatic detachment and to swallow drops of daily bitterness at the thought that the fruit of her breast would grow without affection and without caresses. But in a society such as the eighteenth century, in which infant mortality reached very high levels even in the most affluent families, and the darkest poverty gripped a large part of the population, the abandonment of one's creature to a destiny that was hoped to be generous with better assistance, paradoxically it could represent an act of love or, at the very least, an extra hope of survival. History hides, pitiful and discreet, a series of sufferings and dramas that have not touched the palaces of power, the only archives that an ancient and widespread historiographic theory has carefully consulted in its partial research. The Fratta projectiles were taken to Perugia, to the Misericordia hospital, which then sent them to Assisi, where Mons. Caracciolo, since 1739, had created a special hospice. The transport to Perugia, for the weak newborn, already represented a heap of hardships, especially in the winter period, but for the insiders it was a normal practice to be carried out, governed by a series of strict provisions, behaviors and remunerations. (25 baiocchi per trip, for the coachman). Several had to arrive in Perugia if the Prior of that city, on May 14, 1741, sent a recommendation to the Confraternity of Santa Croce which had asked for information on the matter. The letter was long, but we report the most pleasant part, to soften the tints of the drama: "In response from the highly esteemed Loro Loro around the reception and transfer of the Proietti from there to this Hospital of Perugia, there is no difficulty in bringing us those who were born in this Territory of Fratta to be this of the Territory of Perugia, only the diligence remains that they are not from another nearby Territory, or from Città di Castello, or from Gubbio, that these have their Hospitals and there is the order of Monsignor Caracciolo, as they will see to the notification sent to them, as well as being careful that they do not take legitimacy and comply in everything with those orders, to which the due penalties are imposed ". With all the good will it was difficult to establish the provenance and territorial belonging of the projectiles, and if we had some certainty about it, they would no longer be such. Those in charge of this sector did everything they could to entrust them to some local nurse who nursed them in the very first days of life, before making the journey to Perugia, but the death records are pitiless. In 1753 one of them was entrusted to the Briganti family of Polgeto: “Luigi dies, of an uncertain father and mother, ten days old, handed over to Veronica Briganti on January 21st”; "On February 18, 1753 Anna dies, of uncertain father and mother, handed over to Veronica Martinelli to nurse her on February 11"; "On May 9 Maria dies, of uncertain father and mother, handed over to Veronica Martinelli to breastfeed her". And the list goes on, but we prefer to stop here. Just to give an example, in the parish of Sant'Erasmo alone, in 1710, five were collected in front of the church door and six in 1720, to refer only to two years of a religious community that had 600 souls. Note: 1. There was also another one next to the convent of Santa Maria Nuova. The gardener who cultivates the adjacent garden testifies that it was visible until the end of the 1950s. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide, 2003 PROCUREMENT AND PUBLIC PROPERTIES Procurement Almost all of the taxes were contracted out to a debt collector through a regular competition. The obligation was introduced in 1729 by an Edict of Pope Benedict XIII which remained in force for a large part of the following century. The method used for the award was that of the "virgin candle" described in detail in another volume (1). Some contracts were extraordinary and remained in existence for the duration of the tax, as we have seen for the passage tax; others were fixed because the sector of activity subjected to the tax was permanent, such as that of supplies and some services, and were renewed every three years. They constituted the most reliable and most substantial income for the Municipality. All citizens duly informed by the notice of the announcement posted on the door of the Municipality and by the Balio tubatore could participate in the conduct of the race who, after scraping a few rings of tuba, read the main heads of the announcement through the streets of the castle and in the squares inter portas. In a council meeting of May 27, 1747 the contracts were discussed and thanks to it we were able to know not only which and how many there were, but also the amount that we wanted to obtain. We report them in the same order in which they were exhibited at that meeting: 1. Public Oven Contract 2. Tender for the Land Stamp 3. Procurement of the Carne Stamp 4. Public Slaughterhouse Contract 5. Procurement of the Damage Given 6. Contract of the Salara 7. Oil shop contract 8. Procurement of Measures 9. Procurement of Wood 10. Contract of the Stabbio 11. Procurement of the Foietta 12. Cenciaria contract 13. Tiber Wood Contract. Procurement of the oven The public oven belonged to the Municipality which did not manage it directly, but gave it to contract. In truth, in some short periods of the century, for reasons that escape us, the system of direct management was adopted. We can only exclude that they were of an economic nature, since the average annual gain obtained with self-management was about 40 scudi, while the contract yielded 90. Self-management lost 50 net scudi, to which they were owed add all the management hassles and worries. The contractor, in fact, in addition to the bread making was forced to provide for the purchase of the grain, its grinding; to the wood for the oven, all at his expense, and finally to the bread trade. It was a job that took a lot, especially in an era when there were still no electric ovens, special yeasts and various types of flour already packaged. The frequent change of management of the oven, moreover, indicates that the profit margins were not flattering. In 1710 the contract, always three years, was in the hands of a certain Pietro Antonio Marcellini who had inherited it from Ercolano Fanfani and Giovanni Antonio Agostini. The most lasting management was the one that goes from 1770 to 1781 held by Giovanni Antonio Agostini, perhaps a descendant of the manager we met at the beginning of the century. In the five-year period 1787/1791 the Municipality almost certainly managed it on its own with the results we have illustrated. In the following year the contract was won by Ubaldo Perugini. Towards the end of the century, in 1793, there was an attempt at competition by the Count of Civitella who was determined to open a bakery on the border of his county with the territory of the Municipality of Fratta, right at the point where today Viale Unità d ' Italia intersects with Via Roma, in the place then called Case Nuove. Giuseppe Palchetti had to manage it. The new exercise would have represented a serious blow to the public oven because Civitella did not apply duties to the activities inside its territory. The matter was resolved haphazardly in a meeting between the Count and the First Prior, at the end of which it was decided that things would remain as before. Procurement of the land stamp Even in those days whoever temporarily occupied the public land had to pay a tax to the Municipality. The most typical and recurrent case was that of the itinerant trade. As usual, the Camerlengo did not directly collect the sum and the entire sector was given out on a three-year contract to the highest bidder. In the middle of the century the contract yielded 38 scudi a year. Procurement of the meat and slaughterhouse stamp All the beasts had to be "skinned" at the slaughterhouse. The skins were then left to dry in the sun and the meat, cut into pieces, was subjected to the stamp by the "Bollatore delle Carni". The stamp was a guarantee of safety for the consumer and also of quality among the various types of meat (ox, cow, veal, sheep, mutton, pork, etc.), but above all a tax expedient. The Bollatore was the one who had won the three-year tender and not a veterinarian. Its only role was to withdraw the stamp duties from the butchers and to pay the Municipality an annual fee that was between 30 and 140 scudi per year. The slaughterhouse was also subject to the same regime. This is obviously the public slaughterhouse that the Municipality kept open for calming purposes, while the private butcher had fulfilled his obligation with the payment of the stamp on the meat. The management of the public slaughterhouse was subject to the normal procurement procedure and the winner undertook to pay a fee that averaged around 35 scudi per year (2). In addition to being a contract, the relationship could be configured as a "slaughterhouse rental", but the rules and procedures followed were those of contracts and not those of leases. Since they had to carry out the control function, the prices were agreed with the Municipality. Castrato, for example, had to be sold for 4 baiocchi (twenty quattrini) a pound, but from the first Sunday of Lent until the feast of St. John (24 June) it had to be sold for 21 quattrini a pound. Cow, sheep and goat meat sold for 12 quattrini a pound. The regulation of the contract of 1782 required that during the Christmas holidays all meat had to undergo a reduction, in line with the "social" function that the public slaughterhouse performed. Contract for the damage given and the deposit of the pawns The contractor was responsible for the surveillance and protection of public, movable and immovable property. When they were damaged ("damage given"), his task was to report the person responsible to the Commissioner Judge and to collect the compensation established, if the dispute had not been settled by amicable means. Part of the sum (usually a third) was due to him and the other part was paid into the coffers of the Municipality. It was a type of contract whose revenue was unpredictable and for this reason it was entrusted to the same contractor as the Depositeria dei Pegni, or Monte dei Pegni, as it was more commonly called. Debtors who could not meet their financial obligations often resorted to them, in the absence of the banks, to deposit an object of value and receive a sum in cash. At the set deadline, the depositary withdrew the pledge by paying the amount received with the interest and deposit rights. If this did not happen, as it often did, the pledge remained the property of the contractor who arranged for the sale and withheld the proceeds. The contractor had to have a fair amount of cash to secure the loans and had to be a skilled trader to make the valuation of the assets deposited. The contract paid the Municipality 6 scudi per year approximately. Contract for the salary, oil shop and grocery store Salt was a kind of monopoly in the Papal State and the sales regime was subject to government regulations. The purchase had to take place in the official "Salara", which for the Fratta Community was that of Perugia, or of Fossombrone, Iesi, Fabriano or Ancona, if it did not have one. The amount of the withdrawal was fixed at 36,000 pounds per year, and the local salary was also to serve the municipalities of Preggio, “Castelrigone”, the Badia di Monte Corona, “Pier Antonio” and Pian di Ronzano. For retail outlets, the usual procurement system was used, which in this specific case had a duration of two years, and the "Minister of the Salara", as the contractor was also called (3), had the strict obligation to cover the entire needs of the territory under its jurisdiction, since salt is an indispensable element of very large consumption. With the “Salara”, but in separate tenders, the oil shop and the grocery store were also contracted out. In the first, edible oil was sold and in the second, cured meats, lard and lard, salted meats and cheese. The prices of the products were set by the Defenders and had to be clearly visible on a sign posted in the shop. While we do not know how much the Community earned with the salt contract, the oil shop and the grocery store yielded 20 scudi a year (8 scudi for oil and 12 for other products). Procurement of weight measurements The possibility of weighing quantities of goods over 50 pounds was an exclusive prerogative that belonged to the Nobile Collegio del Cambio of Perugia, which held the monopoly right in this sector. Not being able to exercise it directly, the Noble College contracted it out to the various communities and these, in turn, to a local contractor through the usual tender procedure. "The large steelyard", as the scale was called, was considered a "public weigher" and the receipt issued attested not only the payment of the rights, but also the exact weight of the goods, to be asserted in court in case of disputes. The large steelyard belonged to the Municipality, which had to comply with all the provisions issued by the Collegio del Cambio and the Congregation of the Good Government (CBG) of Perugia. Even private individuals could equip themselves with a similar instrument, which had to be "stamped" by the contractor, that is, subjected to the control and payment of a tax, and was not valid in the event of a dispute, nor could it be lent to others, under penalty of seizure of the "steelyard". Weights under 50 pounds were carried out in all the shops of the time and in private homes, but the scales, in addition to the stamp duty, were subjected to bi-monthly checks. Other contracts Anyone wishing to bring firewood into the village had to pay a tax to the contractor as a "right of entry". The parcels were different in relation to the type of transport that could take place “a some”, that is, on the back of a donkey or mule, or in larger quantities of wagons. Payment in kind was also envisaged with the deposit of a piece of wood next to the entrance door to the castle. Generally the wood came from the cutting of the woods, but there was - also the “del Ponte” one, that is all the trunks that the floods of the Tiber piled up close to the pylons of the bridge. All this material that formed a kind of dam, with a lot of practical sense and foresight, was removed and sold on a systematic basis. Most of the time the contractor was unique, but the " wood of the Bridge " could have a different one from the official one. The streets of the town were haunted by the passage of beasts which, not being angels, deposited their excrements along the way, without much modesty. In an economic system in which nothing was thrown away and everything was recycled, even the “pen” was a useful material. The Municipality contracted out the collection and sale to the highest bidder who, in addition to making a profit, kept the streets of the town clean. The same thing happened with the rags whose collection was contracted out (contract by the cenciaria). The rags then ended up in Fabriano, where a thriving processing industry had existed since then. The pleasure of the "drop" of wine seems to have ancient origins and even goes back to Noah. For the taxman there could not have been a better opportunity. Thus the innkeepers and innkeepers who sold the wine by the minute had to pay the “foietta” tax. Even fishing, in the stretch of the river along the walls, did not escape the tax burden and the fishermen had to pay a kind of "license" to the contractor on duty. These latter contracts did not represent large revenues for the Community. The tax on the fishing license, for example, paid the municipality a shield a year. We do not know about the others, but we are inclined to believe that municipal finances could not be raised with rags, stabbing and wood. Various revenue A few more shields entered the anemic municipal coffers through the leasing of land, of the Shiites, of the houses and shops of public property, but it was very little. The sale of the crushed stone of the Tiber, the foliage of the poplars ( albaroni ), of the willows, of the elms and above all of the morigelsi, planted along the roads and the banks of the waterways, also gave some shields. The breeding of silkworms was widely practiced, even in small quantities in common houses, not to mention the massive production of maggots that were found in the area. The recycled materials of the renovated public properties were also sold, such as bricks, beams, tiles and bent tiles. The Rocca enjoyed direct financing from Perugia of 45 scudi a year, intended for the maintenance costs of the building and the entire complex of the castle walls . There were also chancellery rights at that time and those who needed declarations, certifications or copies of deeds were subjected to the payment of the expected fee. In any case, the proceeds deriving from the various items of income were very often not sufficient to cover the expenses of the Community and recourse to the loan was a constant practice even in those times. As there were no public credit institutions, private individuals were used, which were mostly religious communities. The loan was always guaranteed with the stipulation of a written deed, often with the endorsement of a guarantor and sometimes also with the deposit of a pledge by the guarantor himself. It happened that the Municipality had credits to collect, but they did not constitute an additional income, but the recovery of taxes not paid at the time by the defaulting taxpayer. Public properties In the century in question, the concept of "inventory" did not exist and therefore we do not have a detailed list of municipal property. From the various documents examined, however, it can be deduced that the patrimonial situation of the Municipality was approximately the following: L. Since 1725 there was a community of Monte Acuto with land on the coast of San Giovanni. We do not know for sure what the relationship between the Comunanza and the Municipality of Fratta was, but it is possible that it was a municipal property sold for use to farmers in the area. 2. In 1738 the Municipality became the owner of the church, the building, the gardens and the farm of the former convent of Sant'Agostino. The farm word “ Sant'Agostino ” had an area of 18 mines and three tables; farmhouse, cellar, barn and oven. The rent paid the Municipality 10 scudi a year paid in "two pays", that is, in two half-yearly installments. 3. In 1766 the Municipality owned the "shop of the bridge" which was located in the south-west bastion, that is in the small inter portas square near the bridge over the Tiber. It was rented to Silvestro Somigli with land under the public oven. 4. All the shiites under the castle walls were municipal property and also the environments in which commercial activities of public utility were carried out: oven, salary, flaying. 5. The seat of the municipal residence belonged to the Municipality, namely the Palazzo in the Rocca square and, subsequently, the former Convent of Santa Maria Nuova. 6. A house located in via San Giovanni di Bartolomeo Petrogalli was purchased by the Municipality in 1780. 7. Some registrations of 1798 certify that the following assets are sources of income for the Municipality, and therefore owned by it: • a vegetable garden attached to the municipal house; • a cellar under the municipal house; • a vegetable garden above the castle walls and under the Bruni house; • a vegetable garden in the word Porta Nova; • two pieces of land under the fortress; • two pieces of land at Boccaiolo, under the castle walls; • a shop known as the "old slaughterhouse"; • a large number of mori-mulberry trees on the municipal skies. Note: 1. For the same reason, Montone had to pay 2,500 scudi (Ascani A., Storia di Montone). The news is interesting because it can be deduced that at that time the territory of Fratta was smaller than that of Montone. 2. For the sake of completeness, we report the names of the contractors that result from the records in the Archives: 1774/76 Angelo Mavarelli, 1776 Angelo Nardi from Fiesole, 1779 Gismondo Contadini. 3. In 1745 the contractor was Mattia Degli Arrighi. After him the post was taken on by Bernardino Dell'Uomo. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide, 2003 Gli appalti e le proprietà pubbliche THE TIBER, THE BRIDGES, THE CASTLE WALLS Work on the area after the bridge The Tiber, silent and lazy, in some circumstances also knew how to be noisy and violent, so much so that, over the course of the century, it caused considerable damage to the banks and the castle walls. The banks along the Montalto area were the hardest hit, in particular the right one where the road to Città di Castello passed. The biggest damage occurred in 1760 when a brick kiln belonging to Count Degli Oddi, then owner of the castle of Montalto, and a long stretch of road were swept away by the current. "The city of Perugia, with the assistance of Mr. Domenico Tickets, factor of the castellano Degli Oddi, made a new road and built a double brush in the place of corrosion ..." But the most dangerous damage occurred to the north and south of the Fratta bridge, right along the castle walls. The river bed then followed a slightly different path, and upstream of the bridge, due to the erosions accumulated over time, the Tiber described a wide loop between the fields, moving away from the primitive route parallel to the road that corresponds to the current one. The current of the waters coming from the north direction rushed through the area of the bridge and threatened to dig an autonomous path, cutting the road and bypassing it on the right bank of the river. In 1758 the erosion reached only fifteen meters from the route of the via tifernate and the risk seemed to materialize with the breakthrough downstream. Fortunately, the phenomenon stopped, otherwise serious troubles would have been produced: the weakened castle defenses, the dry bridge, the compromised weir and large expenses for the adaptation of urban infrastructures to the new route (mills, public wash house, gardens and sewer system ). Therefore, a serious reorganization of the banks was urgent and the first systematic interventions began in 1753. In that year, the Sacred Congregation of the Waters of Perugia sent the engineer Antonio Felice Facci to Val di Chiana, then a marshy area, to carry out no better specified remarks. And since the Fratta was along the route, the technician was also in charge of examining the state of the banks of the Tiber around the castle. On the outward journey he stopped for two days, taking lodging at the Staffa tavern (1) at the expense of the Municipality; on his return trip, on February 17, 1753, he stopped again for three days, always in the same inn and always at the expense of the Municipality. We do not know the report that the engineer presented to the competent Authorities, but something concrete certainly suggested, if at the beginning of 1754 the first expense reports for works of a certain consistency appearing on the right bank of the Tiber, north of the bridge. . The trick used was to reinforce the bank with a palisade of large beams embedded in the ground and connected by thick planks behind which stones and bundles of glass were stowed. The "club" was also ingeniously built to drive the beams into the ground. It consisted of a castle of wooden planks from which a heavy oak trunk was lowered, shod at the edges, which hit the head of the pole. After each stroke the log was hoisted up again by six workers who pulled a sturdy rope wrapped in a pulley and the strokes were repeated until the desired depths were reached. All the timber was supplied by the Camaldolese of Monte Corona. The costs of the works, including technicians' fees, travel and reimbursement of expenses, reached high levels and in 1755 provisional tolls were imposed on every animated being who crossed the bridge. The table of tax levies has come down to us and we are reporting it for information for our readers. Surprisingly, they also paid the people at a rate equivalent to pigs, for reasons of weight and nothing else. People, 3 cash per person per day Beast unloads, cash 6 Charged beast, money 12 Horse-drawn carriage or wagon, baiocchi 4 Pigs, 3 bucks each Sheep, castrated and goats, 2 money each Vaccine, money 6 each In the same year there were important visits. The engineer of the Municipality of Perugia, Pietro Carattoli, the engineer of the Sacred Congregation of Waters, Antonio Felice Facci and a Jesuit, certain Father Ippolito, came to "recognize the state of erosion, draw up the map of the place and check the works". Syrians. The works continued uninterrupted throughout the year and beyond, so much so that on June 22, 1756 another inspection arrived, that of Don Pietro Tassinari. The monsignor left, on 10 July the Tiber organized another ruinous flood which, in addition to damaging the sheltered banks, took away a good quantity of planks stowed in the yard, later recovered in Ponte Felcino. The flood in July made it clear that the defense of the banks alone was not enough to prevent damage and around the sick area the commitment of the administration and technicians for more radical solutions intensified, with surprising timeliness. In March 1758, the engineer of the Municipality of Perugia, Pietro Carattoli, came back to Fratta and drew a new plan of the area in which the construction of an artificial canal was planned to bring the river back to its original layout, parallel to the road, so that close to the city walls it made a bend of 90 ° sufficient to harness the violence of the floods. The works began immediately in May and were almost finished by the end of June (2) . The work gave the desired effect: not only did it lighten the places from the damage of erosion, but the river immediately began to flow in a stable and definitive way in that riverbed which is still its natural bed today. Other floods occurred in 1773 and 1778 which threatened the Tifernate road and the Cistercian mill, but the works carried out considerably limited the damage. The use of manpower was massive and also involved women. Their task was to find the stones to be placed inside the "baskets", a kind of wicker containers, which were used by the workers in charge of sheltering the banks to stabilize the river embankments. The papers tell us that they were 19 and they received six baiocchi a day, almost as much as men. There was also a large group of woodcutters to saw the beams and boards, a team of cable workers to work the hemp and weave the ropes and ribs (sturdy bands of canvas), a handful of men who took care of the poles and these, in all likelihood, they must have been the workers at the poles of the castle of the mace, and a series of other figures of workers and artisans such as carters, masons, shovellers, etc. The most urgent and imposing works for the arrangement of the banks and to avoid damage to the castle were certainly those to the north of the bridge, but the intervention to the south was also necessary and in this sense, since 1752 (3 ), repeated requests were made which had no effect. In 1758, once the work to the north was completed, the pushes began again to fix the stretch of river from the bridge to the Schioppe, the cliff that was then also called "Punta della Genga" (4) . The practice went on very slowly due to evident contrasts between the Municipality, the frontists and the Perugian authorities who had to grant authorization to proceed, as well as an economic contribution. Since 1757 the three frontists - the friars of the convent of San Francesco, the Paolucci family and Count Ranieri di Civitella - had taken steps on their own to stem the banks along their properties. They were even willing to intervene on their own even in the most critical point of the situation, that is, at the mouth of the Palace into the Tiber, with the construction of a masonry "spur" or "guardian". The Municipality, although not very convinced of the solution, agreed because "you don't look a gift horse in the mouth", but Perugia rejected the proposal because it would have worsened the situation. On the contrary, the Sacred Congregation of Waters also contested the works of arrangement of the banks already carried out, inviting the frontists to demolish them. The result was a technical-juridical controversy which lasted for years and which had the sole result of paralyzing every initiative until 1789, when hostilities resumed. This time the experts came forward. The Municipality of Fratta, the city of Perugia and the Camaldolese friars (owners of the land on the right bank of the Tiber) chose Pietro Casimiro Fagliuoli as their expert; the convent of San Francesco, Paolucci and Count Ranieri commissioned the archpriest Don Bartolomeo Borghi, a great expert on the subject. But even the experts did not find an agreement and decided to resort to the arbitration of a well-known professional, a certain Virgilio Bracci, architect and engineer of the Sacred Congregation of the Good Government of Rome, who in those days was in Perugia. The meeting "in spite of the place" took place on 25 October 1789, in the presence of the archpriest Borghi and the abbot Luigi Pacini representing Fagliuoli. After two days of discussions, the dispute ended at the table with the lunch offered by the Camaldolese and a transaction was signed. It was a platonic agreement only because the commitments were never honored. Only two years later, the signed pacts were resumed with the decision to build at the mouth of the Reggia that triangular spur that the wise frontists had already designed in 1757. But when the work began, the Congregation of Waters of Perugia, still allergic to spurs, made it known that it did not intend to participate in the costs as it was due only to the frontists. One thing finally became clear: if the agreed works were to be carried out, the three owners had to bear all the expenses and the engineer Cristoforo Bartoli was promptly sent from Perugia to establish the boundaries of the land and share the shares. The bridges La Fratta was a fortress completely surrounded by water and the bridges were the only means of connection and communication with the surrounding area. Not only that, but since the surrounding countryside is crossed by the Tiber, the Royal Palace and the Carpina, other crossing systems were necessary to join the banks of the waterways and allow greater ease of movement and traffic in the fertile plain that it crossed. the valley. In some cases, considering the costs of a bridge, we relied on the ferry boats, but the Fratta was quite lucky and, in its immediate vicinity, had safe and stable tolls in masonry or wood. The bridge over the Tiber was a masterpiece of engineering, technique and aesthetic taste. It rested on three arches, which constitute the coat of arms of the Municipality of Umbertide and, even after the demolition of the drawbridge of the Porta Saracina, it had not lost its beauty and grandeur. Two sturdy doors guarded its entrances and the small church of Carmelo, located above the central pillar of the valley, invited peace and prayer when the road was all slower. The year of its construction is to be found between 1571 and 1588, at the will of the "Company of the Madonna della Reggia and Madonna del Ponte", entrepreneur of the two aforementioned sites (5) . Another bridge, the one over the Reggia stream in front of the Collegiate Church, played an important role in the town's economy. It connected Montone, the entire plain below and the Borgo Superiore with the center of Fratta and was also open to heavy traffic of animals and wagons. Its structural conditions were precarious because it was all made of wood with the exception of the two masonry heads on which the beams rested. The passage presented some difficulties because the bridge was narrow and without banks and on several occasions the Reggia had the bad taste of giving a few pieces to the Tiber. The spending resolutions for the restoration work were recurring, so much so that on April 4, 1770 the City Council decided to build it from scratch. The work was entrusted to Giovanni Tomassini, a Swiss from Lugano who lived in Gubbio, for a hundred baiocchi. The entrepreneur was known to Fratta because the previous year he had renovated the facade and the interior of the church of San Bernardino to the satisfaction of those who had commissioned the work. The new, wider bridge had sturdy sides and was suitable for carrying greater loads. It offered all the prerequisites of comfort, stability and safety. In the last years of the century the Judiciary of Fratta launched the project for the construction of a second bridge over the Reggia, the one that was to connect the center of the town with the Collegiate Church through a nave of the church of San Giovanni. The bridge will be built in 1807, but the first projects and intervention plans date back to 1794. In the surroundings, then, there were secondary but equally important bridges, such as the bridge over the ditch of Lazzaro and the one over the Fonte Santa. The latter, completely rebuilt in 1799. Further north, on the Montonese road, there was an ancient bridge over the Carpina built since 1294. To these bridges outside the castle must be added those that directly linked the area within the walls with the outside, such as the Piaggiola bridge, which allowed to cross the moat and access the Porta della Campana, and the bridge over the Reggia which allowed access to the Borgo Inferiore (Piazza San Francesco area). The Rocca had a drawbridge that descended over the Reggia and put it in communication with the lawn in front of it. In 1787 it still existed and was used. A note dated 3 September, signed by the Municipal Secretary Giambattista Burelli, stated: “Mr. dr. Giuseppe Paolucci Camerlengo to pay Angelo Gigli paoli four for refurbishment of the drawbridge of the Rocca, which with receipt are forty baiocchi ”. The walls of the Castle The most natural and spontaneous defense system among the ancients was to surround the castle, the village or the city with a robust wall. Sometimes ditches filled with water, palisades or other similar devices were also used in order to curb the impetus of the enemies and immobilize them in front of the obstacle in order to hit them with greater ease and precision from above. The walls therefore were born with the first urban settlements and have developed and strengthened with them, following their historical evolution. On more than one occasion, particularly in large cities, their successive and concentric walls are evident documents of population growth and urban sprawl. The castle of Fratta had only one wall of walls, robust and compact and nature had also endowed it with the natural defense of the water of the Tiber river and the Reggia stream in the area of its confluence with the older brother. Its inhabitants had built an artificial moat in the short stretch free from water, making the castle a fortified islet, with stone edges, among the safest in the area for very long centuries. The maintenance and repair of the city walls was always a meticulous commitment for the inhabitants and administrators of all times, well aware that it was a priority asset, essential for the survival of the community. For the Fratta the part most exposed to the wear and tear of the corrosive pressure of the waters was the stretch along the course of the Tiber. On several occasions it had suffered damage and had recourse to repairs, but the flood of 1736 was particularly devastating. He dragged out 1,600 square feet of walls and four houses that stood on them. The appraisal, immediately prepared for the repair of the damage, established the total amount of expenses at 1,032 scudi. It was a high figure that the local community, alone, could not have met and the Pope was turned to for the granting of an extraordinary contribution. Clement XII declared himself willing to provide 500 scudi on condition that the other 532 provided the inhabitants. And so it was. Having found the money, the reconstruction machine started with the purchase of the necessary material and the preparation of the construction site. The contract for the work fell to Bartolomeo Ferrati of Rome (6) and the direction was entrusted to Cesare Francesconi della Fratta. The excavation of the foundations began on 15 September 1739. Some financing problems arose immediately because at the end of the year the Pope had not yet granted the promised contribution. The Defenders of Fratta approached the representative of the community in Rome, a certain Mariotti, to act as intermediary for the handling of the file. We do not know if the choice was happy, the fact is that Mariotti made it known that "... the Pope was in a very bad state and almost sent to the doctors", taking care to add that if he died it would be more difficult to get the contribution and advised to get busy quickly, as if in the Roman Curia there were no offices in charge of dealing with the commitments undertaken, regardless of the Pope's health. Mariotti certainly did not have those "entrances" that his fellow citizens attributed to him and for which they paid him and he suggested asking others what they had rightly asked of him. It often happens that when you need a favor, the person you are addressing, instead of giving us a hand, submerges us under a heap of thoughtful advice, thankfully free. One thing, however, got it right: Clement XII died on February 16, 1740. A few years later, Mariotti was replaced by Giacomo Guadagni, a more authoritative and introduced Abbot who moved with greater agility in the offices of the Quirinale. The papers do not tell us what happened to the Pope's contribution that certainly arrived, otherwise we would have found traces of increased taxes in subsequent years and also on the reconstructed walls a plaque was affixed with the inscription "Clement XII - Pontiff Maximus - MDCCXXXIX" ( 1739) which testifies to a direct economic intervention by the Pope. The building intervention gave stability and safety to our walls precisely in that stretch where the thrust of the current was greatest, at the beginning of the sudden swerve of about ninety degrees that the Tiber makes before passing under the bridge. The abrupt change of direction makes us guess the nature of the ground below at that point. The castle of Fratta rises on a resistant conglomerate base that forces the Tiber to deviate its course in an almost unnatural way. Its consistency, as well as ensuring stability to the urban center and its walls, protects the buildings and their basements from the infiltration of humidity typical of the most permeable soils. The notarial deeds relating to the sale of properties located along the walls describe in a precise manner their characteristics and the neighboring strip of land. All the houses with the front in Via Diritta, in the rear part, bordered the fence, the municipal skids and the walls. The fence was not attached to the houses, but was separated from them for logistical reasons. Between it and the back of the houses ran a strip of land that formed a street or path. Later, in the west of the castle, the path will become Via delle Petresche and then Via Spunta. The space between the fence and the walls constituted, on the other hand, the "municipal shito", publicly owned which, in the distant past, was used for military defense purposes. At the beginning of the century, however, construction began on this area, reaching as far as the walls. The four houses that the flood of 1736 demolished are clear proof of this. The following graph reconstructs the characteristics of the castle walls. The design was made on the basis of what the notary Filippo Maria Savelli, della Fratta affirms, on 12 March 1768 in his notarial deed relating to the sale of a house. Note: 1. It is the only reference we have about the existence of this inn. In all likelihood it is the one that will be managed by Romitelli in the following century. 2. In a letter dated June 24, 1758 it is said: "... the work of the new cut is carried out almost to an excellent end". 3. Between 1752 and 1758 five reminder letters were written which can be found in the Augusta Library in Perugia among the "papers of Pietro Giacomo Mariotti". 4. The genga is a limestone rock for which the expression is scientifically more correct than others to indicate a cliff. It is used in the report of the engineer Cristoforo Bartoli of 1791 and in a notarial deed of the notary Giovan Battista Burelli, also of 1791. 5. In 1571 the Depositary of the “Company of the Madonna della Reggia (see the book Revenue and Expenses 1565/1571) and of the Madonna del Ponte” paid for some materials taken to accommodate (prepare) the pylon on which the church will have to support. In the year 1588, another recording tells us that a painting already existing in the Majesty which was at the beginning of the bridge is brought to the said Chapel. On that day the Confessor reminds us that the Chapel was not yet finished. In fact, it does not appear even in the drawing by Piccolpasso, dated 1565. 6. The Roman master mason came with a team made up of two masons and two unskilled workers (apprentices). He perceived in all (daily) paoli 14.50 (equivalent to scudi 1.45, i.e. baiocchi 145) divided by him as follows: baj 75 for him, baj 25 for each bricklayer and baj 10 for each boy, for a daily total of 145 baiocchi. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide - Gesp, 2003 Il Tevere, i ponti, le mura del Castello IL SISTEMA ELETTORALE COMUNALE Al centro della vita democratica del tempo c'era un bussolotto che faceva girare le palle. Di esso abbiamo ampiamente parlato in un altro volume, al quale rimandiamo il lettore per evitare di ripeterci. Qui esporremo solo le procedure tipiche dell'epoca, avvertendo che quanto diremo è il resoconto del rinnovo del Bussolo del 17 luglio 1783: "Rinnovare il Bussolo" era sinonimo di "predisporre la lista virtuale" di coloro che avrebbero dovuto amministrare il pubblico bene per i due anni successivi. Alla fine di ogni biennio esso veniva "rinnovato", inserendo nella cavità delle palle di legno poste al suo interno, un foglietto con i nominativi degli uomini destinati all'incarico. Non si trattava di eleggere solo i Difensori, che duravano in carica quattro mesi, ma anche i Consultori della Sanità, un triumvirato del primo Ceto con incarico biennale; i Sindacatori (Sindaci Revisori), una coppia con incarico annuale; i Terminatori e Stimatori (Quasi sicuramente si trattava di persone esperte nei confini catastali e nelle valutazioni dei beni mobili e immobili. Dopo la metà del secolo lentamente scompaiono), un'altra coppia con incarico biennale; i Portinari, due custodi, uno per la porta sud e l'altro per la porta del Mercato, che restavano in carica due anni; i Sindaci, una coppia con incarico annuale. Per questo motivo le palle, tutte uguali nelle dimensioni, erano contraddistinte da un'etichetta che indicava la categoria dei nomi contenuti: "Difensori, "Sindaci", "Portinari", ecc. per essere individuate al momento del sorteggio. Ma seguiamo da vicino il rinnovo del Bussolo del 17 luglio 1783 per avere un'idea diretta e precisa della procedura adottata. Si doveva, prima di tutto, rinnovare la Magistratura, ossia i Difensori, la carica più importante, che aveva una durata quadrimestrale e gli Imbussolatori avevano perciò a disposizione sei palle, entro ognuna delle quali dovevano inserire il biglietto con una quaterna di nomi. Ogni Ceto o "Sfera" indicava i suoi. Dei quattro, uno doveva appartenere al primo Ceto, ed era di diritto Capo di Magistrato, gli altri tre al secondo. Nella prima votazione furono indicati: Giuseppe Paolucci, Vincenzo Martinelli, Mattia Massi ed Angelo Gigli. Questa quaterna, di cui Paolucci del primo Ceto sarebbe stato il Capo, fu scritta in un foglietto, chiusa dentro la palla contrassegnata con l'etichetta "Difensori" e imbussolata. A questi signori, quattro mesi di governo cittadino da scontare quando sarebbero stati estratti, non li toglieva nessuno. Si passò alla seconda quaterna seguendo la stessa procedura e furono indicati: Angelo Cristiani, Giovan Battista Guerrini, Giovanni Montanucci e Silvestro Martinelli. La terza quaterna dette il seguente esito: Giuseppe Bertanzi, Angelo Ciangottini, Filippo Legnetti e Vincenzo Iotti. Man mano che veniva definita una quaterna, e dopo aver compiuto le operazioni di rito, si imbussolava la palla. A questo punto il Bussolo conteneva già tre palle. La quarta votazione dette il seguente risultato: Giuseppe Cerboncelli, Vittorio Ceccarelli, Pietro Crosti e Maurizio Pucci. La quinta votazione sentenziò: Giovan Battista Burchi, Lorenzo Gigli, Ubaldo Perugini e Pietro Bruni. La sesta e ultima votazione indicò: Giovan Maria Criacci, Gabriele Dell'Uomo, Donino Passalbuoni e Antonio Martinelli. Ora nel Bussolo si trovavano tutte e sei le palle dei Difensori e ogni quadrimestre ne sarebbe stata estratta una che conteneva i quattro componenti della "Giunta" cui spettava la guida del Comune. Si passò alla designazione dei tre Conservatori della Sanità, tutti possidenti appartenenti al primo Ceto, che dovendo restare in carica due anni, come il Bussolo, non vennero imbussolati. Lo stesso criterio fu usato per i tre Terminatori e Stimatori e per i due Portinari. Le due coppie di Sindicatori, con incarico annuale, furono nominate, scritte sul foglietto, chiuse nella palla e imbussolate. A questo punto nel Bussolo c'erano otto palle che diventarono dieci con le due coppie di Sindaci. Le operazioni erano terminate ed il Bussolo, completamente rinnovato, conteneva dieci palle. Al suo interno fu inserito anche il foglio degli "Spicciolati", una lista di riserva, divisa per ceti, da usare nel caso in cui, al momento dell'estrazione della palla, uno dei nomi ivi compresi non fosse più in grado di accettare l'incarico o perché malato o passato a miglior vita. Le elezioni erano finite e per due anni tutti i principali ruoli del governo cittadino erano assicurati dentro le palle. Riflessioni "elettorali" I metodi con cui venivano scelti gli amministratori e gli altri titolari di incarichi importanti nella Fratta del 1700 non sono nemmeno lontani parenti del sistema elettivo attuale. Ci siamo espressi con termini quali "elezione" e "sistema elettorale" solo per usare un linguaggio di uso comune e perciò comprensibile a tutti. Non sarà sfuggito ai nostri lettori che non esiste il minimo accenno alla procedura con cui veniva eletto il Consiglio Comunale Generale. L’accenno non c'è, perché non l'abbiamo trovato. Ma si può ragionevolmente affermare che quel Consiglio fosse l'espressione delle indicazioni assembleari dei due Ceti, riuniti separatamente, come avverrà nel secolo successivo. Non si hanno notizie nemmeno circa la sua durata e il rapporto distributivo dei Consiglieri tra i due Ceti, ma è legittimo sostenere che esso durasse quattro anni e che i membri del secondo Ceto fossero in misura doppia di quelli del primo, come nel secolo successivo. Anche la proporzione tra i Difensori legittima un'ipotesi simile. Del resto in un sistema politico immobile, come quello dello Stato Pontificio, in cui il precedente costituiva prassi duratura per il futuro, non è da escludere che i meccanismi in vigore agli inizi del secolo XIX fossero gli stessi del secolo precedente. L’avvicendamento avveniva quasi certamente con sostituzioni di aliquote quadrimestrali, in modo che al termine della legislatura il Consiglio fosse completamente rinnovato. Pur nei limiti di una rappresentanza ristretta, il sistema era ingegnoso e finalizzato ad assicurare continuità e stabilità all'amministrazione del territorio. Le notizie sugli organi di rappresentanza sono comunque pochissime. Dati i tempi, era infatti superfluo trattare un argomento che si giocavano tra loro solo una ventina di famiglie. Il paragrafo precedente dedica un ampio spazio al resoconto della riunione consiliare del 17 luglio 1783, che si occupò del rinnovo del Bussolo. È una delle rare occasioni in cui il secolo, avaro di notizie politiche, diventa generoso. Prima ancora, i1 20 ottobre del 1743, ci fu un'altra importante riunione consiliare che offre molti spunti di riflessione. Il rinnovo del Bussolo, nella sua disarmante trasparenza e semplicità, dovrebbe aver creato non pochi problemi, litigi laceranti e destabilizzanti ricorsi. Si viveva, insomma, in un clima di incertezze e di sospetti anche perché, in assenza di una normativa precisa, ci si rifaceva alle usanze e alle disposizioni precedenti. Le une e le altre venivano invocate, quando faceva comodo, dai personaggi più abili e interessati. Le cose stavano arrivando ad un punto di non ritorno e nella riunione dell'ottobre 1743, il Consiglio nominò una Commissione paritetica, composta da tre Consiglieri del primo Ceto e da tre del secondo, per elaborare una nuova bozza di Regolamento sul rinnovo del Bussolo e su altri problemi, da sottoporre poi all'approvazione del Consiglio Generale. I poteri conferiti ai Commissari erano ampi e andavano dal ripristino delle prassi "passate", all'adozione di misure nuove da adattarsi "alle circostanze de presenti tempi". La Commissione, presieduta da Filippo Maria Savelli, era composta da Cesare Francesconi, Bartolomeo Petrogalli, Domenico Franceschini, Francesco Guerrini e Carlo Vibi. La bozza di Regolamento, riportata per intero alla fine di questo capitolo, i1 6 dicembre del 1743 era pronta e si presume che fosse sottoposta all'esame del Consiglio Generale nella riunione successiva. I sette capitoli di cui si compone, nel loro stile involuto e tra ardite contorsioni concettuali che fanno invidia a un'odalisca, denunciano molti aspetti del costume del tempo. Senza dubbio, ci sarà stata anche la necessità di maggiore trasparenza e di moralizzazione della vita amministrativa, ma certe sassate impietose, scagliate con troppo disordine, sono sospette e sorprendono non poco: "... perché attesa la scarsezza degli uomini intelligenti e capaci e la molteplicità delle persone meno idonee, ne avviene che il più delle volte fannosi risoluzioni poco profittevoli agli interessi pubblici... ". Possiamo concordare sulla "idoneità", dal momento che non tutti sono portati per la vita politica; meno sull'intelligenza che è una dote di più difficile lettura; quanto alla posposizione del bene pubblico al privato, è un problema di etica politica e non di attitudini o di intelligenza. La furbastria ha un albero genealogico lungo e ramificato ed in questo il `700 ha anticipato i tempi. Senza dire che un giudizio del genere, approvato dal Consiglio comunale, si ritorceva con effetto autolesionistico su se stesso ed in particolare sul primo ceto, costituito al massimo da quattro decine di famiglie e sul secondo che ne contava poche di più. Non sappiamo se quel regolamento si applicò veramente. Il resoconto del rinnovo del Bussolo, riportato nel paragrafo precedente, ad esempio, ne è la violazione palese a distanza di soli quarant'anni dalla sua adozione. In quella circostanza, tutte le indicazioni avvennero per "ballottazione", cioè per votazione consiliare, ed era proprio quello che esso vietava, affidando ad una Commissione ristretta di soli tre imbussolatori la scelta dei nomi, con l'obbligo strano di mantenere la massima segretezza. È chiaro che si sarebbe trattato del segreto di Pulcinella, anche in considerazione del fatto che il mercato delle persone "intelligenti e capaci" disponeva di pochi scampoli di rimanenza. L'introduzione di un accorgimento inutile sta forse a significare che 1'ufficializzazione delle quaterne dei Difensori o degli altri incarichi del biennio, sollecitava attese del turno "amico" o più "arrendevole" o comunque del momento più opportuno per effettuare poco commendevoli manovre. Così, affidandoci alla riservatezza degli Imbussolatori, si salvava la forma ma la sostanza rimaneva immutata, come spesso succede tra gli umani, e l'estrazione sarebbe diventata davvero una tombola. Il Regolamento, inoltre, dava per scontata una prassi che a distanza di due secoli appare poco chiara, quando affermava che i quattro Difensori dovevano essere "uno per Sfera". Nel lessico usato, sembra assodato che il termine "Sfera" sia sinonimo di "Ceto" ed i ceti che godevano del diritto elettorale attivo e passivo erano solamente due. Come mai le "Sfere" diventano quattro? L'unica spiegazione plausibile è riposta nel fatto che mentre la prima sfera era molto ristretta ed omogenea perché l'appartenenza richiedeva il solo requisito del "possesso", la seconda era più eterogenea in quanto agli Artisti appartenevano non solo gli artigiani, ma anche i commercianti e i professionisti (medici, chirurghi, farmacisti, veterinari, avvocati, notai, preti, ecc.). Non si può escludere, pertanto, che all'interno di questo Ceto una prassi condivisa e consolidata stabilisse che i tre Difensori spettanti appartenessero ad ognuna delle tre categorie costituenti la "Sfera". Un'altra constatazione che ci convince della non applicazione del nuovo Regolamento sta nel fatto che il Bussolo avrebbe dovuto contenere 17 palle, invece ne furono inserite solamente 10, e non figurano più alcuni incarichi importanti come quello di Ufficiale della Madonna SS.ma della Reggia. La nomina dei "salariati" aveva procurato molte "turbolenze" a causa delle raccomandazioni, un vezzo dalle lontane radici che qualcuno fa risalire alla nostra Religione che ha codificato il ruolo intermediario dei Santi presso Dio (N.d.R.: Avere qualche Santo in Paradiso) e sotto questo profilo occorre riconoscere che le nostre radici religiose sono lontane e resistenti. Per eliminare il vezzo delle raccomandazioni vengono dettate misure severe quanto inutili e inapplicabili poiché è difficile stabilire il limite tra la raccomandazione e la segnalazione dei titoli di capacità e di merito, richiamate dal Regolamento, se non si precisano i sistemi per documentarli. Tanto per finire ricordiamo che le disposizioni regolamentari stabilirono la possibilità di imbussolare "padre e figlio" e "due fratelli", purché in palle diverse "attesa la suddetta mancanza di persone capaci". Non si può certo dire che quei Signori Consiglieri mancassero di autostima. Del resto basta dare uno sguardo all'elenco dei Difensori per accorgerci che gli intelligenti e i capaci appartenevano solo a un paio di decine di famiglie. Adesso si capisce perché quelli bravi erano tanto pochi! RIUNIONE CONSILIARE DELLA COMUNITÀ PER DECIDERE SUL NUOVO BUSSOLO E CAPITOLATO RELATIVO In Dei Nomine Amen - Die 20 Octobris 1743. Convocatum et celebratum fuit publicum et generale Consilium per illustris Comm(unitatis) Insignis Terrae Fractae Perusiae more solito intimati cum interventu, et assistentia per Ill(ustris) Dom. Francisci Ghezzi Commissarii, in quo quidam Consilio interfuerunt infras(criptii)… Illu. Dom. Joseph de Sabelli Caput Officii Laurentius Martinelli Anselmus Donatuti Petrus Ant. Guerrini Ill. Dom. Philippus de Sabellis Franciscus Guerrini Carolus de Vibis Joseph Andreas Milanesi Dom. Franciscus Francisconi Joseph Matthias Cristiani Joseph Bernardinus de Homine Petrus Joseph Lestini Raimundus Rotelli Bartholomeus Petrogalli Caietanus Molinari Laurentius Gigli Philippus Roni Dominicus Franceschini Constantinus Pignani Augustinus Bettelli Franciscus Passalboni Carolus Ant. Francesconi Dominicus Paganelli ... de Consilio... et notum in eo habent ed illud totum representa ; et pro absen. si qui... promittentes. Et omissis aliis de voluntate reperiuntur infrascripta videlicet. Dom. Dominicus Franceschini in aringo eius med. ... dixit.... Intra. Vedendosi questo nostro Consiglio posto in molta confusione attesi i vicendevoli ricorsi fatti da diverse persone circa la Rinnovazione del Bussolo, numero dei Difensori, ed altre cose appartenenti a questo Consiglio, e non potendo fare a meno che questa Comunità non sia per risentirne gravi pregiudizi da questa discrepanza di voleri, sarei di sentimento pro bono pacis, ed in vantaggio del Pubblico et del Privato, che si eleggessero sei persone delle più capaci e dare a questi la facoltà di accomodare le differenze suddette; col darli anche l'arbitrio di rimettere in pristino molte buone e sagge disposizioni del nostro Statuto e rispettivamente de Signori passati Superiori, concedendoli anche la libertà di accomodare tali procedimenti alle circostanze dei presenti tempi e di fare insomma tutto ciò che li parerà opportuno per bon regolamento di questa Comunità con sottoporre poi alla Sag... questa loro... acciò si degni approvarlo e perché abbia la piena forza e debba essere osservato da tutti ed in tal modo credo che si darà fine alle liti e si rimetteranno gli animi in quiete, come tutti desiderano. Rimettendomi... [seguono due righe in latino]. A chi pare e piace di aprire il suddetto Aringo e di dare alli signori Difensori la facoltà di nominare sei persone tre della prima Sfera, tre della seconda in effetto suddetto, dia la palla bianca in favore, e a chi non piace, la negra in contrario. Tunc distribuitis et re... fuerunt reperta nota albe ri dece et nove, et unum nigrum... Post modum vigere... nominarunt... Cesare de Francescani, Bartholomeus Petrogalli, et Philippus de Sabellis, et Dominicus Franceschini, Franciscus Guerrini et Carolus de Vibis. Iterum de... A chi pare e piace di lor signori di approvare gli uomini nominati come sopra e dargli tutte le facoltà necessarie et opportune come sopra, dia la palla bianca in favore e a chi non piace, la negra in contrario. Tunc distribuitie e recollectis de more suffragia fuerunt reperta vota alba favorabilia viginta…" MODO DI FORMARE IL NUOVO BUSSOLO Capitolo I Primieramente, a tenore delle enunciate facoltà, si determina e stabilisce che essendo già determinata l'estrazione delle Palle degli Officiali di questa Comunità un mese prima che termini l'amministrazione delli Difensori estratti nell'ultima Palla, debba radunarsi il Consiglio nel modo e forma che dirassi in appresso ed ivi il Signor Capo d'Offizio dovrà nominare per primo un bussolatore uno della sua Sfera, il secondo e terzo Difensore un altro per ciascuno della sua Sfera, e dandosi il caso che alcuna delle persone nominate non fossero presenti al Consiglio, dovrà immediatamente mandarsi a chiamare da Donzelli ed in caso di legittimo impedimento dovrà nominarsi altro in suo luogo e, stabiliti che saranno gli imbussolatori, dovranno questi, doppo licenziato il Consiglio, rimanere in Palazzo col Signor Commissario e Segretario per formare il nuovo bussolo, quale dovrà rifarsi perpetuamente per soli due anni, sotto pena di nullità, e dovrà farsi di comune consenso, invocato prima l'aiuto dell'Altissimo e prestato il solito giuramento di prescegliere i più atti ed idonei, rimossa ogni privata passione e di tener segreta l'elezione fatta conforme costumasi e ritenuta convenientemente la facoltà al Capo Imbussolatore di prescegliere i Capi, in caso che il secondo e terzo imbussolatore non volessero convenire col primo e richiedessero che si ballottassero per voti le persone da eleggersi. Il Bussolo poi dovrà contenere sei Palle delli Difensori da durare ciascuna mesi quattro; una Palla delli tre Conservatori della Sanità o Consultori della Comunità da durare tutto il biennio; due Palle degli Officiali della Madonna SS.ma della Reggia, da durare un anno l'una; due Palle delli Sindacatori; altre due delli Stimatori Pubblici; altre due delli Portinari; due delli Sindaci, parimente da durare un anno per ciascuna, conforme si è sempre costumato, col fare anche i nomi de Spicciolati. Capitolo Il Delli Difensori e Conservatori della Sanità Dovranno in ogni palla imbussolarsi quattro Difensori cioè uno per Sfera delle persone più capaci e discrete e che possiedono qualche stabile di proprio, giacché nelle presenti circostanze non puol pienamente adempirsi la mente del nostro Statuto che determina che nessuno possa essere eletto Difensore che non possieda almeno 30 di Scovere, determinandosi ancorché oltre alla possidenza debba essere ancora unita la capacità, ad effetto, che siano ben regolati i pubblici affari, il tutto sotto pena della nullità, a tenore del medesimo Statuto. Si dovrà inoltre formare, come si disse, la Palla delli tre Conservatori della Sanità, o Commissari della Comunità, quali dovranno durare per fin che saranno compite le Palle delli Difensori, e questi dovranno sempre essere della prima Sfera, sotto pena di nullità, e persone non imbussolate se sia possibile in altri Offizi, la incombenza dei quali sarà di intervenire al Consiglio tutte le volte che saranno invitati, e di sopra intendere alla custodia delle porte in tempi di contagi e sospetti, di attendere alla restaurazione delle mura, ponti e fonti con l'assenso però dei Difensori, sotto pena a quelli che ricusassero di comparire al loro Uffizio d'uno scudo per ciascuna volta da applicarsi dal Signor Commissario, non essendo scusati dal legittimo impedimento dichiarandosi inoltre che non potranno gli Imbussolatori sotto la pena suddetta aggiungere alcuna persona al numero dei Consiglieri, né mutarle dalle loro Sfere e gradi ma solo sia lecito agli stessi Imbussolatori l'imbussolarsi per loro in caso di mancanza di persone. Capitolo III Delli Consiglieri particolari delli Difensori Per miglior provedimento degli affari pubblici si determina e stabilisce che ogni Difensore debba avere il suo Consigliere e questi debbano essere quelle persone medesime che sono stati Difensori nella Palla immediatamente antecedente, per essere essi meglio informati dei pubblici interessi e dandosi il caso che nella prima Palla che si estrae finito il Consiglio, uscisse per Difensore alcuno delli Difensori della Palla antecedente, in tal caso anche il suo Consigliere debba proseguire nel suo officio per altri quattro mesi, se pure questo accidente non si dasse in uno dei tre Conservatori della Sanità nel qual caso dovrà surrogarsi dalli Signori Difensori altro nel suo luogo. Il che dovrassi sempre osservare quando per accidente o per mancanza di Soggetti una delle persone fosse imbussolata in Offici contemporaneamente. L’incombenza poi per tutti suddetti Consiglieri sarà di dire il loro parere in tutti li consigli dopo che dal Segretario sarannosi proposti gl'affari da risolversi e non potranno consigliare fuori del luogo destinato e se prima non averanno prestato il solito giuramento de bene et fidate liber consulendo e se non volessero consigliare vi potranno essere forzati sotto pena d'uno scudo d'applicarsi come sopra, restando dopo di loro la facoltà alli Conservatori della Sanità di dire il loro parere approvando il sentimento di Consiglieri secondo le sarà dato dalla coscienza, sempre però prestando il suddetto giuramento, senza di cui non devrassi scrivere il sentimento e consiglio veruno. Capitolo IV Del modo di convocare e celebrare il Consiglio Perché attesa la scarsezza degl'uomini intelligenti e capaci e la molteplicità delle persone meno idonee, ne avviene che il più delle volte fannosi risoluzioni poco profittevoli agl'interessi pubblici, si determina e stabilisce a tenore delli statuti e disposizioni, che in tutte le occorrenze della Comunità debba convocarsi il Consiglio composto di dodici Persone ed inoltre con l'intervento del Signor Commissario, e questi saranno li quattro Difensori, li quattro Consiglieri, li tre Conservatori della Sanità, ed il Camerlengo del Pubblico e questo Consiglio avrà tutte le facoltà di risolvere, determinare, decidere e far tutto ciò che puol fare il Consiglio Generale fuorché in materia di nuove imposizioni, prezzi d'Abbondanza, introduzione di litigi ed altri gravissimi emergenti per i quali dovrassi convocare il Consiglio delle 42 persone, senza intervento del Signor Commissario a solo fine di ben digerire le materie d'importanza da discorrersi nel Generale Consiglio, e tutto ciò a tenore di diverse risoluzioni fatte nei Pubblici Consigli ed approvate dalli Presidi di Perugia fin dal 1620, come si raccoglie da libri dei suddetti Consigli e dallo Statuto rispettivamente a quali si rimanda. Per convocare poi e celebrare validamente il suddetto Consiglio si determina che il giorno avanti debbano per ordine delli Signori Difensori invitarsi dalli Donzelli tutti quelli che dovranno intervenire e dandosi l'accidente che qualcuno fosse legittimamente impedito, li Signori Difensori avranno la facoltà di surrogare un altro della medesima Sfera nel luogo della persona impedita il che parimente dovrà farsi tute le volte che nel Consiglio dovesse trattarsi dell'interesse particolare d'alcuna delle 42 Persone sopra nominate, non volendo che la persona interessata possa in nessun conto intervenire al Consiglio sotto pena di nullità del medesimo a tenore delle suddette statutarie disposizioni. Stabilito poi che debba farsi all'ora determinata il giorno seguente il Consiglio, dovrà la sera innanzi dalli Signori Difensori farsi dar ordine al Campanaro del Pubblico che suoni all'Ave Maria, senz'altro segno, mezz'ora prima dell'ora determinata per il Consiglio si diano dodici tocchi alla Campana del Pubblico, che sarà il segno della convocazione del Consiglio delli 12 lasciando nel solito stile il modo di convocare il Consiglio Generale, come costumasi di presente. In caso poi che le persone che dovranno intervenire al Consiglio delli 12 ricusassero d'intervenirvi all'ora determinata, non avendo legittimo impedimento da approvarsi dal Signor Commissario si determina e stabilisce che debbano essere puniti nella pena di uno scudo di moneta romana da applicarsi dal detto Signor Commissario, nella qual pena parimente incorreranno quelli che non avendo riguardo al luogo e alle persone ardissero discorrere temerariamente profferendo parole ingiuriose contro alcuno dei presenti in Consiglio, qual pena dovrà duplicarsi in caso che l'ingiuria fosse fatta ad alcuno delli Difensori, volendo che si discorra con tutta la modestia e solo degli affari pubblici nel luogo destinato e non altrove, tenuto conto di ogni umano rispetto, conforme ordina il suddetto Statuto al quale si rimanda. Attesa poi la suddetta mancanza di persone capaci si determina e stabilisce a tenore degli ordini ultimamente emanati da Mons. Enriquez Giud. Dep. della Sagra Consulta, che possano imbussolarsi due fratelli, padre e figlio d'una medesima casa, in diverse Palle però, e che questi nel Consiglio delli 12 abbiano unitamente il voto per non diminuire in modo alcuno il numero dei voti che dorassi sempre mantenere integro; determinando che nella ballottazione il partito s'intenda vinto per voti otto favorevoli e non altrimenti. Capitolo V Delli salariati Perché nel elezione di Medico, Chirurgo, Predicatori ed altri salariati sono in questa Comunità varie volte accadute varie turbolenze ed inconvenienti a cagione delle raccomandazioni procurate dai medesimi concorrenti, si determina e stabilisce che non possa essere ammesso alcuno a pubblici uffizi quando voglia impetrarli con loro commendatizie, ma si abbia solo riguardo a requisiti e meriti del concorrente, e perciò ne meno alcuno del Consiglio possa far pratica per unire li voti dovendo ciascuno votare a tenore de dettami della propria coscienza, avendo così altre volte decretato li Signori Superiori con lettere; a quali essi determinandosi in oltre che li salariati, dovendosi riproporre, si faccia due mesi prima che spiri l'anno dal giorno della loro elezione, acciò rimanendo esclusi possa la Commissione provvedersi d'altro soggetto che presti la debita servitù a se stessa ed agli abitanti del luogo. Capitolo VI Della rinnovazione di alcune pene Si stabilisce in oltre, che qualunque persona commettesse fraude in pregiudizio di privativa, che gode questo Pubblico nei suoi proventi, o de i detti loro appaltatori, possa e debba dal Consiglio de i 12, coll'attestato d'un testimonio degno di fede, procedere unitamente col Signor Commissario a privare il suddetto defraudatore di Medico, Chirurgo, Maestro di Scuola e d'ogni grazia e favore che potesse concedere questo luogo e ciò a onore di quanto anno altre volte stabilito li Signori Superiori, qual pena dovrà anche infliggersi contro quelli che senza legittimo impedimento e privi di sufficiente privilegio, vi ricusassero di accettare gl'Uffizi Pubblici, non essendo giusto che riceva benefizi da questa Comunità chi si mostra ingrato in servirla nelle sue occorrenze. Capitolo VII Del acompagno del Magistrato nelle pubbliche funzioni Si determina finalmente che in congiunzione, cioè in occasione, delle solennità dei nostri SS. Avvocati (Santi Protettori del paese), ed altre solite Sagre Funzioni debba sempre portarsi il Magistrato in Corpo a visitare le chiese consuete, ancorché sia sospesa quella ricognizione che era solita darsi in tal congiunzione, cioè occasione, e acciò a tenore del costume sin ora osservato e molto più perché non si manchi di prestare il debbito onore all'Altissimo e nostri SS. Avvocati e Protettori e in tal congiuntura debbano i salariati e Consiglieri necessariamente intervenire all'accompagno del Magistrato, assieme con gl'altri uomini della Comunità con abito e ferraiolo negro e con quella maggior decenza che li sarà permesso, altrimenti potranno essere rigettati indietro e puniti ad arbitrio del Signor Commissario e ciò per maggiore decoro del Pubblico e di tutto il Paese. Quali capitoli come sopra stabiliti approvati che benignamente saranno dalla Sagra Consulta, vogliamo che siano inviolabilmente osservati, né sia lecito ad alcuno il mutarli senza il preventivo assenso della detta Sagra Consulta e del Generale e Particolare Consiglio. In fede li abbiamo sottoscritti di nostro carattere adì 6 dicembre del 1743. Io Filippo Maria Savelli Deputato mano propria Io Cesare Francesconi Deputato ma. pr. Io Bartolomeo Petrogalli Deputato ma. pr . Io Domenico Franceschini Deputato ma. pr . Io Francesco Guerrini Deputato ma. pr. Io Carlo Vibi Deputato ma. pr. [Seguono poi sei righe che si riferiscono alla stesura del documento stilate da un notaio, quasi sicuramente il notaio Burelli, e datate 17 giugno 1794, cioè 51 anni dopo. Esse sono siglate con il timbro "IBBN" che è quello di Burelli (Iohannes Baptista Burelli Notaio)]. FONTI: “Umbertide nel secolo XVIII” di Renato Codovini e Roberto Sciurpa – Comune di Umbertide, 2003 Il sistema elettorale comunale