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Città della Pieve

The small town of Città della Pieve is situated on the border of Umbria and Tuscany not Far from Lazio, in the centre of Central ltaly. It is located on a hill, 508 metres above sea level, overlooking the Val di Chiana and Lake Trasimeno.

It belonged to the city state of Chiusi during the Etruscan-Roman period.

The town developed between the 7th and 8th centuries AD. around the baptismal church ("pieve") of Saints Gervasio and Protasio, patrons of the fortified look-out (the mcient "Castrum Plebis" or "Castle of the People") that the Longobard Duke of Chiusi had built to observe Byzantine Perugia.

From 1188, Castel della Pieve (as was then its name) was dominated by Perugia.

The middie class of the town, manufacturers of bricks and a highly prized cloth of a particular crimson colour, aspired to independence and civic freedom.

Between the 13th and the 14th centuries, numerous buildings rose within the city walls.

There are numerous paintings by artists of the Sienese SchooI, including the Gothic fresco "Sorrow of the Angels" in the Oratory of San Bartolomeo, painted by Jacopo Mino del Pellicciaio.

The greatest son of Città della Pieve, the painter Pietro Vannucci known as "Il Perugino" was born in the middie of the 15th century. Several of his masterpieces are extant in his home town: the famous "Adoration of the Magi" (1504) in the Oratory of Santa Maria dei Bianchi.

In 1529, Pope Clement VII (de' Medici) removed Castel della Pieve from Perugia's jurisdiction and subjected it directly to the central power of Rome.The della Corgna family called numerous artists to Castel della Pieve to build and decorate a magnificent palace. The Perugia architect Galeazzo Alessi was engaged, as well as the Tuscan painters Salvio Savini and Niccolò Circignani, known as "Il Pomarancio". Some of their works are in the Cathedral and in the church of Sant'Agostino.

At the same time, the ancient Pieve was transformed into a Collegiate Church. It became a Cathedral in 1600, when Pope Clement VIII (Aldobrandini) elevated Castel della Pieve to a "Città" and diocesan centre, removing it from the religious administration of the Bishop of Chiusi, to which it had belonged.