Umbertide is a town and comune (township) of Italy, in the province of Perugia in northwestern Umbria, at 43°18N 12°20E, 247 meters (810 ft) above sea-level, at the confluence of the Reggia river and the Tiber. It is 30 km (19 mi) N of Perugia and 20 km (12 mi) S of Città di Castello. With 15,300 inhabitants according to the 2003 census, Umbertide is one of the larger towns of Umbria; and basically flat, which is relatively unusual for the region. It is an important regional industrial center producing machine tools, farm machinery, textiles, packaging material, and ceramics.

History and Monuments

Umbertide or the surrounding area was inhabited in pre-Roman and Roman times: the 19th‑century archaeologist Mariano Guardabassi felt that a small building at Lame, about 1 km from the center of the modern town, was Etruscan. The Roman town of Pitulum, destroyed by Totila in the mid-6th century, may account for Roman remains in S. Maria delle Sette. In its present incarnation, Umbertide was founded in the 8th or 10th century, depending on the scholar; its original name was Fratta, and it received its present name in 1863 in honor of then Crown Prince Umberto.

Although there are remains of the medieval walls, a few medieval houses, and part of the Rocca or citadel, many of Umbertide's best monuments are of later periods. The main church in town is the collegiate church of S. Maria della Reggia, often referred to simply as the Collegiata: it is an octagonal 16th century brick building topped by an elegant cupola, housing a few paintings by Pomarancio. S. Maria della Pietà, with the attractive funerary chapel of the counts of Sorbello, is late medieval and Renaissance. The 17th‑century church of S. Croce houses a museum with a good collection of paintings, including a Deposition by Luca Signorelli. The largest church, S. Francesco, is Gothic: in the early 21st century it was undergoing a major restoration that promised to be protracted. The 20th‑century church of Cristo Risorto is unusually handsome.

Beyond the city limits, the township's principal monuments are:

• the castle of Civitella Ranieri, 5 km (3 mi) NE, one of the best-preserved medieval fortresses in Umbria.
• the abbey of S. Salvatore di Montecorona 4 km (2.5 mi) S, which has a beautiful 11th‑century crypt with early Romanesque capitals and naïve 18th‑century painted ceilings.
• the medieval castle of Polgeto
• the abbey church of S. Bartolomeo de' Fossi strikingly sited on a sharp ridge with distant views on either side
• the walled medieval village of Borgo S. Giuliana

External links

• Official Site
• Bill Thayer's site

(Incorporates text from Bill Thayer's site, by permission.)