r^emmmmunsfSSiSSi
^CLaJ^ ^Z^I^uUk.
LIBRARY ^
UNIVCRSITY OF
CAL f 'kNia
SAN DIEGO
J
The Sfo?y of Perugia
All rights reserved
.^
c^eA^i^^g^y
i:he Story of PcTugia
by Margaret Symonds
and Ltna Duff Gordon
Illustrated by M. Helen James
London: J. M. Dent ^ Co.
Aldine House .^ 29 and 30 Bedford St7'eet
Covent Garden^ W.C. * * 1898
PREFACE
\A/HEN but a little while ago we undertook to
write a " guide book " to one of the better known
towns of Central Italy, we realised perhaps imperfectly
how wide and full was the field of work which lay
before us. The "story " of Perugia is, Jike the story
of nearly all Italian towns, as full and varied as the story
of a nation. Every side-light of history is cast upon
it, and nearly every phase of man's policy and art re-
flected on its monuments. To do justice to so grand a
pageant in a narrow space of time and binding was, we
may fairly plead, no easy task ; and now that the work
is done, and the proofs returned to the printer, we are
left with an inevitable regret ; for it has been impossible
for us to retain in shortened sentences and cramped
description the charm of all the tales and chronicles
which we ourselves found necessary reading for a full
knowledge of so wide a subject.
If this small book have any claim to merit it is
greatly due to the faithful and ungrudging help rendered
to its authors throughout their study, by one true
guide ; by many old friends ; and by the inhabitants
of the town whose name it bears for title. We can
never adequately express our sense of gratitude to the
people of Perugia, who from the poorest to the richest,
received us with excessive courtesy and kindness,
making our stay and study in their midst a pleasure as
well as an education.
Our book is intended for the general traveller rather
vii
Preface
than for the student. We have offered no criticism,
and have quoted whenever we could from the pages of
contemporary chronicles. We have dealt with Perugia
as with the heroine of a novel, describing her particular
progress, and not confounding it with that of neigh-
bour towns, equally important in this way, and each
struggling, as perhaps only the cities of Italy knew
how to struggle, towards an individual supremacy in a
state lacerated by foreign wars and policies.
In dealing with one of the most vivid points in the
history of the town— the Rule of the Nobles — we have,
with some diffidence, incorporated into our narrative
the words of one who had already drawn his description
of the subject straight from the original source, treating
it with such a powerful sympathy as it would have been
impossible for us to rival. For further knowledge of
this terrible period we can but refer the student to
the chronicle of Matarazzo. {^Archivio Storico, vol.
xvi. part 2.)
With the art of Umbria we have dealt only shortly,
and from the point of view of sentiment rather than
that of criticism. For a severe and thorough know-
ledge of the technique and use of colours employed by
the men who lived through such scenes as we have
described in chapters II. and III. we must refer the
reader to the works of other authors. For our dates,
and facts in reference to art, we have relied on Kugler,
Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Rio, Vasari and the local
writers, Mariotti, I^upatelli, Mezzanotte, etc.
It remains to give a list of the books which we have
consulted for the history. Amongst these are the
Perugian chronicles contained in the Archivio Storico
(V Italia ; Graziani, Matarazzo, Frolliere, and
Bontempi ; Fabretti's chronicles of Perugia, and his
" J^ita del Condottier'i, etc." ; and the local histories of
Ciatti, Pellini, Bartoli, Mariotti, and Bonazzi. Villani
viii
Preface
and Sismondi have been consulted ; Cieighton's " His-
tory of the Papacy during the Reformation,^' and von
Ranke's '■^History of the Popes.'''
Of the purely local histories mentioned above
Bonazzi's is the most important. His two bulky
volumes are excellent reading in spite of his sarcastic
and often unjust bitterness against the clerical party.
A number of local pamphlets, the names of whose
authors we cannot here enumerate, have been used for
various details, together with other books on a variety
of subjects, such as Dennis' " Etruria,'' Broussole's
" Pelerinages Ombriens,'' Hodgkin's " Italy and her
Invaders," etc., etc.
When all is told, by far the most valuable and trust-
worthy authority on Perugian matters is Annibale
Mariotti. A local gossip who combines with his
gossiping qualities an exquisite sense of humour, and
a real genius for investigation in matters relating to his
native town, is the person of all others from whom to
learn its actual life and history. Mariotti is an eminent
specimen of this class of writers, and no one who is
anxious to understand the spirit of Perugia should omit
a careful study of his works on the Popes, the People,
and the Painters of Perugia.
For personal help received we have the satisfaction
of offering in this place our sincere thanks to Cav.
Giuseppe Bellucci, professor at the University of
Perugia, whose wise and kindly counsel has led us
throughout to an understanding of countless points
which must, without him, have remained unnoticed or
obscure. Our notes on the museum arc practically
his own. We would mention also with grateful
thanks Dr Marzio Romitelli, Arcidiacono of the
cathedral of Perugia, who generously opened his
library to us, and many of whose suggestions have
been of service to us. To Count Ansidei, head of
ix
Preface
the Perugian library, our sincere thanks are offered
here.
We must further acknowledge the help of Signer
Novelli of Perugia ; of Mrs Ross, Mr Hayllar, and
Cav. Bruschi, head of the MarucelJiana Library at
Florence. Lastly, of Mr Walter Leaf and Mr
Sidney Colvin in the revision of proofs.
The comfort of our quarters in the Hotel Brufani
needs no description to most Italian travellers, who are
already familiar with that delightful house ; but we are
glad to mention here our appreciation of the care and
thoughtful kindness shown to us by our English hostess
in the Umbrian town. The courtesy received by us
at headquarters from the Prefect of Umbria and
Baroness Ferrari his wife, made our stay, from a purely
social point of view, both easy and delightful.
To close these prefatory notes we can but say how
sincerely we trust that the following pages may serve
only as a preparation, in more capable hands, for further
and far fuller records of a city whose history is as
enthralling to the student of men as its pictures and
position must ever be to the lover of what is beautiful
in nature and in art.
August 2 1st, 1897.
Am Hof. Davos.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
The earliest Origins of Perugia and Groivth of
the City r
CHAPTER II
The Condottieri and the Rise of the Nobles . 33
CHAPTER ni
rhe Baglioni. Paul III. and last years of the
City 5S
CHAPTER IV
The City of Perugia . . . . . 82
CHAPTER V
Palazzo Pubblico, The Fountain and the Duomo 109
CHAPTER VI
Fortress of Paul III. — S, Ercolano — iS".
Domenico — S. Pietro — S. Costanzo . 151
xi
Contents
CHAPTER VII
PAGE
Piaz'z.a del Papa, S. Scvero, Porta Sole, S.
Agostino and S. Francesco al Monte . t 7 8
CHAPTER VIII
F'la del Priori — Perugino's House — Madonna
della Luce, S. Bernardino and S. Francesco 201
CHAPTER IX
Pietro Perugino and the Cambio . . . 216
CHAPTER X
The Pinacoteca . . . . . .230
CHAPTER XI
Ihe Museum and Tomb oj" the Volunmii . . 267
CHAPTER XII
/// Utnbria . . . . . .290
ILLUSTRATIONS
Via del Aquedotto, shotving Toiver of the
Cathedral .....
Lombard Arch on the Church of S. Agata
Pala%%o Baldesch'i
Arms of Perugia
Via delle Stalk .
Niccolo Piccinino
Palazzo Municipale
Fortress of Paul III. , shotving the Upper Part,
noiv occupied by the Prefettura, etc., and
the Loiver Wing, nvhich covered the site of
the present Piazza I P Armi
Perugia from the Road to the Campo Santo
Etruscan Arch, Porta Eburnea
Medieval Staircase in the Via Bartolo
Piazza Sopramuro, shotving the Palace of the
Capitano del Popolo and the Buildings of
the first University of Perugia
Convent of Monte Luce ....
Piazza di S. Lorenzo, seen from under the
Arches of the Palazzo Pubblico
xiii
5
>4
23
32
39
53
57
77
«3
87
89
lOI
107
Illustrations
th
th
Remains of the First Pala%%o del Priori in the
Via del Ver%aro .
Oldest part of the Pala%%o Puhblico
The Reaper. Detail in a panel on the Fountain
Geometry. Detail in a panel on the Fountain
On the Steps of the Cathedral
In the Cloisters of the Canonica (or Seminary)
S, Francis ....
Porta Marzia ....
Church of S. Ercolano and Archiuay
Etruscan Wall
Detail of the Tomb of Pope Benedict XL
Church of S. Domenico .
House in the Via Pernice
Arco d^ August ....
S. Agostino and Porta Bulagajo
Church of S. Angelo
The Old Collegio dei Notari, said to be the
of Perugino
Torre drgli Scirri
Etruscan Arch of S. Luca
Mercy. Detail on Fagade of the Oratory of
S. Bernardino
Perugino : Madonna and Patron Saints of Peru-
gia^ painted for the Magistrates^ Chapel at
Perugia, noiv in the Vatican at Rome
First Translation of the Body of S. Ercolano
(Fresco in the Pinacoteca of Perugia)
xiv
ttudio
114
121
127
131
134
147
150
155
157
x66
179
189
191
195
202
203
205
209
243
Illiuti'atiojis
I'AC.E
Gonf alone of the /innuticiation attributed to Niccolo
Alunno . . . . . .249
Adoration of the Shepherds. By Fioren%o di
Lorenzo . . . . . .253
Via Delia Pera under the Aqueduct on the ivay
to the University . . . . .269
Etruscan Mirror in Guadabassi Collection . 280
Tomb of Aruns Volumnius . . . . 287
The Temple of CHtumnus . . . . 301
Narui {^ivith Angelo Inn in foreground) . . 307
XV
The Story of Perugia
CHAPTER I
The earliest Origins of Perugia
afid gro'wth of the City
C OMETIMES in a street or in a country road we
meet an unknown person who seems to us wonder-
fully and inexplicably attractive. Perhaps we only
catch a passing vision ; the face, the figure passes us,
oftener than not we never meet again, and even the
memory of the vision which seemed so full of life, so
strong, and so enduring, passes with the years, and we
forget. But had we only tried a little, it would, in
almost every instance, have been possible to follow the
figure up, to learn what we wanted to know about it,
to understand the reason why the face was full of mean-
ing to us, and what it was which went before and gave
the mouth its passion, the eyes their pain and sweetness.
In nine cases out of ten we can, in this nineteenth
century, discover the birth and parentage, the loves and
hates, of any human being we may wish to know.
But this is not the way with cities, and although
they attract us in almost precisely the same fashion as-
people do, we cannot always trace their earliest origins.
There are certain towns we come across in travel,
of which we know very well that we want to know
A I
T'he Story of Perugia
more. Perugia is one of these. It at once catches
hold of one's imagination. No one can see it and forget
it. A breath of the past is in it — of a past which we
dimly feel to be prehistoric. Boldly we set to work
to learn its history, and at first this seems an easy
matter : the later centuries are a full and an enthralling
study, for as long as men knew how to write they
were certain to write about themselves, and the writers
of Perugia had a wide dramatic field to work upon.
But then come the records which are not written —
which, in fact, are merely hearsay ; and further even
than hearsay is the period when we know that men
existed, but which has no history at all beyond a few
stone arrow heads, and bits of jade and flint. Yet, to
be fair to a place of such extraordinary antiquity as this
early city of the Etruscan league, one is unwilling to
leave a single stone unturned, and in the following
sketch we have gathered together, as closely as we
could, the earliest facts about a city which attracts
us, as those unknown people attract us whom we
meet, admire, and lose again in the crowd.
" It seems," says Bonazzi, the most modern his-
torian of Perugia, " that in the earlier periods of the
world all this land of ours (Umbria) was covered by
the sea, and that only the highest tops of the Apen-
nines rose here and there, as islands might, above the
waves. Then other hills arose, a new soil was dis-
closed, and great and horrid animals, whose teeth were
sometimes metres long, came forth and trod the terrible
waste places. In the silence of these squalid solitudes,
no voice of man had yet been heard, and the stars
went on their way unnoticed, across the firmament
of heaven, . . ."
But Bonazzi's science, though highly picturesque,
was not entirely correct, and the following account,
written by an inhabitant of Perugia who has studied the
2
Earliest Origins of Perugia
history of his town and neighbourhood with faithful
precision and from the darkest periods of their exist-
ence, may well be inserted here.
■'The city of Perugia," Prof. Belhicci writes, " is built upon
;i piece of land which was formed by a large delta of the
|)rimeval Tiber. In very early times (during the period known
as pliocene) tlie 'I'iber. before running into tlie sea, formed in
the central basin of IJmbria lui immense lake. Tlie soil of
which tile actual plain of Umbria is now composed, and the
numerous low hills which surround it, are made up either of
river deposits such as sand and rubble left behind by the rush
of waters, or else by clay deposits which slowly formed them-
selves in the quiet bosom of the latce. The date of these
deposits is shown l)y the fossil remains which are found in
them: elephants, rliinoceros^ liippopotamus, stags, antelopes,
hyenas, wild dogs, &c.. ail of which indicate a mucli warmer
climate than that of the present day. In the period follow-
ing on tliis, the great lake of Umbria began to empty itself;
and as the soil washed gradually away, the waters forced a
passage through the mountains below Todi, and from that
time onward tiie Tiber gradually assumed its present course.
The characteristic fauna of tiiis second period distinguishes it
from the first. Numerous remains found in tlie primitive
gravel deposits of the Tiber prove the existence of man in
our neighbourhood during Iioth these periods (namely the
paleolithic and neolithic). But the final drying up of the
great lake basin or valley of Umbria was a very slow process,
and even in Roman times the extent of these stagnant waters
was so wide that the present town of Bastia on the road to
Assisi was surrounded by them on every side and went by the
name of Insula Kimiiuui. 'J'he final drainage of tlie lake was
not completetl till some time in 1400, when the river Chiagio
iiurst through tlie rocky dykes under Torgiano and loweret!
the level of the water by four metres. Thus central Umbria
at last assumed its present aspect. W'e stand upon the hill-
top at Perugia where once thousands of years ago the turbid
waters of the Tiber rushed along, and at our feet stretch
the green and fertile fields of Umbria, all the fairer for the
fertilising waters of that mighty lake which, in the dim and
distant past, had covered them completely.''
We have no definite date or name for those first
men who came to live in this strange marshy wilder-
3
The Sto?')' of Perugia
ness. We have only the relics of their patient industry.
An inexhaustible store of arrow-heads and other bar-
barous stone implements is found in all the hills around
Perugia, and splendid hatchet heads of jade upon the
shores of Trasimene. No doubt these men lived in holes
and caves, perhaps at the foot of this hill where the
present city of Perugia stands, or a little to the west of
it, but their history is dark and very far away. Dark
too and far away, as far as written facts remain, is the
history of that almost more mysterious race of men
which followed on the prehistoric one, namely, the
Etruscans.
This is no place in which to discuss the origin of
that extraordinary people whose language and parentage,
though they lived and laboured side by side with the
most cultivated and inquisitive of European nations, is
practically dead to us. It is enough at this point of
our history to note that the Etruscans were the first to
seal their personality, with the seal of a visible and
tangible intelligence, upon this corner of the world, and
it is quite probable that they made one of their earliest
colonies upon the jutting spur of a line of hills which
would have attracted them upon arrival. It is certain
that in course of time Perugia became one of the most
powerful cities of the Etruscan league. Her museums
are full of the pottery, tombs, inscriptions, toys, and
coins of the mysterious nation (see Museum, chapter
XL).
Innumerable myths grew up around the foreign
people, and individual historians described their advent
in individual places and pretty much at random. The
earliest chroniclers of Perugia, ignoring the men who
had perhaps existed for centuries before this unknown
nation landed, — ignoring too, the other settlers, —
pounced upon a plum so precious and romantic to stick
into the pie of legends that they were concocting ; they
4
Earliest Origins ofPcrngia
peeled and stoned the plum to suit their fancy, and
having done so, stuck it in with many others to
swell the list of dubious tales in their long-winded
?
'?y<^
Jv
w'p'^v^ \ ::^]^:^^ff^'^^-^'-'
v:,k-
V i
VIA DKL AljUEDOTTO. S110WIN(; TOWER OF TllK CATIIEDKAL
manuscripts. As these chroniclers were nearly always
monks, it was natural enough that they should form
their shambling history on the one great history that
T'he Story of Perugia
they possessed, i.e., the Bible. To them the Etrus-
cans were easily and most satisfactorily explained :
they descended from the first man, Adam, and they
were the sons of Noah. Nay, the monks made an
even happier hit, for they declared that Noah in per-
son climbed the Apennines and pitched his tent upon
the spur of hill where the present city stands ! Wc
can well imagine the old monk Ciatti, one of the
earliest historians of Perugia, sitting before his wooden
desk upon some dreamy night in May, his Bible
propped before him, all Umbria asleep beneath the
stars outside his window, and compiling the follow-
ing entrancing legends concerning the Etruscans and
their leader : " Serious writers hold Janus to be the
same as Noah, who alone among men saw and knew
all things during the space of six hundred years before
the Deluge and three hundred years after the Deluge.
The ancient medals which show the two faces of Janus
are engraved with a ship, to denote that he was Noah,
who, entering an ark in the form of a ship, was saved
by divine decree from the universal Deluge." ' Ciatti
next goes on to give a delightful description of the
arrival of Noah and his sons ; " they penetrated," he
says, "into Tuscany,- where, fascinated by the loveliness
of the country, the agreeable qualities of the soil, the
gentle air and the abundance of the earth, they deter-
mined to remain ; but feeling uncertain where they
should fix their dwelling, they were advised by certain
augurs to build Perugia on the spot where it now stands."
Some say that the name Perugia comes from the Greek
word for '* abundance." Certainly Ciatti was able to
weave this fact into his legendary web : " Whilst, wait-
1 One of the most common explanations of the ship on
Etruscan coins is that these people were the first to bring
ships to Italy.
- Umbria was originally incorporated in the province oi
Tuscany.
6
Earliest Origins of Perngia
in^ for the Augurs," he writes, " two doves passed by
them, riying to their nest, one carrying a branch loaded
with olives and the other an ear of corn. Soon after
there came a big wild boar carrying on his tusks a
bunch of grapes. They took, these signs to mean good
omens, and they decided to build Perugia on the spot."
Ciatti must have been an honest chronicler. Had
we been given his early possibilities of making history in
our own fashion, we must inevitably have told a credu-
lous public that the ark itself rested upon the spurs of the
Apennines and disgorged its contents on the hill where
stands the present city of Perugia. But Ciatti withheld
his hand from this, and we too must bare our heads
before the fact of Ararat, and only hold to that of
Noah, in his five-hundredth year or so, wandering un-
wearied forth to form a mighty nation on the coasts
of Italy !
But before leaving Ciatti and his early myths, we
must do him the justice to say that he was not utterly
ignorant of a dim nation and of dimmer monsters living
perhaps before the days of the Deluge. The old monk,
like other wise historians, sets to work to hunt up the
heraldry of his native city, and thus he explains the
origin of the grifHn on the city arms. The enthral-
ling hunt described savours surely of something in an
even earlier age ?
•• Now it so happened tliat, when the people of Perugia and
of Narni were at the height of their prosperity, they became
consumed by a very warlike spirit, and cultivated freely all
military exercises, and on one occasion they challenged each
other to a trial of prowess in a celebrated hunt. They agreetl
to meet in the mountains round about Perugia, which were
then the liaunt of fierce and terrifying wild beasts, and having
come to that mountain which now takes its name from the
event fMonte UrifTone) they found there a griffin, which the
Perugians captured and killed. After some dispute the
monster was divided, the skin and claws being best worthy
of preservation were taken by the Perugians, whilst tlie body
7
I'he Story of Perugia
fell to the people of Narni. In memory of this occurrence
the Perugians took for their arms a white griffin — white being
the natural colour of that animal— while the people of Narni
took a red griflin, corresponding to the part which had fallen
to their share, on a white field." ^
But, to pass from the realms of myth to those of
reality, it seems quite certain that the Etruscans — or
Rasenae as they are sometimes called — spread themselves
over a large part of Italy, building and fortifying their
cities, making roads and laws and temples, and casting
the light of an older art and civilisation upon the land
to which they came as colonists. One of the chief of
their cities was Perugia. Fragments of the old walls,
built perhaps three thousand years ago, still stand in
places, clean-cut, erect, and menacing, around the
Umbrian city.
The lives of the Etruscans can only be studied
through their art, and Perugia holds an ample store of
this in her museums. There, in those rather dreary
modern rooms, stone men and women smile upon their
tombs, and the sides of these tombs bristle with long
inscriptions written in an alphabet that we can partly
read, but in a language that we cannot understand.
Mirrors, and beautifully painted pots, children's toys
and ladies' curling-tongs — the Etruscan dead have
left no lack of records of their ways of living. But,
strong as was their personality, another and a stronger
force had struggled through the soil of Italy. Rome
had arisen to shine upon the growing world. It
remained for Rome to leave the stamp of veritable
history upon the city of Perugia.
1 Among the precious objects kept at the Palazzo Pubblico
which are described by Frollieri (see Arch. Storico, v. 16 part
ii.) are two talons of the griffin, whose capture we read of in
Ciatti. These had been given to the general of the Franciscan
order by the king of France, and in 1453 he handed the talons
over to the city of Perugia.
Earliest Or'ig'ms of Perugia
Throughout the early history of Rome, we catch
dim rumours of an occasional connection or warfare
with the people of liltruria. It is not till 309 li.c. that
we have any distinct mention of Rome in connection
with Perugia. In that year the Roman Consul,
Fabius, fought a battle with the Etruscans under the
walls of the town. The Etruscans lost the day,
Perugia and other cities of the League sued for a truce
with Rome which was granted to them. Fabius
entered Perugia " and this was the first time," says
Bartoli, " that the banner of foreigners had waved
across our city." Perugia bitterly resented the rule of
the foreign power, and, breaking her truce, she made
several passionate efforts to regain her freedom. But
in vain. Her blood, perhaps, was old, and grown
corrupt, the blood of Rome was new and palpitating.
She was again and again overcome by Fabius. In
206 B.C. we find her, not exactly submitting to Rome,
but playing the part of a strong ally, and cutting down
her woods to help in the building of a fleet for Scipio.
Her history continues dark — overshadowed by that of
Rome. We hear a faint rumble of the Roman battles.
We catch dull echoes of Hannibal and Trasimene,
for Trasimene is very near Perugia. Did some of
iier citizens creep down perhaps, and get a vision of
the fight ? Did any of those much-bewigged Etruscan
ladies, who we know were very independent in their
ways, tuck up their skirts and follow through the
woods to have a look at the elephants and shudder at
the swarthy African ?
We cannot tell. The next clear point in her
history is a terrible one for Perugia. She fell, but she
fell by a mighty hand, by that of the emperor Augustus.
In the year 40 b.c. the Roman Consul, Lucius
Antoninus, who, it may be said, was defending the
liberty of Rome whilst Mark Antony lay lost in a
9
T'he Story oj Perugia
love-dream upon the banks of Nile, took, refuge within
the walls of Perugia from the pursuit of Octavius
(Augustus) who then laid siege to the town. For
seven months the brave little city held out, but she
was reduced to such a terrible distress of famine that
Lucius at last gave way, and opened her gates to the
conqueror. Octavius entered Perugia covered with
laurels. The citizens prayed for mercy. He spared
most of the men and women, but he excepted three
hundred of the elders and saw them singly killed before
his eyes. When they prayed for grace he merely
tossed his head back and repeated : " They must die."
This ordeal over, Octavius decided to postpone the
sack of the city until the following day. But one of
its citizens, Caius Cestius Macedonicus, hot with all the
shame of the thing, got up at night and made a funeral
pyre of his house. He set fire to its walls, and as
it burned he stabbed himself and died there. The
flames spread through the city, and before the morn-
ing Perugia was burned to the ground. Nothing
remained of all its buildings except the temple of
Vulcan, and in memory of this fire the town was
afterwards dedicated to Vulcan instead of to Juno to
whom it had formerly belonged. Octavius returned
to Rome bearing before him the image ot Juno,
which alone had been saved from the flames. Some
years later he agreed to rebuild the city, and hence
the letters Auntsta Perusia over her "ates.
* * * * *
80 laying aside for ever Perusia Etrusca, that
city of strange beasts, strange people, and strange
myths, we face Perusia Augusta, or the Perugia of
Rome.
For some centuries, strange as it may appear, the
powerful old Umbrian hill-town seems to have fallen
contentedly asleep under the rule of her great protector.
10
Earliest Origins oj Perugia
It was, as wc know, the policy ot Rome to adopt the
laws and customs of the ])eople whom she conquered
rather than to change them, and indeed the alteration
seldom went further than in name. The Etruscan
rulers therefore took the titles of Roman governors,
tliey did not really alter, and it is probable that the
laws of the very earliest settlement have never really
become extinct. The Lucomo of the Etruscans was
in all probability the descendant ol the earliest pre-
historic village chief, who developed into the Diumvir
or representiitive of the Roman Consul pretty much as
the present prefect succeeded to the position of the
Podesta of the middle ages.
Rome had always loved and studied the religions
of the older people, and Bonazzi infers that Rome
" delighted in nursing on the breast of her republic
those great masters of Divinity who could be made
such powerful political instruments for her service."
The Romans must have intermarried freely with the
Etruscans ; the mixture of names and lettering upon
their tombs points to this fact. But the strong fresh
blood of the younger race seems to have overcome that
ol the more corrupt one. Other tribes and other
tongues pressed in upon the first inhabitants and gradu-
ally the language, yes, and the memory of the strange
and fascinating people, died.
Of tlie Roman occupation little trace can be found
in the architecture of the city, beyond the walls and
gates and the inscriptions over some of these, together
with a sorry fragment of a Roman bath. It must be
remembered that the entire city was burned to the
ground after the siege — burned with all her wealth
of monuments and temples — and it does not seem as
though the Romans did much to beautify her with
grand buildings. Having no old buildings to use as
raw material, they were probably content at this period
II
T'he Story of Perugia
to build strong walls and houses suitable for a fortified
town, thus fostering the warlike character of her in-
habitants which was to prove so great a point in follow-
ing centuries. 1
Roman rule was a very real piece of history, but it
is not possible to say that the period of myth and dark-
ness had wholly passed away. We possess a certain
knowledge of the Roman government, but the shadow
of the Gothic and Barbarian night closes in upon it like
a heavy pall ; and the next clear and startling point
about Perugia is her recapture by Belisarius followed
by the siege of Totila (or Baduila).
During those terrible centuries when Italy was
being ravaged by perpetual invasions, her lands
devastated by war and plagues and famine, and her
cities, as one historian says, " no longer cities, but
rather the corpses of cities," we find scant mentiort
of actual harm done to Perugia, for it was the north
which suffered first. However, as the Goths pressed
southward upon Rome, as Rome herself wavered and
sank beneath the weight of the northern hordes, and
of her own corruption, we gather that the Umbrian
cities too became a prey to the barbarians, and that
Perugia suffered the fate of all her neighbours. Her
historians seek in vain for stated records of this time
where all is darkness, but some dim facts shine out,
among them the steady growth of Christianity within
the city.
The first important date we find follows nearly six
hundred years after her capture by Augustus. It was in
536 A.D., that Justinian, who had conceived the mighty
plan of recovering Africa from the Vandals and Italy
1 Dare we presume that the University of Perugia dates
back to this period ? We certainly are told that the Roman
youth were sent here in early days to be instructed in the art
of augury.
12
Earliest rights of Perugia
from the Goths, sent one of his best generals, Constan-
tine (under Belisarius), into Umbria to occupy the cities
there. Constantine made Perugia his headquarters and
for a while his possession of the town seems not to have
been disputed by the Goths. Witigis left her on one
side as he passed with his armies down to Rome, and
it remained for the indomitable Totila to wrest her (in
545) from the power of the Byzantine Empire. Totila
is a most prominent figure in the history of the city,
and many are the myths which centre round him. He
first attacked Assisi, and having conquered her, he
turned his greedy gaze upon the fair liill city opposite and
instantly desired to possess her also. But realising the
strength of her position, which was largely increased by
the occupation of a Byzantine general, he determined
to get her by foul means rather than fair, and so he
bribed one of her citizens to murder Cyprian, who was
then the general in command. The citizens rose in
eager revolt against this treachery, and Totila soon
found that he had undertaken no light thing when he
came to besiege the town. Indeed tradition says that
the said siege lasted seven years, and however much
this may have been exaggerated, it is certain that it
was made a hard one for the Goth. Perugia was taken
by storm, but after fearful fighting ; she fell, but she was
upheld to the last by a new power, namely that of her
faith. The story of S. Ercolano, the faithful Bishop
of the Perugians, is told in another place (see pp. 245-
246). It has been admirably illustrated by Bonfigli,
it has been described and hallowed in a hundred ways
througliout the city's chronicles, and it is vain for
modern historians to tell us, as they are inclined to
do, that Totila never set foot in Perugia. Bonfigli's
fresco is terribly convincing in itself, as are also the
naive and delightful records of Ciatti and Pellini.
Among the people of the town Totila has become one
13
I'he Story of Perugia
of" its most important facts, and they declare that his
wife lies buried close to the Ponte Felcino together
with her husband's hidden treasure.
Gothic rule was short. Infinite and hurried changes
LOMBARD ARCH ON THE CHURCH OF S. AGATA
follow on this period. We next hear of the city in
the hands of the Lombards. Tlie Lombard occupa-
tion is almost as dark as the Gothic.^ In 592, Perugia
' There is scarcely any trace of the Lombard occupation left
in the architecture of Perugia with the exception of the porch
over the door of S. Agata. in the Via dei Priori.
H
Earliest Origifis of Perugia
became a Lombard Duchy ruled by the Duke Mauritius,
who turned traitor to his trust and delivered the city to
the Exarch of Ravenna. The news of the Duke's
treachery spread northward. Agilulf, King of the
Lombards, came hastening down to recapture the city
with a mighty army, and he made Mauritius pay for his
treachery with his head. This was in 593. A few
years later Perugia was restored to the Empire, but at
the beginning of 700, she, like many other cities of
Italy, attempted to shake herself free from Byzantine
rule. It is probable that she did not really succeed in
doing so, but this point is at any rate a great crisis in
her history, for it is the first time that we find her at
all tangibly connected with the Head of the Christian
world — with that power of the Church which was to
prove, throughout her future, alternately her safeguard
and her scourge.
It was about 727 that Leo the Isaurian, Emperor of
the East, terrified by certain evils in his kingdom which
he took to be signs of Divine anger, made his famous
decree against the worship of images. This proved of
course a most unpopular edict in Italy, and the reigning
Pope opposed it by every means in his power. Many
of the most powerful cities joined him, amongst them
Perugia, and Greek rule in Italy, already on the wane,
was greatly weakened, but we do not hear of any
settled breach with the Empire for many years to
come. Perugia was, as we shall see, merely advancing
towaids her own liberation, but the acquired protection
of the Popes proved useful to her in her next great
crisis.
In 749 Ratchis, King of the Lombards, laid siege to
the city, and her fall seemed inevitable. Then, in the
moment of her great need, with the Lombard army
beating in her very doors, the reigning Pope, S.
Zacharias the Greek, accompanied by all his clergy, and
15
The Story of Perugia
by many of the Roman nobles, arrived at her gates, and
in words of extraordinary sweetness pleaded her cause
with Ratchis. We do not hear what phrases the old
man may have used to check a man on the verge of a
great victory. We only hear that the Lombard king
knelt down and kissed the feet of the Pope. " Thou
hast conquered me," he said, very simply, and then he
withdrew from the battle, and S. Zacharias passed into
the city, and was received with universal joy by her
citizens. And not only did Ratchis abandon the siege
of a town which he so greatly coveted, but, his whole
soul being moved by this new power, he renounced his
kingdom and his crown and retired to the monastery
Monte Cassino, where he became a monk, living there
until he died.
Thus closes another chapter of Perugian history.
Within a space of three hundred years, roughly speak-
ing, she had changed the nationality of her rulers four
successive times, whilst she herself may be said never
to have changed. Her internal history, her internal
government, had all along continued pretty much on
the first lines. Her entire future policy proves this.
In all the small wars which follow, and which lead to
her final supremacy over every other city in Umbria —
cities which at the outset had been as strong as herself,
and even stronger, we trace this masterful and incon-
testable personality — the personality of the griffin which
the old Etruscan settlers captured thousands of years
before upon the hill-tops and chose for their city arms.
* * * * -x-
In all the intense complication of the times which
follow it is almost impossible to unravel the exact
position of individual towns. At one moment we find
Perugia belonging apparently to the Duchy of Spoleto,
at another joined to the Tuscan League, at another
putting herself under the protection of the Pope,
i6
Growth of the City
whilst all the time nominally belonging to the Empire.
Bonazzi remarks that one result of the perpetual con-
flict between I'lmperor and Pope was the liberty left
to the citizens ; in another place he says that in
the scant documents which contain her early history,
"Perugia is always mentioned alone, always managing her
own affairs." The said management dated back in all
probability to that of the very earliest settlement, which
was mainly agricultural, and managed by chiefs or a
Village Council. As the town grew, so likewise did
the numbers of its rulers. In Perugia, as in other
places, the original Village Council, which was first held
in the public square, was abandoned as politics grew
complicated. The Consuls, ten in number, two to
each Porta or gate, met in council on the steps of the
first Cathedral. The finest architectural building in
Perugia is notably the Palazzo Pubblico, but long before
the construction of this palace there was another building
which served the same purpose close to the Duomo in
which the different protectors of the city met. We do
not propose to trace the form of government here. Suffice
it to say that, in Perugia as elsewhere, we find the usual
titles of Consult and Podesta, then of the Heads of City
Guilds, the Priori (a very strong power in Perugia),
Capitano del Popolo and Cap'itano clella Parte Guelfa ; all
of whom recur again and again in her chronicles, play-
ing important parts as peace-makers or as arbitrators in
her turmoils and dissensions.
The historians of Perugia, naturally enough perhaps,
tend to speak of her as of an independent Republic, but
this she never was. She had her own rulers, she grew
powerful and individual, she finally became a great
capital, but she was never a free state like Florence
or Rome. Something in her extraordinary position,
something in the character of her people, warlike and
tenacious from the first, proved her final force. Great
B 17
The Story of Perugia
wandering hordes and armies thought twice before they
attacked her walls. Thus she enjoyed long periods of
ease, and in her stormy breast she nurtured the ferocious
families which were to prove her strength, but equally
her bane in later years.
Being utterly cut off from mercantile expansion or
commerce of an ordinary sort, she used her concen-
trated force in subduing neighbouring towns, and thus
extending her dominion over Umbria. Her power
soon became recognised, and many little towns and
hamlets sent envoys to present acts of submission to the
growing power. When these were given freely she
received them graciously, and when withheld she some-
times showed a power of rapacity and cruelty which is
well nigh inconceivable.
Her history is full of wars against Siena, Gubbio,
Arezzo, Citta di Castello, Todi, Foligno, Spoleto and
Assisi, all chronicled at great length by her proud
historians. We have collected a few scattered facts
relating to these, which cast some light upon the
character of the Perugians, who, as their power
strengthened, began to show, not only a tyrannous
disposition, but an occasional spark of the grimmest
humour. Leaving aside other events, such as the
encroaching power of the Pope, we may now glance
at some of these.
The first act of voluntary submission came from the
island of Polvese in 1 130, and was received with great
solemnity in the Piazza di San Lorenzo and in the
presence of all the inhabitants of the city. A little
later more than nine hundred of the people of Castiglione
del Lago came to place their land on the shores of
Trasimene under the protection of Perugia. Citta di
Castello and Gubbio followed suit, and many of the
smaller towns and hamlets. But, if submission was
sweet, blows, one surmises, were well nigh sweeter to
Growth of the City
the lieicc and savage owners ot Perugia, and lionid
were the skirmishes — one can scarcely call them battles
— which ensued from time to time when towns resisted
or rebelled against them.
Assisi and Perugia were ever an eyesore to one
another, and their inhabitants scoured the plain between
them like packs of wolves. In one of these savage
little contests tradition tells us that a certain Giovanni
di Bernadone, a youth of only twenty summers, was
taken prisoner by the Perugians and kept a year in the
Campo di Battaglia. The Palace of the Capitano
del Popolo in the Piazza Sopramuro now covers the
place where the youth was chained, and we may look
on it with veneration, for he was no other than that
sweetest soul of mediaeval history, St Francis of Assisi.
When Citt'a della Pieve dared to rebel, the
action of Perugia was prompt and effective. " Most
gladly did the youth of Perugia — hot with the dignity
of their city, and by no means disposed to forgive those
who despised or disobeyed her — assemble in arms,"
says Bartoli. The army thus assembled was instantly
sent to the recalcitrant city, but the Pievese had
scarcely caught sight of it hurrying towards their gates,
than they sent their Procuratore, Peppone d'Alvato, to
sue for peace and beg forgiveness for their misdeeds.
This was kindly granted, but Peppone, accompanied
by some hundred and thirty Pievese, was forced to
come to Ripa di Grotto and there listen to the re-
proaches of the Podesta of Perugia, whilst the Bishops
of Perugia and of Chiusi, the Provost of S. Mustiola,
and the Arc'iprcte of Perugia, sitting on high chairs,
surrounded by various grandees, were in readiness
to enjoy the spectacle. All were dressed in their
fmest, but we are told that the Arc'iprete of Corciano
threw all his neighbours entirely into the shade by
the splendour and the brilliancy of his many-coloured
19
The Story of Po'ugia
garments.' Peppone kneeling at the Bishop's feet with
his hand on the gospels, swore fiuth and loyalty to the
Perugians, and we hear that the Pievese returned home
" rejoicing " at the pardon obtained in this most humili-
ating fashion. This last fact we may take the liberty
to doubt, but it is certain that the Perugians enjoyed
the whole episode immensely, neither did they consider
the humiliation of their enemies complete. A further
punishment had yet to be thought of, and at last a
brilliant plan was resolved on. The Piazza of San
Lorenzo needed paving, and the Pievese were told
that they must provide all the necessary bricks for
this purpose, and this " puerile waspishness," as Bonazzi
describes it, so delighted the hearts of the Perugians
that, as we learn, not even the death of the great foe
of the Guelph cause, Frederick II., *' was able to give
them a keener sense of joy."
Perugia and Foligno had always regarded each other
with undisguised dislike, skirmishing about and ex-
changing insults wherever they happened to meet.
Once the people of Foligno had come bare-footed,
and with a sword and knite hung round their necks,
to implore pardon of Perugia, but they revolted
again, and the Perugians continued to attack and to
molest them. Three times in a single year (1282)
their lands were devastated, and finally the town was
taken, and the walls demolished, and imperative orders
were issued absolutely forbidding these to be rebuilt on
the western side. At last Pope Martin IV., amazed
and disgusted by the behaviour of a people to whom
he was honestly attached, interfered, but Perugia con-
tinued to molest her unhappy neighbour with a quite
1 The law obliging priests to dress in black was only made
after the fourteenth century. In i 203 a certain priest in his
will left his clothes to difTerent friends, and among them there
was notliing black except his hat. See Cantu. chap. Ixiv.
20
Groivth of the City
peculiar animosity, whereupon the Pope, angered
beyond measure by their disobedience, excommuni-
cated them. " Into such a passion did the Pope fall
with the people of Perugia," says Mariotti, "that he
issued a most severe excommunication against them."
It was just at the time of the Sicilian Vespers. The
Perugians, irritated by their sentence of excommunica-
tion, determined to celebrate a kind of mock vespers
on their own account. Gregorovius says that this is
the first instance recorded in history of this strange
form of popular demonstration. " They made a Pope
and Cardinals of straw, and dragged them ignomini-
ous! y through the city and up to a hill, where they
burned the. effigies in crimson robes, saying, as the
flames leapt up, " That is such-and-such, a Cardinal ;
and this is such-and-such, another."
A strange scene, truly, in a half-civilised city ! But
political and religious causes came between and put an
end to these half childish squabbles. A little later the
Pope forgave the Perugians, and they continued their
evil ways, and persisted in destroying the peace of the
Umbrian towns.
Arezzo had the satisfaction of a victory over Perugia
in 1335, and in defiance and derision she hanged her
Perugian prisoners with a tabby cat hung beside them,
and a string of lasche dangling from their braces. ^
But pranks like these were not allowed to pass un-
noticed, and Perugia did not fail to grasp her finest
banner with the lion of the Guelph all rampant on a
field of gules, and hurry out to subdue her insolent
' Lasche — a small fish corrt-spomling to our dace, anil abundant
in tlic Lake of Trasimene. 'J'he PLM'Ugians were celebrated
for their greediness in old days, and their strong affection for
this particular fish l)ecame a by-word throughout all Italy, and
is constantly alluded to in Uml)rian chronicles. The tabby cats
probably alluded to the emlilem of the Raspiinti : a cat.
21
77?^ Stoj'y of Perugia
neighbours. The people of Arezzo were humbled
to the dust, but by means too barbaric to be here
described.
Thus one by one the cities of Umbria became suffi-
ciently impressed by this forcible fashion of dealing
with insurrection, and they recognised that it would
be wise, though it might not be pleasant, to swear
allegiance to the imperious city. Gualdo next gave
up her keys, together with Nocera, but the latter
found it impossible to suppress a few oaths whilst
signing the documents, and there was a loud wail over
the laws imposed upon them.
■• . . . e di retro le piange
Per grave giogo Nocera ron Gualdo,"
says Dante, referring to the subject in the " Paradiso."
Perugia's culminating success seems to have been at
Torrita in 135S, when the Sienese were defeated, and
forty-nine banners brought back tied to the horses' talis,
and the chains of the Palace of Justice torn away and
hung in triumph at the feet of the Perugian griffin.
Even the powerful Florence accepted Perugia's help in
the Guelph cause, and so early as 1230 arbitrations had
been exchanged for the purpose of settling all questions
of commerce between the two cities.^
All these victories, these repeated successes, tended
1 Perugia had a close connection with Florence, whom she
imitated in many ways. The Florentines were careful to
keep upon good terms with Perugia, and many were the em-
bassies exchanged iiy the two towns. We even hear that,
when the Guelpli party were exiled from Florence, the Peru-
gians, ever faithful to the Lion of the Guelphs, enabled them to
re-enter their city. Yet it must in truth be added, that the
two towns had several points of difference, and that they
occasionally met on the field of battle as well as in the council
chamber.
22
Groivtb of the City
to increase Perugia's independence of spirit, and she
was very careful that no one, not even the Pope, should
infringe on her rights, or dispute her authority. Her
attitude towards the Church is somewhat difficult to
Wom^^-^
WwaW^"^^:^'
I ' ' tR
^^3
r.Ar.AZZO BALDESCIII
understand. It seems to have mystified Clement IV.,
for he expresses his " dolorous wonder " that the
Perugians, who were such devoted allies of the Holy
See, could sometimes behave so wickedly towards the
clergy. And, curiously enough, the Perugians, lovers
23
T'he Story of Perugia
of processions, of patron-saints, miracles, and all the
rest, could, and did, make laws to exclude all ecclesi-
astics from having anything to do with their charitable
institutions or donations to Churches.'
We find them protesting both with menaces and
oaths against any usurpation of the clergy, " In the
names of Christ, the Virgin, S. Ercolano, and S.
Costanzo." Even the Pope was taught a lesson, for
when John XXI. in 1277 asked for some lasche from the
Lake of Trasimene, the Perugians called a general
council in which it was resolved that the said lasche
should be sent to His Holiness, but accompanied by the
syndicate in order to show the Pope that the fish was
the property of the city, and a gift from its citizens
merely given to him for his Good Friday dinner !
These somewhat petty hostilities did not, however,
materially affect the relations between the Papacy and
the citizens of Perugia, and all through the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries they remained on very friendly
terms with one another.
We have thought it best to give a general sketch of
the growth of the city, its customs and its wars, before
touching on one of the chief characteristics of its
history, namely, its close connection with the Papacy.
It will, therefore, be necessary to glance back over
some centuries, in order to follow the steps by which
the power of the Popes arose in Perugia.
At first Papal authority was purely nominal. To
the small towns of Italy, living each their concen-
trated and oftentimes tempestuous lives apart, the
great Emperors who passed down to Rome in search of
1 No cardinal was allowed to enter Perugia's gates before he
had arrived at a distinct understanding with the chancellor
that he came as friend and well-wisher to the city, and not as
legate with powers to infringe on the rights of the citizens.
24
Growth of the City
crowns from the hands of Popes, must have appeared
as ghosts, their documents as unsubstantial as them-
selves. The fact that one of these, Pepin, conceded
large grants of land in Umbria, including Perugia, to
a Pope who never came to look at them, must have
seemed to the Perugians as little beyond a phantom
transaction after all. We next hear of Charlemagne
in 800 confirming an act by which Perugia, together
with a number of other towns and territories, was
placed under the alto domhi'to of the Holy See. In
962, Otto I. again confirmed the donation, but the
iron hand of Papal power was not felt for many cen-
turies in the rising town ; and indeed, however deep
the designs of the Church may have been from the
very beginning, they were well concealed, and the
first Popes who visited Perugia did so in the fashion
of people starting on a summer excursion, and not
at all in the character of conquerors. They would
come to the city with all their suite of Cardinals
and favourites, and take up their abode in the cool
and spacious rooms of the Canonica, which, as
Bonazzi with imperial pride declares, " became the
Vatican of Perugia."
Yet it is certain that the policy of the Holy See
was deep, and that the growing capital of Umbria
appeared no plaything in its eyes. The geographical
position of the city — perched as it is on a hill which
commands the Tiber and overlooks the two great high-
ways from the Eternal City to tlie North and to the
Eastern Sea — made it a most desirable possession for
the Popes, and it was inevitable that Perugia should,
sooner or later, submit to, or come into direct conflict
with, the power of Papal rule. The open acknowledg-
ment of such a situation was merely a question of time.
Innocent III., who has been called the founder of
the States of the Church, was the first Pope who came
25
T'he Story of Perugia
into direct personal contact with the Perugians. He
accepted from them an offer to be their Padrone, and to
exercise temporal power among them. Half playfully,
though with what deep and powerful designs we may
divine, he called the citizens his " vassals," and to a
certain extent they were willing to submit to his autho-
rity ; but in so doing they were careful to wring from
their " Padrone''^ a promise that their rights and privi-
leges should be respected. Thus for the time they
steered clear of the danger of subjection, continued to
govern themselves, and preserved that free and indepen-
dent spirit which hitherto, and in spite of every obstacle,
had marked them as a race. Innocent was beloved by
the citizens. He came amongst them at a time of much
civil discord, when the nobles and the people were pre-
paring for open strife. " He was a peace-maker," says
Bartoli, " and he kept his eye on all things ; and on this
city he looked with a peculiar partiality." The Pope
was anxious to promote the Crusades, and was on his
way to Pisa to try to make a peace between the Genoese
and the Venetians, whose quarrels interfered with his
schemes, when he fell ill at Perugia, and died there
in 1216.^
No sooner had he breathed his last than all his
Cardinals hurried into the Canonica to elect his successor,
and such was the impatience of the citizens that they
even set a guard over these princes of the Church, and
kept them short of food in order to hurry their decision.
We are not therefore surprised to read that the Papal
Throne remained vacant for the space of one day only,
and that in consequence of this event the Perugians
claim the privilege of having invented the Conclave.
Honorius HI. succeeded Innocent, and he attempted,
but without success, to heal the ever-widening breach
between the nobles and the people. We have described
^ For an account of his death, see chap. v. p. 143.
26
Groivfh of the City
something of the wars outside, but Perugia herself within
her walls was a veritable wasp's nest during this period
of her steady rise. Her inhabitants became more rest-
less and unmanageable every year. In their perpetual
broils the nobles fought beneath their emblem of the
Falcon, and the popolo miriu/o (common folk), who
sided with them, received the unamiable title of Bec-
chcrini.^ The two extremes in the social scale joined
hands in a perpetual opposition to the popolo <^rasso
(well-to-do burghers), who were called Raspanti
[raspnre, to claw), a name probably suggested by
their emblem of the Cat.
Honorius in his plan of dealing with the complicated
situation can scarcely be described as disinterested ;
whilst apparently patching up peace, he really at-
tempted to force an acknowledgment of papal power.
His policy however, was fruitless, and the nobles
resorted to the usual expedient of retiring to their
country castles, for, as Bonazzi says, they " preferred
to tyrannise alone in the silence of their isolated strong-
holds rather than to divide their forces in the capital
of a powerful federation." But the situation threatened
to become intolerable, and we read that through the
years from 1223 to 1228 a "perfect pandemonium
reigned in and about the city." Cardinal Colonna
was sent to try and restore the balance between the
rival factions, but, finally, Gregory IX. was forced to
come in person, and through his influence the banished
nobles were recalled from exile, and a certain degree of
peace restored.
Gregory paid many visits to Perugia, much to the
annoyance of the Romans, who expressed their wonder
that the little hill-town with nothing but its brown walls,
' Becclier'ini : probably dcrivei! from beccaio (butcher) or
beccheria (slaughter-house), which place I'eruo^ia greatly re-
sembled at times.
27
'The Story of Perugia
towers, and landscape to recommend it, should be pre-
ferred by him to the plains and palaces of the Eternal
City. This fact is recorded about the year 1228, when
Gregory IX. was making an unusually long stay in his
excellent and quiet quarters in the Canonica (at S.
Lorenzo). The Romans were well aware, Bartoli
says, that it was because of their ill-behaviour that he
had retired into private life far away in the Umbrian
city, and they even accepted as a judgment on their evil
ways a certain most horrible inundation of the Tiber
which befell them at that period. Deputies hurried
across the land from Rome with supplications to the
Pope to return to his people, and Gregory went, but he
quickly returned to Perugia. The fame of S. Francis
of Assisi was then at its height. Gregory felt inquisi-
tive, but not altogether certain of the truth of the tales
which were spread abroad concerning this wonderful
man. He made numerous enquiries and sent his Car-
dinals to Assisi to gather all the information they were
able to collect about the Saint. But the final manner
of the doubting Pope's conversion is described with
such marvellous and touching piety in the " Fioretti "
that we have inserted it at length in our description
of the place where it occurred.^ In the same year and
place Gregory canonized S. Francis, '* to the splendour
of religion," says one historian. He also canonized
S. Dominic and Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, he sent
missions into the land of the unfaithful, and gave in-
dulgences of a year and forty days to all who would
give money to the building of S. Domenico. So we
may fairly say that he did not waste his time, but that
he managed to get through a large amount of business
during the time that he spent in Perugia.
It is difficult to define the exact mutual relations of
' See page 149.
28
Groivtb of the City
Pope and city in any corncT of Italy, but it is certain
that Perugia found Papal power useful to her in many
ways, and that on whatever side she happened to have
a quarrel on hand, she always turned to the Papal See
for help and arbitration. In spirit she was always
Guelph, fighting under the emblem of the Guelph lion,
and full of Guelph interests. Yet, although openly
exercising self-government, almost in the manner of a
free republic, under the protection and nominal rule of
the popes, she was at the same time patronised by the
emperors. In 1355 we read that her ancient privileges
were confirmed and new ones granted by the Umperor
Charles IV., who seems to have considered it worth his
while to gain the friendship of her citizens.
Up to this period we have only had to deal with
pleasant passing visits of the popes who sojourned in
the city for a while. The time came, however, when
the noose which Innocent had so lightly cast about their
necks began to pull and tighten. The Perugians re-
volted hotly against the Popes of Avignon, who,
incensed at their rebellion, attempted to check it by
every means in their power. To understand the pain-
hil struggles which follow, it is necessary to remember
that the end of the fourteenth and the whole of the
fifteenth centuries were the most prosperous period in
Perugia's history. She had grown steadily and uninter-
ruptedly both in power and riches, and in spite of terrible
obstacles, ever since the day when the Romans rebuilt
her walls more than fifteen hundred years before. In
these two centuries she erected her public buildings,
extended and settled her government, coined money,
started her university, settled with her habitual prompti-
tude all suspicion of rebellion, became one of the Tre
Communi of Florence, Siena and Perugia, and whilst
achieving all these things she continued to foster the
passionate feuds and hopeless enmities between the dif-
29
The Story of Perugia
ferent factions which we have described above. Hav-
ing grown strong and prosperous it was natural that she
should resent any open attempt of a foreign power to
subject her, and such an attempt came in the middle of
the fourteenth century from the Papal See.
In 1367 the Spanish Cardinal Albornoz was busily
employed in recovering the States of the Church.
Perugia was at that time faithful to the Pope, and she
received the Cardinal with due honours and gave him
valuable help, especially in an expedition against
Galeotto Malatcsta of Rimini. Her goodwill how-
ever was of short duration, for the citizens saw them-
selves despoiled of Citta di Castello and of Assisi
during the Cardinal's campaigns, and this they would
not brook. They therefore sent a strong army at once
towards Viterbo, but it was beaten back with heavy
loss, and Urban V.'s authority was again firmly rooted
at Perugia. He sent his brother, Cardinal Angelico,
Bishop of Albano, as Vicar General to represent him in
the city. Thus the authority of the popes crept in
upon the town, and authority of some kind became
every year more necessary as the voice of the people
grew and strengthened and as the exiled nobles
quarrelled outside the walls. Papal authority was
finally represented in 1375 by an imperious French
abbot, Mommaggiore by name, whose doings and
buildings have been described in another place. (See
pp. 184-186.) The yoke that Mommaggiore — "that
French Vandal, that most iniquitous Nero," as the
chroniclers call him, — put upon the neck of Perugia,
jMoved unbearable to every party, and ail the different
factions for once joined together to break it. Florence
and other cities, castles, and fortresses which had
" unfurled the banner of liberty," joined in the revolt,
and in 1375 the abbot was driven in a very undignified
fashion from the city. A republic was then declared
30
Groivth of the City
and the whole town rejoiced at having broken away
from the thraldom of the Popes of Avignon. In vain
did Gregory XL call the people of Perugia "sons ot
iniquity"; in vain did he hurl the most terrible ex-
communications against tliem ; ' the feud between the
city and the Pope was only laid to rest when the
latter died. It had lasted long, and had produced
something worse even than the struggle of two strong
powers, for it had served to increase the terrible civil
discord within the town. With the accession of Urban
VI. a treaty was concluded, and Perugia acknowledged
his right of dominion. In 1387 Urban arrived in the
city, and as he entered the gates a white dove rested on
his hat and refused to be removed by the servants who
ran forward to deliver His Holiness from the unex-
pected visitor. It answered the Pope's touch however,
and was handed to his chaplain, and everyone accepted
the event as an excellent omen. We will not linger to
judge of its excellence, we can only say that the bird
heralded an entirely new chapter in the history of the
town, which hitherto had developed under general
influences and many difl^erent hands. Her coming
history is that of single influences, of personalities, or,
in other words, of despots. The time had come when
Perugia was to show the fruit of her stern ambitious
character in the individual men whom she had reared.
The names of Michelotti, Braccio Fortebraccio,
Piccinino and of the noble families of Oddi and of
Baglioni are familiar to all who have merely turned
the pages of her history. Perugia, like other towns of
Italy, had at the end of the fourteenth century reached a
point of internal strife from which strong personalities
could easily rise up to dispute or to control the existing
^ Some say that the iiull was found reposing in tlie hands of
S. Ercolano's statue, as nobody liad courage enough to present
it to the citizens.
31
The Story of Perugia
government. Why it was exactly that the Popes did
not from the first forcibly interfere with the turbulent
doings of these men, it is difficult to tell. They were
constantly coming to the city, constantly appealed to
by the citizens and nobles, for ever interfering both by
menaces and arms, but it was not till more than a century
of blood and tyranny had passed, not till the glory of
the town was already on the wane, that the power of
the Church came down to crush Perugia like a sledge-
hammer.
Strangely enough it was a Pope who first gave the
city away into the hands of a private person or
Protector.
ARMS OF PERUGIA
32
CHAPTER II
T'he Condottier'i and the Rise of the
Nobles
" The confusion, exliaustion, and ili-moralisarion engcndiTed
hy these conHicts lietermined the advent of Despots
Tlie Despot delivered tlie industrial classes from the tyranny
and anarcliy of faction, substituting a reign of personal terrorism
that weiglied more heavily upon the nobles than upon the
artizans and peasants He accumulated in his despotic
individuality the privileges previously actjuired by centuries of
consuls, potkstas, and captains of tlie people." — See •' Age of
the Despots,".!. A. Symonds.
r^EEP gloom closed in upon Perugia towards the
end of the fourteenth century. The breach
between the nobles and the people continued to widen.
Sometimes one party was driven out of the city, some-
times another. Now and again both parties were re-
called, and a compact of peace arranged by an arbitrary
person from outside. But this last arrangement pro-
duced an even more terrible state of affairs, and crime
and bloodshed were the inevitable result. We read of
deaths by hundreds and not tens — cruel and indescrib-
able deaths, which make one shudder — and already
in the thick, of the strife the names of Oddi and of
Baglioni are stamped upon the records.
One of the strangest points in the history of the city
at this time was the fashion in which these feuds
between the rival factions were met by them. uWhich-
c 33
The 8tory of Perugia
ever party was weakest retired for the time to the
country, leaving the city to their rival till time should
favour their own cause.'
Bonazzi gives an almost extravagant account of the
boorish manner of the exiled nobles' lives. Down
in the open country they hunted the abundant
wild boar and devoured his flesh when they came
home at night. They slept in dark and cavernous
halls, and were out at dawn across the fields and
forests, killing, hunting, fighting, according to the
order of the day. Yet, although they were banished
from the walls of their native town, they continued to
molest and to disturb the citizens, and whenever the
opportunity occurred, in they came again, sometimes
openly, sometimes after the manner of thieves. We
read of their entering the city at night across the roofs,
robbing the cellars and granaries, and murdering such
citizens as ventured to interfere.
Sometimes the order was reversed : tlie nobles got
possession of the town, and the people were forced
into the country. The terrible unrest of such a stale
of things may easily be imagined, and, added to these
great evils, or, probably, produced by them, came the
devastating plagues which ravaged the cities of Italy at
the end of the fourteenth century, and the almost equal
scourge of mercenary soldiers and private bands of
foreign adventurers, who roamed through the rich, ill-
governed towns and villages fighting for one family or
1 On all the lower hills and in the plains around Peruoia the
nobles had their strongholds — great walled citadels of bricks
and mortar, like the nests of prehistoric birds. Deruta was
one of these, belonging to the Baglioni in early times : Bettona,
another (where some descendants of the Baglioni still live in
a large red villa"). In the Palazzo degli Oddi — Via dei Priori
— some well-kept canvasses still show what the nests of the
Oddi looked like, and also where they lay.
34
Condottier'i Isf Rise of the Nobles
another, or else engaged in pillaging upon tlu-ir own
account.'
In all these quarrels, in all this turmoil and con-
fusion, whichever party happened to be uppermost, the
person to appeal to was the Po])e, and endless were the
messages sent down from Rome. At last, in 1392,
both sides seemed to have wearied for the moment of
the incessant strife (the nobles at this time were
masters of the city, the Raspanti were away in
exile), and when the Pope, Boniface IX., appeared
in person, he was received with enthusiasm. We
hear that the Priori and the treasurers ot the city
robed themselves in beautiful new scarlet mantles, the
"companies" of the different gates danced through
the streets with unmitigated joy, and the people went
forth in crowds to meet him. But the breach between
the factions was too wide, the situation too com-
])licated for a Pope, who arrived merely in the char-
acter of a peacemaker, to grapple with successfully.
The presence of Boniface brought no peace, and he
retired into the monastery of S. Pietro, which he
hastily converted into a fortress, demolishing its tower
in his eagerness to secure his own personal safety ; and
there, as he nervously wondered what next he had
better do, he heard the cries of " Down with the
Raspanti ! ^^ answered by "Death to the nobles!"
borne in upon the breeze.
Finally, in a manner peculiar to the Perugians, they
met together in council to dictate the action of the per-
son they had called in to act for them, and it was
settled that the Pope should have full power as arbi-
trator of peace between themselves and the Raspanti.
The Pope did exactly as he was asked. He recalled
the Raspanti, and they entered the city on the 17th
1 Sir John Hawkwood and liis Englisli soldiers became a
scourge in Umhria at this ]ieriod.
35
The Stoj-y of Perugia
October 1393, not merely as a body, but headed by
a powerful personality — Biordo Michelotti, one of
Perugia's greatest citizens, and the first of the con-
dottieri who ever got rule in the city.
Exiled in early youth from his native town, Biordo
Michelotti had chosen the career of a condottiere, and
roamed through the length and breadth of Italy, fight-
ing the battles of different princes. Some say he had
fought for the French king against the English. He
was essentially a captain of adventure. His manner
was kindly, he was brave, honest, frank, and popular
among the people wherever he happened to go.
Beloved all over Umbria, many of the towns which
directly opposed Perugia's tyrannical rule had sub-
mitted to that of Biordo. All these successes did
not, however, satisfy the man in him, for the ruling
ambition of his life was to get the dominion over
his native city, and events were now combining to
procure for him his heart's desire. The Raspanti
rallied round him in their exile, and he became their
leader, and the champion of their liberty. The
nobles, seeing the power of his popularity, offered
him bribes to keep out of their way. But Biordo
lay low in his fortress at Deruta, and when the Pope's
offers of peace arrived he hailed them with delight. A
month later he entered Perugia at the head of about
2000 Raspanti, who had been exiled from their homes
for yeafs. They at once visited the Pope in token of
homage and gratitude, and their new lease of power
within the city was opened by the re-election of the
priors, who were chosen half from the burgher
faction and half from the nobility. By this means
it was hoped that a lasting reconciliation might be
made and an evenly balanced government established.
Yet such seemed impossible. Peace endured for the
space of one short month, and at the very first oppor-
36
Condotticrl iff Rise of the Nobles
tunity — on the occasion of Bioido's absence tiom the
city — the smouldering lires of pai ty feuds buist out in
Hames as rampant as before. One of the Raspanti was
murdered by the nobles, and, just as the Podesta was
preparing to pass sentence on the assassin, Pandolfo dei
Baglioni, "that Perugian Satan," as Bonazzi calls him,
interfered on behalf of the criminal.' Whereupon the
Raspanti vowed vengeance, assassinated Pandolfo and
Pellini Baglioni on their own threshold, and murdered
sixty of their clan. The Ranieri, another noble
family, with their friends, took refuge in the strong
Ranieri tower, where they were forced to go without
food for three days. At last the people dragged them
before the Podesta, but as he refused to execute them,
the unhappy noblemen were conveyed back to their
tower, where they were finally butchered, and their
bodies thrown out of the windows.
Horriiied by these fresh atrocities, and again in
search of peace, the Pope loaded his mules and retired
with his Cardinals to Assisi. The tumults were just
subsiding when Biordo Michelotti returned, and this
time he took absolute possession of the city. He met
with no sort of opposition. The ring-leader of the
nobles, Pandolfo Baglioni, was dead, and the Pope
for the minute encouraged the attempt towards peace.
Biordo used his power well, and every year his fame
and honours increased. To the delight of the Peru-
gians, he succeeded to the command of Sir John
Hawkwood over the Florentine forces, and every-
where he pushed the interests of the town, wisely
concluding a treaty with Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the
powerful lord of Milan (1395).
The Pope, in the meantime, began to regret the
encouragement he had given to this very popular hero.
1 Pandolfo was thu first of the Baglioni who oiu-niy at-
tempted to get power in his native town.
37
The Story of Perugia
Hib jealousy was roused, and he hired a condottiere
for a month, in order to fight the Peruvians.
The hostilities, however, ended with the month,
and nothing was accomplished beyond a demon-
stration of the Pontiff's jealousy. But there was
someone else beside the Pope who witnessed the
honours paid to Biordo with a jealous hatred, and
this was the Abbot of >S. Pietro. " The wicked
Abbot," as the people called him, belonged to the
noble family of the Guidalotti, and he probably
felt that the power of his family was too much
overshadowed by Michelotti. He had fresh cause
to murmur, therefore, when Biordo married Bertolda
Orsini of Rome, and the Lords of Urbino, Camerino,
San Severo, Gubbio, and other towns came up to ofFer
the happy pair rich presents, and to wish the bride-
groom well. Biordo's marriage was a splendid
pageant. The city decked herself magnificently to
do him honour, and all the people of the country
round sent offerings of grain, and wine, and eggs, and
cheese, everything which their small farms produced,
to sliow their leader how they loved him.
The Abbot sat at his window, and with no
kindly eye he watched the entry of the young bride,
close by the monastery walls. Madonna Contessa
Orsini came in escorted by the Florentine and
Venetian ambassadors. Her dress was made of cloth
of gold, she wore a garland of wild asparagus around
her head, and jewels sparkled in her hair. The
Abbot noted all these things, he saw the women
of Perugia running out to meet her, he saw them
throw flowers in her path, and then he returned to
his cell to brood upon his horrid plans of venge-
ance. For he had determined to place the town
once more beneath the sway of the Church, and
in this way to gain for himself a Cardinal's hat,
3«
Coudotticri iff Rise of /be Nobles
as it was probably the Pope himself who urged him
to the deed.
On Sunday, in the
month of March 1398,
while the citizens were
attending a sermon at
S. Lorenzo, the Abbot
arrived on horseback at
the Guidalotti palace
on Colle Landonc, to
collect his fellow-con-
spirators, and some
twenty of them pro-
ceeded to Biordo's
house on Porta Sole.
Word was sent up to
Michelotti that there
was important news for
him, and he, suspecting
nothing, hurried down
to meet the Abbot with
a courteous greeting.
The Abbot stepped for-
w.ird, took his hand,
and kissed Biordo, at
which sign the rest o\
the conspirators fell
upon their victim and
stabbed him with their
poisoned daggers, hit-
ting him such grievous
blows that soon he
lay weltering in a pool
of blood. The con-
spirators had first intended openly to announce the
deed in the piazza, but their courage failed them
39
VIA DEI.l.K STAI.LK
The Siory of Perugia
and the- Abbot merely muttered the news to the
passers-by as he slunk away to S. Pietro with a
few companions. Two of the braver of the assas-
sins, however, stayed behind and, coming into the
piazza, cried: "We have slain the tyrant." The
citizens, who were at mass, rose with one accord from
their devotions, to avenge the death of their beloved
leader, and leaving the preacher to continue his sermon
to an empty church, they hurried to arms. The Abbot
meanwhile hastened from his monastery at S. Pietro to a
still safer refuge at Casalina. As he fled he looked
back upon the city whose hero he had murdered, and
he saw the flames and smoke break out from the palace
of those same Guidalotti he had hoped to benefit,
whilst the news of the death of his old father and
many of his family in the carnage of that day was
brought to him as a sorry consolation for his crime.
Biordo's blood was gathered together by the citizens
and put into a little silver basin, and above it they placed
the banner of Perugia with the white griffin upon a
crimson field ; and as one chronicler informs us, a
heart of stone must have melted at the sight of it.
Thus perished the first of that extraordinary series of
men who took upon themselves the terrible task of
governing single-handed the city of Perugia. Nearly
all died by violence, but the violence done to Biordo was
a cruel wrong. A short interval follows, and then the
greatest name, perhaps, of all the city's chronicles comes
up upon the scene, namely, that of Braccio Fortebraccio
di Montone.
The Perugians suspected the ungracious part that the
Pope had played in the murder of their leader, and the
suspicion made them restless and dissatisfied. It was
probably owing to this that they fell a prey to the cun-
ning wiles of the Duke of Milan.
40
Condottieri iff Rise of I he Nobles
Gian Galcazzo had ingratiated hinisclt with the
citizens some time previously by giving them grain during
a time of famine, and he now came forward to reap the
benefit of his charity by getting himself accepted as Lord
of Perugia, which would facilitate his designs on Tus-
cany. Perugia's connection with Milan, however, only
lasted four years. On Gian Galeazzo's death, in 1402,
the Duchess of Milan made peace with Boniface IX.,
and restored Bologna, Perugia, and Assisi to the
Church. The Perugians submitted to the Pope (they
seem not to have been consulted in the matter of the
donation), but with the strict understanding that the
exiled nobles should keep at least twenty miles distant
from the city. Boniface agreed to this arrangement.
Other popes before him had tried to patch up peace
between the parties, but he had not the courage to
attempt such difficult experiments. It remained for
Braccio Fortebraccio to tear through the tangled net-
work of Perugian politics, to unite within himself the
powers of both parties, and as the city's despot to raise
it to " unprecedented glory."
Braccio Fortebraccio was born at Montone in 136^.
He was the son of Oddo Fortebraccio, Lord of Mon-
tone, and of Jacoma Montemelini, his wife, of a noble
Perugian family. During his youth the Raspantl were
dominant in the city, and the boy grew up as an exile.
He had only his sword and an immense ambition with
which to force his way to future power. It was at that
time the fashion for young noblemen to win fame for
themselves by the life or trade of the condott'ieri.
Braccio therefore joined the famous Italian company
of 8. George, led by Alberigo di Barbiano, whose
advent crushed the foreign captains of adventure whose
lawless mercenaries had sent terror throughout the rich
plains and villages of Italy during the fourteenth
century.
41
The Story of Perugia
In the tents of Alberigo, Biaecio di Montone and
Sforza Attendolo ' learned together the science of war-
fare. Thence they two went forth to fight the battles of
princes, kings, and popes ; to create two separate methods
of combat, and to iill all Italy with tales of their great
valour and their rivalry. Braccio's ambition grew with
his success, and he soon aspired to acquiring the whole
of Italy. His first step towards this very large design
was the capture of his native city of Perugia. But as
he represented the party of the nobles, the Raspanli
manfully resisted any efforts he made to approach them.
" It is better even to submit to foreign rule than to make
peace with the nobles," they said ; and thus it came
about that they gave themselves over to Ladislaus,
King of Naples, and remained for some six years
in connection with the kingdom of Naples. When
Ladislaus died in 1414, the Perugians were seized
with terror, but the nobles saw their opportunity,
and all things seemed to favour the scheme of
Fortebraccio.
Braccio had joined the service of Pope John XXIII.,
and by him had been made governor of Bologna ; but
when the Pope was deposed by the Council of Con-
stance, Braccio's allegiance ended, and he at once sold
the Bolognese their liberty, and with the 8z,ooo florins
which he gained by this transaction he collected a
strong army, the exiled nobles flocked to his standard,
and they marched at once upon Perugia.
At the news of Braccio's approach terror and con-
sternation spread through the city. The gateways were
built up, and the magistrates forbade anyone to leave the
town. But the Perugians, " being the most warlike of
the people of Italy," as Sismondi says, could not resist
so grand a chance of fighting, and seeing Braccio's
' His son, Francesco Sforza. was aftenvards Duke of
Milan,
42
Condott'ierl Iff Rise of I be Nobles
men clustering around the city's walls, they jumpeJ
down from the ramparts into their midst, and took the
soldiers unawares by the suddenness of their attack. This
was no real battle, but tumults of the sort were the
order of the day. In the dead of night men would rush
in panic into the pia/./.a, not knowing what had brought
them there, and only conscious of one fact : their desire
to make a fierce stand for their liberty. Braccio
made a fruitless effort to penetrate into the heart of the
city, and was driven back ignominiously. The women
threw down stones and boihng water on the assailants,
whilst they goaded their own men to fight, crying
aloud, " Now is your time to wound the enemy, — at
him with your swords your teeth and nails ! "
At last the Perugians called in the help of Carlo
Malatesta, J,ord of Rimini, and on the 15th of July
1 41 6, the two armies met between the Tiber and 8ant'
Egideo on the road to Assisi. The greatest generals
of Italy and her best soldiers, says Sismondi, took
part in the fierce fighting of that day. The parties
closed in deadly conflict ; for seven hours they fought
beneath the burning sun, and the heat was increased by
the dense dust that filled the air. " Most dolorous
were the sighs which were heard to issue from the
helmets," says Fabretti. Braccio was a wise general.
He had carefully prepared beforehand countless jars of
water foi' the refreshment of his men and horses after
each skirmish, and this in the end was the cause of
his victory. The Tiber was flowing five hundred paces
from Malatesta's soldiers, and they finally could bear
the terrible thirst no longer but hurried down to drink.
Braccio seized upon this moment in which to swoop
upon the enemy with all his force. The day was
won. Carlo Malatesta and his young nephew
Galeazzo Malatesta, were taken prisoners, and it " was
strange to note that the humblest of Braccio's soldiers
43
The Story of Perugia
were driving prisoners before them like a iierd ot
cattle." 1
When the Perugians heard of the defeat they
immediately sent ambassadors to offer the government
of their city to Braccio. They seem after all their
previous fighting, to have at once submitted to their
fate, which as it turned out, was an excellent piece of
good fortune for them. They made preparations to
welcome their new despot in a manner worthy of the
man. Fine carpets, brocades, and long gold chains,
were hung from the palace windows, flowers lay thick
upon the pavement from S. Pietro to S. Lorenzo,
whilst elegant gold and silver vases were placed in the
windows of the Palazzo Pubblico. " Evviva Braccio,
Signore di Perugia," they shouted as he entered, and
thus the die was cast.
Anxious to conciliate both parties in the city,
Braccio assumed the attitude of Father of his Country
and succeeded in inspiring the people with an unusual
sense of admiration. Master of all Umbria and Prince
of Capua, many towns acknowledged his dominion, and
even Rome was forced to accept him at one period as
her lord. It is, therefore, scarcely to be wondered at
that Perugians have never ceased to lament that Braccio
died before accomplishing his vast designs for con-
quering all Italy, for they feel that they only just
missed the chance of rivalling the glory of imperial
Rome.
There are infinite records concerning the personality
of this extraordinary man.
1 Paolo Uccello's splendid picture in our National Gallery is
always said to represent ths battle of the Tiber. We have
however no proof that the youth with yellow hair is indeed,
as hitherto reported, a portrait of Galeazzo Malatesta.
44
Condott'ieri Iff Rise of the Nobles
" He was of medium stature," says Campano, ■' witli a long
face and highly coloured, wliicii imparted great majesty to his
appearance. His eyes were not black, but very lirilliant ; they
sparkled with fun, yet with a certain gravity. His figure was
partly deformed and scarred by wounds. Whether grave or
gay he was always higli bred, so that his very enemies confessed
that among any number of ]iersons he would always be re-
cognised as leader and chief."
In the following lines Campano sums up his
character : —
" Braccio was grave and kindly of speech, without artifice
or trickery, a gift of nature rather than acquireil, though im-
proved by some study. None could soothe an angry person
with more grace than Braccio, none could exhort and inflame
his followers with more vehemence and ardour to the combat.
He was beloved by his soldiers, being neither haughty nor rough
spoken, and he united military severity with a certain civil
modesty and a courtier-like manner."
One of the most delightful traits of Braccio's character
was an intense hatred of idleness, and city-loafers he
nicknamed ^^ I consumator'i della p'tazxn'^ (wearers out
of the pavement of the public square). He encouraged
the Perugians to play as well as light, and it was he who
revived the ancient game of the " Battle of the Stones."
His soldiers would often join in the sport, and great
was the joy of the citizens when the latter were
vanquished. Braccio himself was not allowed to play ;
he would watch the game from an upper window, and
much as he often desired to join, his companions pre-
vented him, for it seldom happened that less than
twelve men lay killed or wounded at the end of the
day. This extraordinary and barbarous game deserves
an account in any history of Perugia. It dates back
to Roman times, and the credit of playing the
" fiercest game in Italy " belonged to Perugia alone,
and was believed to be the reason why her people
were " of such commanding mould both in spirit and
45
The Story of Perugia
in body." Even the children joined during the first
two hours, so as to make them strong and warlike from
their infancy.
On the Sundays and feast-days of March, April,
and May, and into the middle of June, the citizens
met in the Campo di Battaglia, on the road to Monte
Luce, and there formed themselves into two parties,
one remaining on the level of the square, the other
just below. Till nightfall each party fought to drive
the other off the ground, and whichever side managed
to gain the middle of the square, carried off the palm of
victory. This wonderful "game" must have looked
like a miniature battle of a somewhat prehistoric kind ;
for the combatants were all swathed about the neck,
their legs encased in thick leather stockings, stuffed with
deer's hair and protected by greaves; thickly padded round
the body under their cuirasses, their feet in shoes of linen
cloth wrapped three times round and stuffed again with
the hair of deer. The warlike youths and men wore
on the top of everything else a helmet which projected
forward in the shape of a sparrow-hawk's head, and
thus protected, they were able to watch the stones
flying about their heads without being blinded. They
were called the '■'■ Armat'i^'' and were led to combat by
" Hurlers " {lanc'tatori), who wore a lighter apparel,
and threw the stones with extraordinary ability, there-
by exciting the citizens to combat. Old men sat at
their windows watching the fight with breathless
interest. If they saw that their side was losing, they
would sometimes tear off coat and mantle, hurry down-
stairs, and utterly regardless of their age, fling them-
selves into the thick of the fight. " It was a very
beautiful spectacle," exclaims Campano, "to witness
the fall, first of this one, then of that, as they were
wounded and tumbled to the ground, whilst others,
protected by a shield, hurled themselves upon their
46
Con dottier} ly Rise of the Nobles
adversaries with the weight of their entire bodies,
diving in and out among the crowd and dealing blows
upon their eyes and faces with shield and sword and
buckler."
To us it seems strange that at a time when the
feuds of centuries lay smouldering and ready to burst out
at the smallest provocation, no rancour, no ill-will,
seemed to be harboured by the relations of the men
who fell dead or wounded in one of these terrible
" games.
Besides encouraging sports, fighting wars, and
arranging civil matters, Braccio had a passion for
building. He rebuilt the city walls in many places.
He added the loggia to the front of the Cathedral,
that the citizens might have a pleasant shelter in the
square in Avhich to discuss and settle their affairs, and
it was he who conceived a rather novel and practical
piece of engineering by bolstering up the houses of the
Piazza Sopramuro with strong walls from beneath.
Needless to say that the vanity of the Perugians was
immensely flattered by all the great doings of their
new leader, and their pride knew no bounds when, on
the Feast of S. Ercolano, the neighbouring towns sent
in their banners with extraordinary pomp in token of
their absolute subjection to the city's rule. So de-
lighted indeed were the people, that they at once sent
a message to the Pope to ask him to confirm Braccio's
dominion in Perugia.
The request was met in stony silence. The Papal
See was jealous of Braccio Fortebraccio, yet it could
not do without him, and so, for the time, it smothered
its wrath and mortification. Martin V. was in need of
Braccio's sword to help in regaining the lost possessions
of the Church, and he sent for him to Florence to
sign the necessary agreements. The visit was dis-
47
'The Story of Perugia
astious, for even the Florentine street boys exulted in
the popularity of the hero :
" Braccio valente
Vince ogni gente
Papa Martino
Non val un quattrino *'
they sang in high, shrill voices below the windows of
His Holiness. The insult stung and rankled.
"Papa Martino non val un quattrino," muttered the
Pope in a miserable voice as he paced up and down,
complaining to his secretary.
In 1 42 3 Braccio had reached the height of his
power, but his ambition soared still higher, and at this
turn in his life his character seems to have undergone a
change. His vast plans for conquering Italy had un-
hinged him, and he became cruel where formerly he
had been kind, and deaf to the counsels of his friends.
The simplest and the quietest of his days had been
spent at Perugia, where his memory still lingers
like the aureole around some conquering saint. But
looking out across the plains and mountains of
Umbria and towards the Marches which were already
his, Braccio dreamed his mighty dream : that of
becoming the King of Italy. Aquila alone resisted his
power, and in the year 1423, he set out for his last
venture. It is said that before he started he left to the
care of his wife, Nicolina da Varano, a little casket,
with the injunction that she should not open it until
after his death, or his return home. When Braccio
died Nicolina opened the casket and she found inside
a black veil and a sceptre. It was thus the dead man
told his wife that the battle of Aquila decided whether
she should be a powerful queen or an unhappy widow.
The siege of Aquila lasted for a whole year, and
finally, in May 1424, a decisive battle took place in
48
Co?id(jtticrl Isj Rise ofthc Nobles
the plain below the town, between Biaccio and
Caldora, who came to fight him in the name of Martin
V. It was a great light, and it ended in a tragic
manner : Braccio, the beloved of the Perugians, got
his death-wound at the hands of a Perugian citizen,
a Raspante, who had never forgiven the return of the
nobles to Perugia.
Caldora tended Braccio during his last hours with
every possible care. The doctors hoped to save him,
they said that the wounds in his head and throat were
curable, but Braccio wished to die ; he was determined
not to survive his defeat. He refused all nourishment
and during the three days that he lingered, he nevei'
spoke a single word. His dream had faded, and his
courage gone.'
In the papal circle there was great rejoicing at the
news of Braccio's death, for Martin V. knew well that
Umbria was once again his own. The Pope indeed
was small-minded enough to harbour his enmity to
the very last. Instead of allowing the fallen captain
to be quietly buried, he had him placed in uncon-
secrated ground outside the walls of Rome. The
bones of the great Braccio had but a troubled
career. They were brought to Perugia by Niccolo
Fortebraccio, and deposited for a while in the Church
of S. Costanzo, where they were met by the muni-
cipality and the whole city and tiien carried in
I .V poLt of Aqiiila. Ciunillo, points to a more tragic
cause of Braccio's death. We are given to understand that
young Francesco Sforza (the son of Braccio's great rival
Attendolo Sl'orza. who had met his death a few months
jireviously wliilst crossing the river Pescara on his way to
relieve Aquila) gave the surgeon's arm a slight nudge as he
was cleaning the wound, and drove the sharp instrument
straight into Braccio's brain. Nothing that we know of Fran-
cesco Sforza's character (he was afterwards Duke of Milan)
would lead us to suppose him cajjahle of sucii a deed.
D 49
The Story of Perugia
tiiuniplial procession to the Churcii of S. Francesco al
Prato. All the shops were closed as the bones passed
up the streets, no bells were rung, horses and men were
draped in black. In this century, by a piece of rather
questionable taste the bones of the hero were once more
taken from their Church, and may now be stared at, like
the bones of the Etruscan ladies, under a bit of glass in
the museum of tiie University. Under them are written
in Latin the following lines : " O you who pass by,
stay and weep. I, born in Perugia, was received in
Montone as an exile. Mars subjected to me my native
land of Umbria, and Capua too. Rome obeyed me,
the world was the spectator and Italy the stage. But
Aquila marked my fall, wherefore my weeping
country locked me into this small urn. Ah ! Mars
laiscd me up. Mors brought me low. Therefore
pass on."
The news of Braccio's death caused the utmost con-
sternation in Perugia. If the great captain had saved
the town at a critical point, he may also be said to have
created a situation which was perhaps a still more critical
one for her citizens. Braccio was a noble. With his
advent in Perugia the party of the nobles had returned.
Terrible things were in store for the city. For a little
while, and partly through the efforts of a rather com-
plicated personality, they were postponed, but the time
of terror was at hand.
When Braccio died at Aquila, the Perugians prepared
to defend themselves they knew not well from what.
" Each man," says Graziani, " furnished himself with
flour, the ditches and walls were repaired both of the
city and the territory around it, and every one left the
open country and took refuge in fortresses and city
palaces." Two courses lay open to them, and of the
two they selected that which seemed least evil. They
submitted themselves once more to the power of the
50
Condotticr'i bf Rise of the. Nobles
Pope; and on July 29tli, 1424, the delighted
Martin entered Perugia as its acknowledged lord
and ruler.
Jvike many famous people of tiiat day Martin had
studied at the Perugian University, and perhaps he had
preserved an affection for the city which he had known
in his youtli. Anyhow, the terms of peace which he
conclucied with the citizens were very mild, and as
usual, all the privileges obtained from Innocent III.
were preserved. But this time it was through the
nohles that the Pope had been called into the city.
The thin end of the wedge was surely and irretrievably
driven in, and the power of the nobles was as a matter
of fact sccuie. The Pope himself fostered the grow-
ing power, and amongst others, who on the occasion of
his advent received rich possessions from him, was
Malatesta Baglioni. Martin handed Spello over to his
rule, and thus helped to enrich a family whose members
were for a period to wiest the power from the Church
itself, and to set the town abla^e with crime and
bloodshed.
The nobles remained at the head of aifairs, but, as
we have said, there was one strong personality — a
Perugian citizen, Niccolo Piccinino — who made a last
effort, as Braccio Fortebraccio and Michelotti had done
before him, to become that strange creation of the day :
a condotltere despot.
Niccolo Piccinino was a follower of Braccio di
Montone, and his name remains stamped on the pages
of history for successfully leading the Braccian troops
to battle, and following out the famous tactics of his
master. For twenty years Piccinino maintained a
constant rivalry with Francesco Sforza, as Braccio
Fortebraccio had done before him with Attendolo
Sforza, the ancestor of a line of dukes. The ancestry
5'
T'he Story oj Perugia
of Niccolo is both humble and obscure.^ Some tell us
he was the son of a Perugian butcher, others say, of a
peasant from Calisciana near the city, but it is difficult
to get any satisfactory information about him ; he was
practically little beyond an adventurer. As quite a boy
he left his home in the Umbrian hills, and started out to
seek his fortune amongst the captains of adventure in
the north. Later in life his career became closely
linked with that of Fortebraccio, who loved him be-
cause of his bravery and enthusiasm for the soldier's
career. Nature had not fitted Niccolo for the camp.
His health was bad, he was paralysed in one leg and
had to be lifted on to his horse, and because of his minia-
ture figure he got the nickname of " Piccinino " (the
Tiny One) ; but the small body contained an undaunted
spirit, and his tactics in the field were quick and decisive.
He never knew when he was beaten, but would turn to
strike again while the enemy were boasting of their
victory. On one occasion Piccinino crept into a sack
and had himself carried across the battlefield on a man's
shoulder. The enemy (probably Francesco Sforza)
imagined him to be at that moment in an opposite
direction, and the sudden appearance of Piccinino's
head from out of the sack, his piercing eyes gazing
at them over his carrier's back, caused general con-
sternation among the soldiers. Whether this strange
manoeuvre won the day history does not record.
In 1 440 Piccinino made a desperate effort to win for
himself the government of Perugia, but Papal power
was too deeply rooted in the city, and he had to rest
content with the title of Gonfalontere of the Holy
Church — Supreme Magistrate of the City but acting
in the Pope's name.
Perugia had a terrible time under this ecclesiastical
and military yoke. Three masters pulled her different
^ Date of his birth uncertain (1386 ?j.
52
CoJidottitrl <ff Rise of the Nobles
ways : Piccinino, the Pope, and the nobles, and each of
these three imposed taxes for their different uses.
Piccinino's is an unsatisfactory career. It is that of a
man pouring old wine into new bottles ; the trade of
the conclothere ruler was practically dead. The Pope's
tactics were unsatisfactory also. He tried to conciliate
two parties. He encouraged and patronised the nobles
and pandered to the populace by encouraging all kinds
of extravagant superstition.
There is a horrid tale about
tiie burning of a witch at
this time ; and religious pro-
cessions assumed such mon-
strous length that the streets
could hardly hold them, and
we read that the leading men
got entangled in the tail of the
procession which had not been
able to leave the piazza before
those who had left it long ago
returned to the starting-point.
Passion-preaching, too, became
the fashion, accompanied by
grotesque miracle - jilays in
which a barber from S.
Angelo represented our
vSaviour ; and all those things
only served to increase the morbid
people. In this complicated situation the nobles
came off best, and their power grew and strengthened
rapidly ; but the power was evil. As for the attitude
assumed by the former rulers of the city, it is difficult
to judge. A sort of stu])or seems to have fallen on
the hitherto vigilant Priori. A feeble effort was made
in 1444 to drive out the tormentors by payment of a
large sum of money to mercenary soldiers, but these
53
NirCOI.O PICCININO
pa
ssions of the
The Story of Perugia
only took, the pay and continued to enjoy themselves at
the expense of the town.
Hitherto, at least, the nobles had been one party,
fighting for one cause. But now that the cause was
won, now that their own supremacy had been attained,
they began to fight amongst themselves. They hated
each other with a mortal hatred. We no longer hear
of lights between nobles and burghers, but of passionate
blood-feuds between the nobles themselves : between
the Oddi, Corgna, Staffa, Arciprete, Baglioni, and
others, and next we read of cousins murdering each
other for the sake of mere ambition. The slightest
pretext is seized upon for a skirmish between the men
who, through centuries, had stood together in opposi-
tion to the outside world. A hundred instances are
given of their quarrels at this period. The Delia
Corgna by way of an example, are one day preparing
to enhance the solemnity of a feast-day by decorating
the Arco dei Priori with box and laurel boughs, and
are interrupted in their pious labours by the Degli
Oddi, who begin to pull down the decorations.
There is some dispute about precedence, in their
quarter of the city — some trifling question as to which
family has most right to manage the local festival, a
bitter fight ensues, and the whole town is in a tumult.
Again on another occasion, one of Ridolfo Baglioni's
bastard sons wounds a certain Naldino da Corciano, a
friend of the Degli Oddi, and Naldino hurries off to
show his bleeding face to his allies. The Oddi, mad
with fury, rush all armed to the piazza, striking at
every Baglioni adherent whom they meet upon their
way. The Baglioni are not slow to appear, as ready
for the fight as anybody. The shops are closed, the
citizens arm themselves, a procession wending its way
to the Duomo is thrown into utter disorder, and even
the women thrust their heads out of the windows and
54
Con (hit tier I iff Rise of the Nobles
throw down jugs and tiles and pitchers into the street
below. The Bishop, the Priori, and the learned
doctors of the law leave their houses and exhort the
nobles to lay down their arms ; and after a while a
truce is obtained, and the hubbub for the time subsides.
Such scenes as these were of almost daily occur-
rence in the city, and it was in vain that the Pope,
both by foul means and by fair, attempted to calm
tlie frantic passions of the rivals.' It was in vain
that S. Bernardino, carrying his crucifix before him,
came to preach of brotherly love and unity, in vain
the Blessed Colomba uttered mysterious warnings.
It was too late either for Pope or Saint to check
so strong a flood as the ambition of men like
the Oddi and the Baglioni. All over Italy at
this period the character of individual families had
grown too strong for outer influences to crush it,
and the heads of the Guelph femilies were everywhere
attempting to form themselves into ruling princes. In
the case of this struggle at Perugia the most successful
of the combatants were tlie Oddi and the Baglioni.
^ While Alexander VI.. the Borgia I'ope, was staying at
Perugia in the summer ol 1495. '^^ made an effort to riti the
Cluircli of tile whole Baglioni family at one stroke. Init to
gatlier at once all its members into his net rec|uired some
diplomacy. With Borgia cunning he called to him Guido. the
head of the clan, and expressed a great desire to see. during
his stay in the city, a joust or tournament, |K)litely implying
that if organised tiy the illustrious house of Baglioni it must
surely he a magnificent success, fiuido, as shrewd and crafty
as any of his family, replied that he was ready to do anything
to gratify the Pope, and that he could think of nothing more
likely to be acceptable and pleasing to His Holiness than to
see the people of Perugia fully armed and equijiped ibr battle,
with the ciiiiJutticii of the Baglioni house and their retainers
ready for instant combat. Guido's covert tlireat was taken
with a smile, but very soon afterwards Alexander lift for Rdiuc.
antl spoke no more of tournaments.
55
The Story of Perugia
The struggle between them was a struggle unto death.
Now one was driven from the city gates, and now
another; but fmally, in I488, the Oddi were ousted
altogether, and from that minute until the time when
the great Farnese Pope came down with guns and
stones and every implement of war as well as curses, to
quell them, the members of the Baglioni family
became the dominant faction of the city. They left
their country houses for ever. They fixed their
mighty eyries on the south side of the city, about
where the modern Prefettura stands to-day ; from
thence they dominated all the town, and there they
lived their wild ill-regulated lives, mingling the most
exquisite luxury with cruel vice. They were a
splendid and a beautiful race of men, and Italy rang
with their great names, but their rule was horrible.
" As I do not wish to swerve from the pure truth,"
says Matarazzo, who himself adored them, " I say
that from the day the Oddi were expelled our city
went from bad to worse. All the young men followed
the trade of arms. Their lives were disorderly ; and
every day divers excesses were divulged, and the city
had lost all reason and justice. Every man adminis-
tered right unto himself, propria autoritate et mami
regta. Meanwhile the Pope sent many legates, in order
that the city might be brought to order ; but all who
came returned in dread of being hewn in pieces ; for
they threatened to throw some from the windows of
the palace, so that no cardinal or other legate durst
approach Perugia, unless he were a friend of the
Baglioni. And the city was brought to such misery
that the most wrongous men were most prized ; and
those who had slain two or three men walked as they
listed through the palace, and went with sword or
poniard to speak to the podesta and other magistrates.
Moreover, every man of worth was downtrodden by
5^>
Condottieri Is' Rise of the Nobles
bravi whom the nobles favoured ; nor could a citizen
call his jMoperty his own. The nobles robbed first one
and then another of their goods and land. All offices
were sold or else suppressed ; and taxes and extortions
were so grievous that every one cried out. And if a man
were in prison for his head, he had no reason to fear
death, provided he had some interest with a noble."
iM ':■'■>■ ' ,-'i**M= / -'S „.^'''«4S* Lite
1 'f iPS*»^'"'^''^''ii!i''
I'AI.A/.ZO MirNlCll'Ar.K
CHAPTER III
The Bagliofii. Paul III. and last years
of the City
CO after centuries of steady struggle fate had at last
decreed that the nobles should have their way.
Because the way of the Baglioni is the most picturesque
point in all the annals of Perugia, because it was
crowned by one of the most horrible domestic tragedies
ot Italian history, and because, moreover, it happens to
have been so admirably and so vividly recorded, we are
sometimes inclined to regard it as the most important
fact about the town. We must, however, remember that
it was only one of the infinite points which make the
city's history, and that the rule of the Baglioni covers
a period of not more than fifty years.
By a rare coincidence it happened that exactly at
this period, i.e., during the ascendency of the Baglioni,
there was living in the city of Perugia a scholar by
name Matarazzo or Maturanzio.^ This scholar took
upon himself to record day by day the extraordinary
exploits of a family in whose good looks and deeds
of violence, their jousts and subterfuges, he may be truly
' The well-known scholar, Francesco Matarazzo, was born at
Perugia in 1443, studied there, married, and died there in
1 518. It has been doubted wliether he really was the autiior
ol' the marvellous chronicle of the deeds of the Baglioni. bur
there is nothing to disprove this ; the dates coincide, and the
chronicle is always inchided in the list of his life-works.
5«
T'bc Bag/iofi'i
said not only to have delighted but to have revelled.
To understand the Baglioni and the fashion in which they
were regarded by the men of their day : terror, hatred,
fear, and a cringing admiration being pretty well mixed,
one must study the chronicles of Matarazzo in the
original^ But as it would be impossible, and even
impertinent for us to try and retell the tale of this tragic
history in new English words, we have quoted at length
the words of one who studied it faithfully and recorded
it with a strange vibrating echo of the original language.-
We have merely inserted here and there a few notes and
details which seemed to add to the narrative.
"It is not until 1495 ^^'-^-^ the history of tlu- Baglioni
l)ecomes dramatic, jiossibly liecause till then thc-y lacked the
pen of Matarazzo. But from this yt-ar forward to their final
extinction, every detail of their doings has a ])icturesque and
awful interest. Domestic fmies, like the revel descried by
Cassandra above the jialace of Mycena:. seem to take possession
of the fated house ; and the doom which has fallen on them is
worked out with pitiless exactitude to the last generation. In
1495 tile heads of the Casa Baglioni were two i)rothers, Guido
and Ridolfo, who had a numerous jirogeny of heroic sons.
Krom (hiido sprang Astorre, Adriano — called for his great
strength Morgante — (lismondo, Marcantonio. and CJentile.
Ridolfo owneil Troilo, Gianpaolo, and Simonetto. The first
glimpse we get of these young athletes in Matarazzo's
chronicle is on the occasion of a sudden assault upon Perugia
made by the Oddi and the exiles of their faction in Septem-
ber 1495. The foes of the Baglioni entered the gati;s and
began breaking the iron chains, serragli, wliich liarred the
streets against advancing cavalry. None of the noble house
were on the alert except young Simonetto, a lad of eighteen,
fierce and cruel, who had not yet begun to shave hie chin. In
spite of all dissuasion, he rushed forth alone, bareheaded, in
' The Baglioni are rarely mentioned without the title of
Mat^n'ijicii being added to their name. " I Magnifici Baglioni "
exclaimed a Perugian of the present day, ••/ Magnifid BiiLinti "
(The magnificent scoundrels^ were for them a fitter title! "
- See John Addington Symonds. '• Sketches in Italy."'
59
The Story of Pcrngia
liis shirt, with a sword in his right hand and a buckler on his
aim, and fought against a squadron. 7"here at the barrier of
the piazza he kept iiis foes at bay, smiting men-at-arms to
the ground witli tiie sweep of his tremendous sword, and
receiving on his gentle body twenty-two cruel wounds. While
thus at fearful otlds, the noble Astorre mounted his charger
and joined him. Upon his lielmet Hashed the falcon of the
Baglioni with the dragon's tail that swept behind. Bidding
Simonetto tend his wounds, he in his turn held the sciuare.
Listen to Matarazzo's description of the scene; it is as
good as any piece of the Adcjrt Arthur: '' According to the
report of one who told me what he had seen with his own
eyes, never did anvil take so many blows as he upon his
person and his steed ; and they all kept striking at liis lord-
ship in such crowds that the one prevented the other. And
so many lances, partisans, and cross bow quarries, and other
weapons made upon his body a most mighty din, that above
every other noise and shout was heard the thud of those great
strokes. But he. like one who had the mastery of war, set
his charger where the press was thickest, jostling now one
and now another; so that he ever kept at least ten men of
his foes stretched on the ground beneath his horse's hoofs ;
whicli horse was a most fierce beast, and gave his enemies
what trouble he best could. And now that gentle lord was
all fordone witli sweat and toil, he and his charger ; and so
weary were they that scarcely could they any longer breathe.
Soon after the Baglioni mustered in force. One by one
their heroes rushed from the palaces. The enemy were driven
back with slaughter; and a war ensued which made the fair
land between Assisi and Perugia a wilderness for many months."
It must not be forgotten that at the time of these great feats
of Simonetto and Astorre young Raphael was painting in the
studio_ of Perugino. What the whole city witnessed with
astonishment and admiration, he. the keenly sensitive artist-
boy, treasured in his memory. Iherefore in the St George of
the Louvre, and in the mounted horseman trampling upon
Heliodorus in the Stanze of the Vatican, victorious Astorre
lives for ever, immortalised in all his splendour by the painter's
art. The grinning griffin on tiie helmet, the resistless frown
upon the forehead of the beardless knight, the terrible right
arm, and the feiocious steed — all are there as Raphael saw
and wrote them on his l)rain. One characteristic of the Baglioni.
as might be plentifully illustrated from their annalist, was their
eminent lieauty which inspired beholders with an entlnisiasm
60
The Baglioni
ami a lovu tliey wcit' far liom ilcsi.-i\ iiij^ l)y tlieir virtues. It is
tliis. in combination with their personal lieroism, wliicii gives
a |)eciiliar dramatic interest to their doings, and makes tlic
chronicle of Mntaiazzo more fascinatin"- than a novel."
Matarazzo was not alone in his admiration for the
Baglioni. He tells us that whenever the " magnilicent
Guido," his son Astorre, or his nephew Gianpaolo
walked in the piazza every citizen paused at his work
to admire them, and if perchance a stranger passed
through Perugia lie was certain to make every effort to
see them. The soldiers would hurry from their tents
to see Gianpaolo go by, and anyone walking by this
noble's side seemed dwarfed and insigniiicant by reason
of his great stature and his noble form. Gismondo,
another of Guido's sons, was universally admired for
his splendid horsemanship. He would make his horse
leap into the air, while he sat straight and square in
the saddle, not stirring hand or foot. The citizens
looked on marvelling at these feats of skill and
daring. Gismondo was slim, and walked with the
lightness of a cat, so that no man in Perugia, how-
ever quick of hearing, knew when he was coming.
The richest and perhaps the handsomest of the Bag-
lioni family was young Grifonetto Baglioni, whose
beauty Matarazzo compares to Ganymede. He was
the son of Grifone and Atalanta Baglioni, and nephew
to Guido and Ridolfo. His father had been stabbed
at Ponte Ricciolo in 1477, and he lived with his
young mother in one of the most beautiful houses in
Perugia. This ])alace had been commenced by Mala-
testa Baglioni and finished by Braccio Baglioni, who,
because of the court of learned men he gathered round
him, and the splendid festivals with which he honoured
the lovely ladies of the city, was called " Lorenzo il
Magnifico di Perugia." The palace was entered by a
61
The Story of Perugia
large and richly-ornanicntcd hall, hung with beautitul
pictures. At the opjjositc end of the room was a
painting of a woman of most venerable and majestic
bearing, and over her head the word Perus'ia. This
grave and queenly lady commanded a view o\ all the
celebrated men of the Umbrian city, for on one side
of the wall were portraits of the famous captains of
adventure, and on the other those of the most learned
of the doctors and scholars, with their names and a
description of their mighty deeds written in full below
them. Grifonetto lived in great magnificence. " He
kept numbers of horses, Barbary steeds, to run in the
races, jesters and other properties pertaining to a gentle-
man. He even kept a lion ; and all who went to the
house compared it to a king's court."
" In 1500, when the events ahoiit to be related took place,
Grifonetto was tiuite a youth. Brave, rich, handsome, and
married to a young wife, Zenobia Sforza, he was the admira-
tion of Perugia. He and his wife loved each other dearly,
and how, indeed, could it be otherwise, since • I'uno e I'altro
sembravano doi angioli di Paradiso?'! At the same time he
iiad fallen into the hands of bad and desperate counsellors. A
bastard of the house, Filippo cia Braccio, his half-uncle, was
always at his side, instructing him not only in the accomplish-
ments of chivalry, but also in wild ways that brought his name
into disrepute. Another of his familiars was Carlo Barciglia
Baglioni, an uncjuiet spirit, who longed for more power than
his poverty and comparative obscurity allowed. With them
associated Girolamo della Penna, a veritable ruffian, con-
taminated from his earliest youth with every form of lust and
violence, and capable of any crime. These three companions,
instigated partly by the lord of Camerino and partly by their
own cupidity, conceived a scheme for massacring the families
of CJuido and Ridolfo at one blow. As a conse(|uence of this
wholesale murder, Perugia would be at their discretion. Seeing
of what use Grifonetto by his wealth and name might be to
them, they did all they could to persuade him to join their
1 '-Both the one and the other appeared to be like two angels
of Paradise."
62
The Bagl'ion'i
loniuiatioii. It would apjiear that tlit- bait Hr^t ortertd liim
was the sovert'ignty of tlie city, hut tliat lie was at last gained
over hy hfing; made to helieve that his wife, Zenohia, had
carried on an intiij^iie witli Gi.in|iaolo Haoljoni. The dissolute
morals of the family gave plausil)ility ti> an internal trick
which worked upon the jealousy of Orifonetto. Thirsting for
revenge, he consented to the scheme. The conspirators were
further fortified by the accession of Jeronimo della Statfa, and
three members of the house of Corgna. It is noticeable that
out of the whole number only two^Bernardo da Corgna and
Filippo da Braccio — were above the age of thirty. Of the
rest, few had reached twenty-five. At so early an age were
the men of those times adepts in violence and treason. The
execution of the plot was fixed for the wedding festivities of
Astorre Baglioni with Lavinia, the daughter of Giovanni
Colonna and (iiustina Orsini. At that time the whole Baglioni
family were to be assembled in I'erugia, with the single excep-
tion of Marcaiitonio, who was taking baths at Naples for his
health. It was known that the members of the noble house,
nearly all of them cnndottieri iiy trade, and eminent for their
great strengtli and skill in arms, took few precautions for their
safety. Ihey occupied several houses close together between
the I'orta San Carlo and the Porta Eburnea, set no regular
guard over their sleeping-chamJjers, and trusted to their per-
sonal bravery and to the fidelity of their attendants. It was
thought that tliey might l)e assassinated in their Ijeds. The
wedding festivities l)egan upon the z%x\\ of July, and great is
the particularity with which Matarazzo describes the doings
of each successive day — processions, jousts, triumphal arches,
bamiuets, balls, and pageants."'
Perugia, it seems, was turned into a veritable garden
of loveliness on this occasion. Rich velvets, brocades,
and tapestries hung from the palace windows, their
gorgeous colours mingled with long trails of ivy, with
many shrubs and the branches of blossoming trees, which
also lilled the streets. Colossal arches spanned the roads
at the different gates into the city. All vied together to
erect the finest arcli ; and one was hung all over with
tapestries showing the military exploits of the young
Astorre. As the Roman bride passed in, the ladies of
Perugia went to meet her, offering her rich presents.
63
The Story of Perugia
Sonic were dressed in cloth ot gold and silver, others
in silk and velvet, and many ot them were lovely to
behold. But Lavinia Colonna excelled them all by
the glory of her broidered gown, and by the pearls and
jewels twisted in her hair. Simonetto Baglioni drove
round the city in a triumphal car, and as he went he
cast great quantities of sugared dainties to the crowd,
thus trying, by every means in his power, to add to the
merriment of the marriage-day, and to show that love
and comradeship united the Baglioni family.
But down in the Borgo S. Angelo men were silent
and morose, for they hated these tyrants of Perugia,
and held aloof from all rejoicings. They had noted
strange auguries of late, and a whisper went round
that evil was impending. On the first night of the
festivities a terrible storm arose, scattering the decora-
tions in the whirlwind. It was an awful night, and the
young Roman bride shuddered, as above the din of the
storm, she heard the sinister roars of the Baglioni
lions.' Lavinia and Astorre were lodged in the palace
of their traitorous cousin Grifonetto, and neither dreamt
of the treachery that was so near at hand.
" The night of the 14th of August was finally set apart for the
cor\&\xmm2it.\on oi el gran tradimeiito : it is thus that Matarazzo
always alludes to the crime of Grifonetto, with a solemnity of
reiteration that is most impressive. A heavy stone let fall into
the courtyard of Guido Baglioni's palace was to be the signal :
each conspirator was then to run to the sleeping-chamber of
his appointed prey. Two of the principals and fifteen bra-ut
were told off to each victim : rams and crowbars'were prepared
to force the doors if needful. All happened as had been anti-
cipated. The crash of the falling stone was heard. The con-
spirators rushed to the scene of operations. Astorre. who was
sleeping in the house of his traitorous cousin Grifonetto, was
slain in the arms of his young bride, crying, as he vainly strug-
1 Two lions had been given to Gianpaolo and Astorre by
the Florentines in recognition of services rendered for them
against the Pisans. A third was kept by Grifonetto.
64
T'hc liagliofii
j^leil, ' Miscro Astonv da- more come polnoiK- 1 'i Simonctto,
Hew to arms, exclaimiii};; to his brotlier, • Non tlubitare Gis-
moiulo, mio fiatello ! '-' He. too, was soon (Ic-spatclied.''
Filippo (la Biaccio, after killino' him. tore from a ^reat
woiiiui in his side the still qiiivcrinjj lu-art, into which he
lirove his teeth with savage fury. Old (Juido died j^foan-
ing, • Ora c gionto il ponto mio,''* and Oismondo's throat
was cut while lie lay holding back his face tliat he might be
spared the sight of his own massacre. The corpses of Astorre
and Simonetto were stripped and thrown out naked into the
streets. Men gathered round and marvelled to see sucii heroic
iorms. with i'aces so ]iroud and fierce even in deatli. In especial
the foreign students likened them to ancient Romans. But
on tiieir fingers were rings, and these the rufHans of the
place would lain have hacked off with their knives. From
this indignity the noble limbs were spared; then the dead
Baglioni were hurriedly consigned to an unhonoured tomb.
Meanwhile the rest of the intended victims managed to escape.
Gianpaolo, assailed by Grifonetto and (Jianfrancesco della
Corgna, took refuge with his sijuire, Maraglia. ujion a
staircase leading from his room. While the squire held
the passage with liis |)ike against the foe, (Jianpaolo effected
hir: flight over neighbouring house-roofs. He crept into the
attic of some foreign students, who, trembling with terror,
gave him food and shelter, clad him in a scholar's gown, and
heljied him to fly in this disguise from the gates at dawn. He
then joined his brother Troilo at Marsciano, whence he re-
turned without delay to punish the traitors. At the same
time Grifonetto"s mother Atalanta, taking with her his wife,
/.enobia. and the two young sons of Gianpaolo, Malatesta ami
Orazio, afterwards so celel)rated in Italian history for their
great feats of arms and their crimes, fled to her country-house
at Landona. Grifonetto in vain sought to see her there. She
drove him from her presence with curses for the treason and
' •' Unha]5py Astorre, dying like a poltroon."
- '• Have no fear, Gismondo, my brother."
•' " Simonetto might have lived." sighs Matarazzo, •■ iiiit Jiis
great courage killed him, for he scorned to flee." '• Indomitusque
Simon " had been written of him. and as the citizens drew near
to look the last on these young brothers, they told each other
that even now, struck down by so cruel a fate, Simonetto
appeared still unvancjuished and untamed.
^ ■' Now my time is come." Matarazzo tells us that Guido was
a fatalist ("era homo che credeva al destenato sempre,"p. ii8).
E 65
T'hc Story of Perugia
the tratricidc that he had planned. It is very cliaiacteristic of
these wild natures, framed of fierce instincts and discordant
passions, that his mother's curse weighed like lead upon
the unfortunate young man. Next tiay. when Gianpaolo
returned to try the lucic of arms, Grifonetto, deserted by the
companions of his crime and paralysed by the sense of his
guilt, went out alone to meet him on the public place. The
semi-failure of their scheme had terrified the conspirators :
the horrors of that night of blood unnerved them. All had
fled except the next victim of the feud. Putting his sword to
the youth's throat, Gianpaolo looked into his eyes and said,
• Art thou here, Grifonetto ? Go with God's peace : I will
not slay thee, nor plunge my hand in my own blood, as thou
hast done in thine.' Then he turned and left the lad to i)e
hacked in pieces by his guard. The untranslatable words
which Alatarazzo uses to describe his death are touching from
the strong impression they convey of Grifonetto's goodliness :
' Qui ebbe sua signoria sopra sua nobile persona tante ferite
che suoi membra leggiadre stese in terra." i None but Greeks
felt the charm of personal beauty thus.'- But while Grifonetto
was breathing out his life upon the pavement of the piazza,
his mother. Atalanta. and his wife Zenobia, came to greet him
through tlie awe-struck city. As they approached, all men
fell aside and slunk away before their grief. None would seem
to have had a share in Grifonetto's murder. Then Atalanta
knelt by her dying son. and ceased from wailing, and prayed
and exhorted him to pardon those who had caused his death.
It appears that Grifonetto was too weak to speak, but that he
made a signal of assent, and received his mother's blessing at
the last: "And then the noble stripling stretched his right
hand to his youthful mother, pressing the white hand of his
mother ; and afterwards forthwith he breathed his soul forth
from his beauteous body, and died with numberless blessings
of his mother instead of the curses she had given him before."
" After the death of Grifonetto and the flight of the con-
spirators, Gianpaolo took possession of Perugia. All who
were suspected of complicity in the treason were massacred
1 " Here his lordship received upon his noble person so many
wounds that he stretched his graceful limbs upon the earth."
- The scholar, Francesco Matarazzo, went, as a matter of
fact, to Greece in his youth in order to copy passages from the
Greek classics. It is therefore possible that he acquired his
love of the human form actually in Hellas.
66
The Bagliofii
iijion tlic piazzii iincl in tlic cathedral. .\t tlic (.-xix-'U^c ot nioie
than a hundred murders, the diiel' oi' tlie Baglioni found him-
self master of the city on the 17th of July. First he caused
the cathedral to be washed with wine and reconsecrated.
'I'hen he decorated the Palazzo with tlie heads of the traitors
and with their portraits in fresco, painted hanging Iiead
downwards, as was the fashion in Italy. Next he estalilislied
liimself in what remained of tlie palaces of his kindred, hanging
file saloons with black, and arraying his retainers in the
deepest mourning. Sad. indeed, was now the aspect of
Perugia. Helpless ant! comparatively uninterested, the citizens
had been spectators of tliese bloody broils. They were now
bound to share the desolation of tiieir masters. Matarazzo's
description of the mournful palace and the silent town, and of
the return of Marcantonio from Naples, presents a picture
striking for its vivitlness.' In the true style of tlie Baglioni.
Marcantonio sought to vent his sorrow not so mucli in tears
as by new violence. He prepared and lighted torches, meaning
to burn the whole ciuarter of S. Angelo ; and from this design
he was with difficulty dissuaded iiy his brotlier. To such mad
freaks of rage and passion were the inhabitants of a mediaeval
town in Italy exposed ! They make us understand the nrdinan^c
di giusti-zia, by which to be a noble was a crime in Florence.
•' From this time forward the whole history of the Baglioni
family is one of crime and bloodshed. A curse had fallen on
the house, and to the last of its members the penalty was jiaid.
(Jianjiaolo himself accjuired the highest reputation throughout
Italy for his courage and sagacity both as a general and a governor. "
Gianpaolo is the last member of the Baglioni brood
who succeeded in ruling over his native city, maintaining
the despotic traditions of his predecessors by a system of
unconscionable brutality. The personality of this tyrant
is strongly brought forward in Italian histories. Frol-
liere gives the following account of the fascination of the
outward man :
•• Gianpaolo during his life-time was the favoured one of
I '• Everything." he says, '• seemed darkened and full of
tears; all the servants wept, and the doors and the rooms, and
every house of the other members of the Baglioni were all like
the palls of the dead. And throughout the city there was no
soul who played or sang; and few there were who smiled."
67
T'he Story of Perugia
Htaveii and ot iortune. He was liaiulsomf and oi a gracious
aspect, pleasant and I)enign ; eloc|iient in his conversation, and
of great prudence ; and every gesture harmonised with his
words and manner. In his desire to please all, even strangers,
if percliance he was unahle or unwilling to serve them, he
showed himself so gracious and so willing, that they left
him satisfied and pleased. He was much given to the love of
women and he was greatly loved hy them hy reason of his
delicate and lordly bearing. He was. indeed, a valiant and
a gallant knight, of admirable and almost divine talent and re-
source, as was shown in many of his enterprises and his actions."'
But there was a very different side to this in the
character of Gianpaolo, and we hear that on one
occasion
. . . "he had it in his mind to murder four citizens of Perugia,
his enemies. He looked calmly on while his kinsmen Eusebio
and Taddeo Baglioni. who had been accused of treason, were
hewn to pieces by his guard. His wife. Ippolita de' Conti.was
poniarded on her Roman farm ; on hearing the news, he ordered
a festival in which he was engaged to proceed with redoubled
merriment. ""-
Gianpaolo was also a good diplomatist, as cautious
as he was cruel, and one of the most striking pictures
in Perugian history is that of his reception of Julius II.
in I 506, on which occasion the Pope came to visit the
tyrant in person. The Baglioni was perfectly well
aware that Julius had come for the purpose of re-estab-
lishing papal dominion in the city ; but he was too
cautious to shove His Holiness over a wall which he
was building at the time, and thus to counterfeit the
papal plans and set all Italy ablaze with admiration at
the audacity of his action ;
•• While Michelangelo was planning frescoes and venting his
bile in sonnets, the fiery Pope had started on his perilous career
of conquest. He called the cardinals together, and informed
tliem that he meant to free the cities of Perugia and Bologna
1 See Archivio Storico. vol. xvi. part ii. page 437.
- John Addington Symond's ■' Sketches in Italy," p. 83.
68
The lUiglioni
from rliL-ii' tyrants, (ioil. lie said, would protect Hii Cluircli ;
he could rely on the support of France and Florence. Other
popes had stirred up wars and used the services of Generals:
he meant to take the field in person. Louis XII. is re]iorted
to liave jeered amono' his courtiers at the notion of a hijrh-
priest riding to the wars. A few days afterwards, on the
lytli of August, the Pope left Rome attended hy twenty-four
cardinals and 500 men-at-arms. He had previously secured
the neutrality of Venice and a promise cf troops from the
French court. WHien Julius reached Orvieto. he was met hy
(Jianpaolo. the i)loody and licentious despot of Perugia. Not-
withstanding Baglioni knew tliat .fulius was coming to assert
jiis supremacy, and notwithstanding the Po]ie knew that this
might drive to des|)eration a man so violent and stained with
crime as Baglioni. tliey rode togetlicr to Perugia, where Gian-
])aolo jiaid homage and supplied his haughty guest with
soliliers. The rashness of this act of Julius sent a thrill of
aiimiration througliout Ital)\ stirring that sense of tfrribilila
which fascinated the imagination of the men of the Renaissance.
Machiavelli. commenting upon the action of the Baglioni.
remarks that the event |:>roved how ditlicult it is for a man to
he perfectly and scientifically wicked."'
'■ At last the time came for Gian])aolo to the l)y fraud and
violence. Leo X.. anxious to remove so powerful a rival from
Perugia, lured him in 1520 to Rome under the false jM-otection
of a ]ia])al safe-conduct. After a short imjirisonment he had
him heheaded in the Castle of S. Angelo. It was thought that
Gentile, his first cousin, sometime Bishop of Orvieto. init after-
wards the father of two sons in wedlock with (Jiulia Vitelli —
such was the discipline of the Church at this epoch — had con-
trihuted to the capture of Gianpaolo, and had exulted in his
execution. If so, he paid dear for his treachery; for Orazio
Baglioni, the second son of (Jianpaolo and captain of the
Church under Clement VII., had him murdered in 1527,
together with his two nephews Fileno and Annihale. 'Phis
Orazio was one of the most hloodthirsty of the whole brood.
Not satisfied with the assassination of Gentile, he stahbed
Galeotto, the son of Grifonetto, with his own hand in the
same year. Afterwards he died in the kingdom of Naples
while leading the Black Bands in the disastrous war which
followed the sack of Rome. He left no son. Malatesta, his
I .lohn Aildiiigton Symonds, " Life of Michelangelo," vol.
i. p. 1X4-1 X5.
69
The Story of Perugia
ilJer brotlier, became one of the most celebrated generals of
the age. holding the batons of the Venetian and Florentine
republics, and managing to maintain his ascendency in Perugia
in spite of tin- ])ersistcnt opposition of successive popes. But
his name is best known in history for one of the greatest
public crimes. Intrusted with the defence of Florence during
the siege of 1530, he sold the city to his enemy, Pope Clement,
receiving for the price of this infamy certain privileges and
immunities which fortified iiis hold upon Perugia for a season.
All Italy was ringing with the great deeds of the Florentines,
who for the sake of their liberty transformed themselves from
merchants into soldiers, and withstood the united powers of
pope and emperor alone. Meanwhile Malatesta, whose trade
was war. and who was being largely paid for his services by
the beleaguered city, contrived by means of diplomatic pro-
crastination, secret communication with the enemy, and all
the arts that could intimidate an army of recruits, to push
atfairs to a J^oint at which Florence was forced to capitulate
without inflicting the last desperate glorious blow she longed
to deal her enemies. The universal voice of Italy condemned
him. When Matteo Dandolo, the Doge of Venice, heard
what he had done, he cried before the Pregadi in conclave,
' He has sold that people and that city, and the blood of those
poor citizens ounce by ounce, and has donned the cap of the
biggest traitor in the world.' Consumed with shame.
corroded by an infamous disease, and mistrustful of Clement,
to whom he had sold his honor, Malatesta retired to Perugia,
and died in 1531. He left one son, Ridolfo, who was unable
to maintain himself in the lordship of his native city. After
killing the papal legate, Cinzio Filonardi, in 1534, he was
dislodged four years afterwards, when Paul III. took final
possession of the place as an appanage of the Church, razed
the houses of the Baglioni to the ground, and built upon their
site the Rocca Paolina. . . .
. . . '• Ridolfo Baglioni and his cousin Braccio, the eldest son
of Grifonetto, w^ere both captains of Florence. The one died in
battle in 1554, the other in 1559. Thus ended the illustrious
family. They are now represented by descendants from
females, and by contadini, who preserve their name and boast
a pedigree, of which they have no written records,"'
' The name is still common in Perugia and owned by some
of the best families in the place, and the splendid villas near
Bettona, Torgiano, and Bastia are all inhabited by people ol
the mighty name of Baglioni,
70
T'he Baglloiii
Thus the Baglioni practically killed themselves —
stamped out their own power through their own
passions. It remained for the Church to crush if
possible the spirit of liberty and of self-government in
the people of Perugia. It is as though a mighty
wheel spun round and we next find the city wholly
and entirely in the clutches of Rome.
When the last strong member of the terrible brood,
Ridolfo Baglioni, forced his way back into Perugia
with the evident intention of ruling there, he seems
to have ignored the fact that he had something more
powerful to face than the opposition of the people.
Ridolfo set fire to the people's palace, but he went
much further, he assassinated the Pope's Legate.
This outrage gave the final push to Rome, who had
so often and so impotently interfered before, and Paul
Farnese, the reigning Pope, listened, we hear, with
the profoundest displeasure to the account of this
barefaced murder. He at once took the high hand.
He sent troo])s from Rome to drive out Ridolfo, who
retired before them to seek a better fortune elsewhere.
He then had the walls of Spello, Bettona, Bastia,
and other strongholds of Ridolfo Baglioni demolished,
and finally, in ordt-r to make his policy more per-
manent and decisive, the great Farnese Pope arrived
in person at Perugia.
Paul's arrival is one of the most impressive .points
in the annals of the town. The rule of the Baglioni
had been so powerful and so picturesque that in
tracing it one is inclined to ignore the undercurrent
of affairs in the city. As a matter of fact the old
order of rule had not really died out under that of the
nobles, and in the description of Paul's reception we find
the familiar names of companies and Priori occurring
again and again with all their followers and titles.
71
The Story of Perugia
The Perugians, wearied to death by the despotic
rule of the nobles, hailed the advent of a much more
despotic Pope with blind and excessive joy. Paul
came in triumph, and in triumph he was received. Great
arches were built for him and for his cardinals to pass
beneath, and since tlie town had not sufficient money
to spend on his reception they even melted down a
beautiful silver ship belonging to the city plate chest. It
was on the last day of August 1535, and at about mid-
night, that "His Blessed Holiness" arrived at the
gates with fourteen cardinals and some companies of
600 or 700 horse and 700 infantry. The Pope
rode up on horseback, dressed in scarlet. Drums
and tambours heralded his approach. The cardinals
rode by two and two. On either side of His Holiness
rode his two nephews : the Cardinals Alexander
Farnese and Guido Ascanio Sforza. The Priori, all
in new and gorgeous robes, preceded by the Holy
Eucharist, came out to meet him, and through their
ambassador or nun%io they presented to His Holiness
a silver basin containing the keys of the city. Then
a learned doctor of the University delivered "a short
but elegant address," to which the Pope listened atten-
tively, and for that night the Pope turned in to sleep in
the monastery of S. Pietro. Thefollowing dayhe entered
the city with extraordinary pomp and took up his abode
in the Palazzo Pubblico, where the Priori had vacated
their own rooms in order to give him proper space ;
and thither all the professors and all the members of
the city guilds and confraternities arrived that afternoon
to kiss his foot.
Paul's first visit to Perugia may be called a
triumphal progress rather than anything else. He
gave great gifts of grain to the city, and he conferred
countless benefits upon its churches and its clergy.
B\it he came to rule, and not to pamper or caress. For
72
"Tbi" l)cigl}o?i}
a time all went well. The convents and the monas-
teries grew fat and prosperous, the Baglioni were away,
and the people apparently at peace ; but storms were
brewing. After three years of passive submission
Perugia found cause to revolt against her new ruler
as she had done against her old. In 153S Paul III.
sent out his decree for raising the price of salt by
one half in all the pontifical states, and the Perugians
revolted at once against an imposition wliich they had
good reason to feci unjust. ^
Revolution was declared. Alfano Alfani, the chief
of the magistrates, tried to calm the fury of his country-
men, and at first only humble entreaties were sent down
to Rome imploring Paul III. to remove a tax so odious
to the people. But the Pope was too much in need of
money to listen to these prayers. His only answer
was an excommunication, which punishment was not
unfamiliar to the people of Perugia. During the
month of March 1539 the city lay under an inteidict,
no masses were said, no sacraments given, and the
churches seemed as the monuments of a people long
since dead. Every day the murmurings of the Peru-
gians grew and strengthened, and finally they took the
high-handed measure of arranging matters for themselves.
They elected twenty-five citizens who were called "the
twenty-five defenders of justice in the city of Perugia,"
and before many days were out the " twenty-five " had
obtained unlimited power. They exercised an inde-
pendent and undisputed authority and pushed xha priori
entirely to one side. Their endeavours to protect tlieir
liberty and resist the Pope's authority soon roused his
anger. The Farnese was not a person to be trifled
' By tlic treaty concludeci witli Martin V. (1424) after
FortL-braccio's lieatli. Perugia was alisolved from every tax
not in force during- the time of Boniface IX., and Paul had
accepted this treaty on his accession.
7.^
T'he Story of Perugia
with, and this barefaced rebellion of the little Umbiian
city had to be crushed by prompt and powerful means ;
so the Pope sent his son, Pier Luigi Farnese, at the
head of 10,000 Italians and 3000 Spaniards to meet
the rulers in the field.
A strange piece of history follows. The Perugians
veer round utterly and call in as their leader Ridolfo
Baglioni to help them against a Pope, whom but three
short years ago they had welcomed as their best bene-
factor.
Ridolfo went forth to fight against the Papal troops
with a mighty flourish of trumpets, but we only hear
faint rumours of a skirmish near Ponte S. Giovanni
where one or two men were killed, and a few more
tumbled off their chargers. The whole account reads
like a farce, and yet we know that men and women re-
garded it with deadly earnest at the time. Tlie city was
all unhinged. An extraordinary religious phase which
had nothing to do with the Church came over her. The
large crucifix which is still to be seen in S. Lorenzo,
was placed above the main entrance to the Duomo, and
here the people came to pray and tell their beads with
an unwonted fervour. Continual processions wound
their slow way up from S. Domenico to the Cathedral
square, and we hear that the cries for mercy were
deafening throughout the city.
On a dark night, by the flickering light of many
torches, Maria Podiano, the Chancellor of the Com-
mune, delivered a touching oration, and in the sight of
all the citizens he placed the city keys at the foot of
the great crucifix on the outside of the Cathedral —
Christ was to be their defender, Christ their leader, to
fight against a Pope ! ^
1 The place where this great crucifix stood (the cross itself
is hidden by a window) can still be seen on the south side of the
Duomo, and every night a lamp is burned above it in com-
74
The Bagl'ioiii
But it was impossible that Perugia should be able to
stand against such an army as that of Paul III., and
Ridolfo Baglioni was the first to see that his side must
lose. With less loyalty than might have been expected
from this would-be despot of Perugia, he edged to-
wards peace, and finally, on the 3rd June 1540,
peace was concluded between Pier Luigi Farnese
and Ridolfo Baglioni. Thus it happened that once
again Perugia was cast under the shadow of Pontifical
Rome. Neighbouring towns had abandoned her at
the moment when she wrestled for her liberty ;
Ridolfo Baglioni had given her but a half-hearted
help, and the Perugians were driven to confess that
the only course which now lay open to them was an
apology to the Pope. Twenty -five ambassadors were
therefore sent to Rome. Dressed in long black robes
with halters round their necks, the unhappy Perugian
envoys crouched in the portico of S. Peter's awaiting
tlieir absolution.
Pardon was obtained, but at a heavy price. The
ambassadors returned home bearing the news that Paul
had forgiven the city ; but the titles of Preservers of
Ecclesiastical Obedience, borne by the Pope's magis-
trates, warned Perugia quite sufficiently that her old
forms of government were wiped away for ever.
A few days later and the foundations of Paul III.'s
fortress were laid on the site of the razed palaces of the
Baglioni, and the citizens were compelled to lend their
help in the erection of this colossal stronghold which
was to prove their bane for centuries to follow. On
its inner walls it bore the following inscription, which
fully indicated the feelings and intentions of the
memoration of that fantastic ceremony. How little probably
does the ciistodi\ who strikes the match, guess for what purpose
lie does so. No doubt he imagines that he is lighting up to
make the street below more clear for passers-by.
75
I' he Stoi'y of Perugia
indomitable Farnesc- : Ad coerctndam Ptrusinoriim
Audac'iam.'^
Writhing beneath the yoke of priests, the Perugians
soon regretted even the rule of the Bagllonl : " Help
me If you can," Malatesta Baglloni had cried as he lay
dying at Bettona In 1531, "for after my death you
will be made to draw the cart like oxen " ; and Frol-
liere, chronicling these words, remarks: "This has
been fulfilled to the last letter, for ail have borne not
only the yoke but the goad." -
In the same vear ( 1 540) as that In which Paul III.
laid the foundations of his famous fortress, a society,
which proved of invaluable service in furthering the
work and wishes of the Papacy, sprang forth into
vigorous life, and gradually the chief power in Perugia
fell into the hands of the .Jesuits. These agents of the
Pope proceeded to convert the city wholesale by means
of religious ceremonies, general confessions, preachings
in every square, and in all the corners of the streets,
and colossal processions, headed by missionaries wear-
ing crowns of thorns and bearing enormous crosses.
Industries died out, poverty, famine, and pestilence
decimated the city, and in 1728, from a petition pre-
sented to Clement X., it appears that Perugia was
reduced to such a state of wretchedness as to bring
tears to the eyes of those who remembered her former
prosperity.
'-;;- * * * *
The final history of Perugia, down to the present
day, may be compressed into a very few lines. Up to the
' This immense and extraordinary Iniilding has been fully
descrihed in another place (see chap. vi.). Plate, p. 77, will ex-
plain how powerful was the position tiiat it held, and how well
calculated it was to strike terror into the minds of the citizens.
But according to one authority the Latin inscription c|uoted
al)ove was never written on its v\alls.
- See " Archivio Storico Italiano," vol. xvi.. part ii. p. 443.
76
77
T'he Baglio?!/
end of the last century, she was practically ruled by the
Popes, and was a city of the Papal States. Her immense
convents and churches were iilled with monks and nuns.
In I 549, Julius III. restored to her some of her ancient
privileges of which Paul had deprived her, and in some
sort she regained her old forms of government, but she
could never again be called by her historians an inde-
])endent State. In 1797, during the general upheaval
of Europe which followed the revolution in France,
she underwent a quite new phase, and became a French
Prefecture under the title of Dcpartimento del Trasimeno.
General la Valette levied tribute from the citizens, who
were further harassed by the sudden break up of the
Roman Republic and an Austrian occupation. After
tlie Battle of Marengo, in 1800, Perugia ceased to be
Pontifical, and in 1809 she was formally annexed to
the French Empire, and made a canton of Spoleto
under a sub-prefect. By Napoleon's orders the con-
vents of both sexes and of all orders were suppressed,
the bishops and prelates were sent to Rome in carriage
loads, and the poor monks and nuns were unfrocked
and literally carted through the streets to their homes.
When a turn came in the fortunes of the empire, Perugia
became the victim of another change, and with the
})artial introduction of the papal sway, the monks and
nuns returned to their convents.
In spite of its tyrannies, the Napoleonic occupation
liad given the Perugians a taste for better things than
a papal despotism, and they never again found rest in
the care of the Pope. They fretted and chafed under
the Pope's people ; the Pope's fortress became a veri-
table eye-sore to them, the daily sight of its walls
burned into their hearts like red-hot nails, and whenever
they could they pulled a part of it down.
At last, in 1859, they rose in open rebellion,
and Papal troops were sent by Pius IX. to besiege the
79
T'bc Storv of Perugia
town. Some 2000 of the Swiss Guard, led by
Colonel Schmid, arrived from Rome to quell the
insuriection. Bonazzi gives a vivid account of the
atrocities these men committed in the city. They
killed all whom they laid hands on in their raids as
they passed through the streets, crying aloud as they
went that " their master the Pope had given them
orders that none should be spared." S. Pietro was
forced, and, notwithstanding the protests of the Abbot
and his monks, its vestments were torn to tiireads,
gold and silver ornaments carried away, and not
even the archives with their wealth of long accumu-
lated missals escaped the vandalism of the papal troops.
(See p. 162.)
In ih!6o the Swiss were fmally dislodged by Victor
Emanuel's envoy. General Manfredo Fanti ; and, un-
ai med and closely guarded by a double file of the
King's soldiers, the last representatives of papal power
were driven from the fortress of Paul III., and having
passed a night in the cathedral, they were ousted for
ever from the precincts of Perugia. Paul III.'s
fortress had now been entirely pulled down by an
infinite number of willing hands, and the present great
buildings of the Prefettura, which represents the modern
government of a prosperous town, took their place on
the former site of the Baglioni palaces.
-5«- -if * * *
With the loss of Perugia's independent existence in
I 540 the light of romance was lost to her history.
But from that minute, and in spite of all her anguish
and humiliation, she learned the final lesson of how to
live at peace within herself, and be at peace with all
her neighbours. This lesson she had never learned
through all her battlings in the past. She had risen
fighting, and fighting she had flourished. It would be
inaccurate to say that fighting she fell.
80
T'he Bagliofii
Perugia never fell. She was merely caught and
tamed. Anyone familiar with the cities of Umbria
will at once recognise in this, their head, something
forcible, strong, grand, and enduring, which neither
nobles, emperors, nor popes were able to beat out of
her ; something which has kept her what she was at
the beginning : Perugia, the city of plenty, and fitted
her to be what she is now : Perugia the capital of
Umbria; as grand in her unity with her great mother,
as she was powerful in her strife.
8 1
CHAPTER IV
The City of Perugia
" C'est une vieille ville du moyen age, ville de defense et de
refuge, posee sur un plateau escarpe, d'ou toute la vallee se
decouvre." — H. Taine. Voyage en Italic.
LjAVING glanced thus rapidly over the history of
Perugia we turn with fresh interest to examine
the city itself, and to trace through what remains of its
earliest walls and houses, the character of those same
fascinating, if pugnacious persons, who built those walls,
fought over them, lived and died within them.
Perugia is an excellent mirror of history, combining
on its surface not only a reflection of the immortal past
but of a prosperous present, and with the exception of
ancient Roman influences, which, for some obscure
reason, have almost entirely vanished, it would be diflicult
to find a nest of man more perfect or unchanged in all its
parts. Battered and abused by warfare and by weather
the stones of the middle ages may be and are, but they
have not been destroyed, and there is something grand
and clean in the modern buildings which confirms,
rather than destroys, the aesthetic charm and splendour
of the old.
Perugia is very distinctly the living capital of the
province. After travelling through Umbria and study-
ing one by one the little dreamy old-world cities — each
perched upon its separate hillside, which seem to have
fallen asleep long centuries ago, letting the silence of
82
T'he City of Perugia
the grass close in on their paved streets, as the need
of self-protection vanished — one returns to Perugia
and recognises that she, at least, has never died. She
is often very silent, very brown and grim ; she has iicr
i:'if/W!il^^
' ''y^^
f.
/^
I'F.RUniA FROM TIIK ROAD TO THE CAMI'O SANTO
dreams, but the hope in her: the desire for rule and
power, has never really vanished. The most remark-
able change about the town, if we are to take what we
read of her history for certain fact, is the change in her
83
T'hc Story of P('?v/g'ia
people. The inhabitants of Perugia, in every class,
are unmistakably gentle and amiable, both in mind
and manner. They are courteous to strangers, kind,
helpful and calm. Even the street boys ask one for
stamps instead of pennies. In their leisure they are
gay, and in their work persistent. They are never frantic
or demonstrative. As one sits at one's window on
warm spring nights, one almost wishes the people in
the street would either fight or sing, but they do neither.
They take their pleasures calmly, and hang upon their
town walls by the hour, gazing out upon a view they
love. Perhaps in their inmost hearts they are counting
the numberless little cities, all of which their fathers
won for them in battles of the past. The fact of their
supremacy may make them thrill, but there is nothing
to mark their triumph in their faces.
This is no place in which to discuss the rapid change
of personality in the Perugians. We note it as a fact,
and pass to a description of the town itself, which
certainly contains abundant marks of that same " war-
like " character which time has washed away from the
minds of its inhabitants.
The city is built, as we have shown in our first
chapter, on one of the low hills formed after thousands
of years by the silting up of the refuse brought down
by the Tiber, and not, as one naturally at first imagines,"
on a spur of the actual Apennines which are divided
from her by the river. Much of the power of the
town in the past may be traced to her extraordinary
topographical position. Perugia stands 1705 feet above
the level of the sea, and i2co above that of the Tiber.
She stands perfectly alone at the extreme edge of a
long spine of hill, and she commands the Tiber and
the two great roads to Rome.^ But looked at from
' The topographical position of Perugia distinguished her in
very early times. " It is believed," says Mariotti, " that the
84
T'hc City of Perir^'ia
;i merely picturesque point of view, few towns can boast
of a more powerful charm. Perugia, if one ignores
her history, is not so much a town as an eccentric
freak of nature. All the winds and airs of heaven
play and rush around her walls in summer and in winter.
The sun beats down upon her roofs ; one seems to see
more stars at night, above her ramparts, than one sees
in any other town one knows of. All Umbria is
spread like a great pageant at her feet, and the pageant
is never one day or one hour like the other. Even in
a downpour, even in a tempest the great view fascinates.
In spring the land is green with corn and oak trees,
and pink with the pink of sainfoin flowers. In winter it
seems smaller, nearer; brown and gold, and very grand
at sundown. On clear days one can easily trace a whole
circle of Umbrian cities from the Umbrian capital. To
the east Assisi, Spello, Foligno, Montefaico, and Trevi.
The hill above Bettona hides the town of Spolcto, but
its ilex woods and its convent of Monte Luco are
distinct enough. To the south Todi and Deruta
stand out clear upon their hillsides ; and to the east
the home of Perugino, Citta della Pieve, rises half
hidden in its oakwoods. Early in the mornings you
will see the mists lift slowly from the Tiber; at night
the moon will glisten on its waters, drawing your fancy
down to Rome. Strange lights shine upon the clouds
behind the ridge which covers Trasimene, and to the
north the brown hills rise and swell, fold upon fold, to
meet the Apennines. In autumn and in winter the
Via Cassia, wliicli led irom Rome to Chiusi, passed by IV'rugia.
or ratlier the Via Vajcntana, which was one of the ancient
military roads passing througli Tuscany. Other writers have
placed Perugia on the Fia Aiinlia. She had beside the principal
military roads, several others which served her for communica-
tion witii the neighbouring Etruscan cities, and it is mo>t likely
that modern roads leading to Chiusi, Orvieto, C;ul)bio, &c.,
preserve many parts of the old roads." — See Mariotti.\a\. i. \t. tj.
'The Story oj Perugia
basin of the old Umbrian lake will often fill for days
with mists, but the Umbrian towns and hamlets rise
like the birds above them, and one may live in one of
these in splendid sunshine, whilst looking down upon
a sea of fog which darkens all the people of the plain.
The inhabitants of Perugia swear by the healthy
nature of their air, and indeed, were it not for the
winds, the most fragile constitution would probably
flourish in the high hill city. But It must be confessed
that there come days when man and horse quiver like
dead leaves before the tempest, and when the very
houses seem to rock. Indeed, it would be almost
impossible to exaggerate the arctic power of a Perugian
whirlwind. Yet the average temperature is mild, and
myrtles grow to the size of considerable trees in the
villa gardens round the town.
To fully understand the city of Perugia, the mar-
vellous fashion of its building, and the way in which
its houses have become a part of the landscape and
seem to creep about and cling to the unsteady crumb-
ling soil, one should pass out into the country through
one of its gates, and, rambling round the roads and
lanes which wind beneath its walls, look ever up and
back again towards the town. In this way only
is it possible to understand what man can do with
Nature, and how, with the centuries. Nature can gather
to herself man's handiwork and make of it a portion for
herself. Birds and beasts have built in this same
fashion, but rarely except in Umbria have men.
" The unstable quality of the soil on which Perugia
is built," writes Mariotti, " has made strong walls and
very costly buildings a necessity," and he goes on to
point out the different and expensive ways in which the
town has been bolstered up with solid masonry. The
Etruscans were the first to recognise this necessity.
They may have been a peaceful and a rather bour-
86
T'he City oj Perugia
geois set ot human beings, differing in all ways fioiu
their combative successors, but they understood the
science of building, and their walls, which encompassed
only about one-third of the space covered by the
^rj
'•:%^p>
^r^ 'j<i^:=A"'^ :r — -'"V^
ETRUSCAN ARCH. I'ORTA KBURNKA
mediaeval town, remain a monument of si)lendid solid
masonry wherever they can be traced.
The Etruscan walls are a marked feature of some
Umbrian cities, and although it is rather the fashion to
«7
I'he Story of Perugia
dispute their authenticity in Perugia, the bits which
remain of them there are probably quite genuine.
They have, however, become such a part of the
mediaeval and the modern town, and are often so em-
bedded in later buildings, that without close study it is
difficult to trace them ; we have therefore marked their
course in red on the map of the town.
Five of the present gates of the town, namely, Porta
Eburnea, Porta Susanna, Porta Augusta, Porta Man-
dola, and Porta Marzia are the genuine old gates of the
Etruscan town, and although the Romans altered them
a little, enlarging them from below, a great part of
their masonry is the work of the Etruscans, and from
three to four thousand years old. Of these gates, the
Porta Augusta is familiar to every one, as it is one of
the most remarkable and impressive features of the town.
Rome and the Renaissance have combined to give it a
fantastic and a fascinating appearance, even as these same
influences have made a miniature museum of the now
disused Porta Marz-'ia. Strangely enough the woi k of
the Etruscan masons is far better preserved than any
which followed them, and the great blocks of travertine
neatly placed (as some suppose without mortar) on one
another, are easily distinguishable from those built above
and below them. Perugia always felt a certain respect
for her oldest walls, and even in the fifteenth century,
when she was in her prime, and bristling with new
towers and churches, the work of the dead people was
respected. In 1475 ^^^ '^^'^ ^-^^^ ^ ^"'^ ^^'"^ Passed for
the preservation of the Etruscan walls, as " they were
very marvellous, and worthy to be preserved into all
eternity."
Beyond the city walls nothing remains of the Etrus-
cans at Perugia, except what is found in their tombs.
That the town was rich in temples and other beauties we
may gather, but these, together with the houses, were
88
'^/,3^^^fe
I
,f'-m^k-:^m^^n
mu. ■ ■ U. - ■ ■1/4
'''■ l\ ■■ K' r*-^ "■■' Fii. * Vwllk/ ' ..,»«*°^
,:'/;'' ii-
',' I'M /I: |i| .^^|l|Si^^ i
^^liCi^«
MliDl.T;VAL STAIRCAtE IN Till; VIA BARTOI.O
89
The City of Perugia
destroyed when Augustus took the town in 40 b.c,
and when her devoted citizen, Caius Cestius, set fire to
his native city, to cover her disgrace. Of the Roman
occupation, which covered a ])eriod of many centuries,
no trace remains in Perugia. The present town is
therefore a monument of the purest mcdiasval building
crowned by some rare and beautiful bits of Renaissance
architecture.
But before entering into a description of the city, it
may be well to insist once more on the fact already
made plain in our history, that if men made Perugia,
men also marred her.' The impatience of man is
everywhere discernible in her streets her palaces and
churches, and only the latest buildings have their towers
and stones intact. The towers of S. Pietro, S.
Domenico, and others have had their tops all truncated
by popes, by nobles, and by people in moments of their
fury or their vengeance. The city was built for war-
tare and defence, and not for beauty, luxury and peace.
In these comparatively quiet times of ours we go about
in foreign towns and look for art, and art alone. We
seem to forget that art is but a small affair — -a little land-
mark in the history of nations. There is an art in
Umbria, an art so pure, so sweet, so tender that think-
ing of it we may easily forget the history of her men, or,
if remembering, we seem to dream a dual dream. The
art of Perugia was, maybe, the outcome of her almost
fanatical religion, but the wars of her inhabitants have
1 Even aftLT the Perugians liad ceased to fight among them-
selves, their unhappy churches and palaces were battered about.
" That wind of the desert," says Bonazzi, '• that simoom of Pon-
tifical dominion did not pass over our city in vain." Paul III.,
in l)uikling liis fortress, did infinite damage to the soutii of the
old town; and the work of destruction, as far as the gems of
painting go. was completed by Napoleon Bonaparte, whose
raids among the masterpieces of Perugia were quite imperial
in their extravagance.
91
T'hc Sttory of Perugia
always been her lite-blood. The very Hrst walls were
built for defence, or, as some say, to store the crops,
the corn and hay, in ; and the houses of the earliest
medieval town were also built purely with a view to
personal safety and protection. Bonazzi gives a curious
account of the growth of the city, and the almost fantastic
fashion in which its inhabitants hammered its houses to-
gether, and then proceeded to live in them. " There
were," he says, describing the town in about i iCO and
I 200, "few monuments or buildings of importance up to
the sixteenth century. The houses were all on one floor,
the sun barely reached them ; some of them were
of stone and bricks, but the greater part of mud,
clay and straw. Hence incessant and considerable
fires, increased by the lack of chimneys. And they
were so inconveniently arranged that often eight or
ten persons slept in a single room. A motto, a
saint, some small sign took the place of our modern
numbers, and the lamp which burned in front of
the many shrines served to light the streets at night-
fall. There were no flags or pavements then upon
the streets, which took their names from the churches
or houses of the nobles which happened to look down
upon them ; these were narrow and tortuous, simply
because they giew without any method or premedi-
tation, they were horrible to behold as all the dirt
was thrown into them, and because of the herds of
swine which passed along them, grunting and squeaking
as they went." ^ Bonazzi next goes on to trace the
topography of the mediaeval town, which was much
smaller than the present one, and lacking in large
monuments. There was no Corso in those days, no
Piazza Sopramuro, no Palazzo Pubblico. Where
1 Bonazzi says that the present Via Vecchia was one of
the very earliest of the streets, and that peopte have tramped
up and down it for at least twenty-five liundred years.
92
T'bc City of Pcnigia
the present cathedral now stands tliere was only the
little old church of S. Lorenzo and a big and beauti-
ful tower with a cock on the top of it. The towers
of Perugia were a most marked feature of her archi-
tecture and, indeed, in old writings she is always
mentioned as Turrena because of them.' "About
this time," says Bonazzi, " another great work be-
gan in our city, which was continued into the fol-
lowing centuries. The feudal lords who came in
from their own places in the country to inhabit the
town, brought with them each the tradition oi his
own strong tower in the abandoned castle. Great
therefore was the competition between them of who
should build the highest, and this each noble did,
not so much for decoration as for a means of de-
fence and of otfence, and according to the amount
of power possessed by himself or by his neighbour.
In the shadow of the massive feudal
towers," Bonazzi writes in another place, "like
grass which is shaded by giant plants, rose the little
houses of the poor. The more elegant houses were
of terra-cotta (bricks) without plaster or mortar,
and their windows wcie arched in the Roman fashion."'
• One historian says that there were as many as a hundred
rowers, but the more prudent Mariotti will only allow of
forty-two. Only one or two remain, yet in old days they,
lii<e the city walls, were most carefully preserved, and it appears
that Sextus IV. •• fulminated excommunications and fined by
a fine of fifty ducats any person \vl)o dared to pull do\vn a
tower."' Of those which remain the Torre ilegli Scirri at
Porta Susanna is the most conspicuous. The hell tower
of the Palazzo Pubhlico is another; and in many of the
streets one can trace their mutilated trunks between the
house walls.
- These graceful arches have been almost everywhere
bricked up and replaced by square window posts, perhaps
because it was easier to fit glass into a square than into
an arch. In Oubbio and some of the smaller Umbrian towns
the arched window has in many houses been left untouched.
93
T'he Story of Perugia
After 600 tliey were roofed with flat tiles in imitation
of the Lombards."
The city gates were always closed at nightfall,
and some of the streets were blocked by means of
huge iron chains which stretched across the road,
preventing the passage of horse or carts, from one
house to another. One can still see the hooks and
holes belonging to these somewhat barbaric defences
in some of the more solid houses of Perugia ; and
in the neighbouring town of Spello the chains
themselves have been left hanging to one of the
houses. In 1276 we read that the law of closing
the city gates was abolished, but a little later on it
was again found necessary to barricade the town at
nightfall, and during some of the fights between the
nobles in 1400 and in 15CO we hear of the difficulties
which one or the other party had to combat in the
" chains across their path."
Strange scattered relics of this nest of mediseval man
linger and come down to us even in the nineteenth
century. Amongst these are the porte del mortuccio,
or doors of the dead. All the best houses had these
doors alongside of their house-doors, but they are
bricked up now and quite disused, and might easily
be ignored in passing through the streets. The porta
del mortuccio is tall, narrow, and pointed at the top ;
it is, indeed, just wide enough to pass a coffin through.
It seems that in very early days, even so far back
as the Etruscans, there was a superstition that through
the door where Death had passed. Death must enter
in again. By building a separate door, which was
only used by the dead, the spirit of Death passed
out with the corpse, the narrow door was closely
locked behind it, and the safety of the living was
secured, as far as the living can secure, from Death.
Other charming details of the mediaeval city are the
94
The City of Perugia
liouse doors. They arc built of travertine or p'letra
Serena^ and have little garlands of flowers and fruit
bound with ribbons, and delicate friezes above
them. Some of them have very beautiful Latin in-
scriptions, whicli show a strong religious sentiment.
We quote a few of them here : Janua coeli (door of
heaven, over a church) ; Pulchra janua uhi honesta
domus (beautiful the door of the house which is
honest) ; yl Deo cuncla — a domino omnia (all things
from God) ; Or a ut vivas et Deo vives (pray to
live and thou shalt live to God) ; Prius mori
quam fadari (die rather than be disgraced) ; ///
parv'is qu'ies (in small things peace) ; Sol'icitudo mater
dtvitiarum (carefulness is the mother of riches) ;
Ecce spes I.H.S. mea semper (Christ always my
hope).
Over one or two of the doorways in Perugia you
will fmd almost byzantine bits of tracery with figures
of unknown animals — beasts of the Apocalypse — carved
in grey travertine all round them. One of the very
earliest bits of mediaeval building is the fragment of a
door of this sort, belonging to the first palace of the
Priori, which is now almost buried in the more modern
buildings of the sixteenth century. There is another
amusing procession of beasts over a gateway below
8. Ercolano. These odd animal friezes were probably
iirst designed for some sort of closed market where
beasts were sold, and tlie old Pescheria has medallions
of lasche on its walls.
As for the ways and manners of the people who
inhabited this mediaeval city, Ciatti and other writers
supply us with plenty of fantastic information :
"Perugia lies beneath the sign of the Lion and of
the Virgin," Ciatti says in his account, which is as
usual, unlike the account of anybody else, and highly
entertaining, " and from this cause it comes that the
95
T'hc Stoj-y of Perugia
city is called Leon'tna ^ and Sanguiiiia, and the habits
of the Pcrugians are neither luxurious nor effeminate.
Like those of whom Siderius writes, they came forth
strong in war, they delighted in fish, were humorous in
speech, swift in counsel, and loved the law of the
Pope. . . . The women," he continues with a certain
monastic indifference to female charm, " were not
beautiful, although Siderius calls them elegant ; - the
genius of Perugia was ever more inclined to the
exercise of arms than the cultivation of beauty, and
many famous captains have brought fame to this their
native city through their brave deeds. In Tuscany the
Sienese have the reputation of being frivolous, the
Pisans astute and malicious, the Florentines slow and
serious, and the Perugians ferocious and of a warlike
spirit."
Concerning the clothes and the feasts of this com-
bative race of people who lived for warfare rather than
for delight, we hear that they were accustomed to wear
a great deal of fur, the nobles using pelisses of martin
and of sable, the poor, sheep or foxes' skins. The
fur tippets still worn by the canons of cathedrals in
Italian towns in winter are probably a remnant of these
days. For the rest an adaptation of the Roman tunic
was perhaps worn by the men, whilst the women kept
to the tradition of the Etruscan headgear. " Victuals,"
1 In old days the Perugians actually kept a caged lion in
their public palace, so Ciatti was probably quite correct as far
as this first statement is concerned.
■- Ciatti was neither fair nor true to the women of the town.
The Madonnas of Bonfigli and Perugino disprove his testimony
in the sixteenth century even as our own eyes contradict it in
the nineteenth. We have only to go to mass in S. Lorenzo
to realise the simple grace of the young Umbrian peasant girls,
and in some of her palaces we may have the happiness of seeing
some of the fairest women, antl certainly the most elegant, of
modern Italy,
96
The City oj' Pcn/g'ui
Bonazzi tells us, " were of a coarse description, more
lard and pepper was eaten in those days, than meat
and coffee in ours. But at the feasts of the priests
and nobles an incredible quantity of exquisite viands
was consumed ; great animals stuffed with dainties were
cooked entire, and monstrous pasties served at table,
from which, when the knife touched tiiem, a living
and jovial dwarf jumped out upon the table, unex))ectcd
and to the great delight of all the company."
* * ^ * * *
But from the Age of Darkness men awoke both in
their manners and in their buildings. Perugia of
the Middle Ages shook the sleep from off her heavy
eyelids, and with that passionate impulse towards Light
which was perhaps the secret of the Renaissance, she
too strove toward the Beautiful, and in a hurried,
fevered fashion, she too decked herself with fairer
things than castle towers and hovels. The fourteenth
and the fifteenth centuries were, as we know, the Age
of Gold in later art, and Perugia, in spite of all her
tumults, in spite of her feuds, and even her passionate
religious abstinences, woke with the waking world.
Most of her churches, and most of those monuments
which mark her as a point for travellers, date from that
])eriod. " And at that time," says the chronicler
I'abretti, " there was so great a building going on in
different parts of the city that neither mortar nor stones
nor masons could have been procured even for money,
unless a number of Lombards had come in to build.
And tiiey were building the palace of the Priori
(Palazzo Pubblico), they were building S. Lorenzo,
Santa Maria dei Servi, S. Domcnico, S. Francesco,
the houses of Messer Raniero . . . the tower of the
Palazzo, and numerous other houses of private citizens
all at that same time."
But it was not merely a love of beauty which
G 97
Ihe Story of Perugia
prompted the Perugians to this sudden departure in
the way of architecture ; the spirit of the great saint
of Umbria had much to do with it. In Perugian
chronicles and histories we find a strange silence about
the influence of S. Francis on a city which was only
separated by some fourteen miles from Assisi. Yet
it is not possible that so strong a force as that of
this man's preaching could have been kept outside the
walls of the neighbour town, and Ciatti declares that at
one time nearly a third part of the inhabitants of
Perugia took the Franciscan habit. In 15CO and
1600 there were more than fifty convents in Perugia,
many of which had sixty to eighty inhabitants, but that
was during the rule of the popes. Of the great
period of building in the fourteenth century, which
included many fine churches and convents, the
buildings of the people and not of the priests remain
intact. The splendid Palazzo Pubblico and Pisano's
fountain in the square belong to this period. But
because the work of the Renaissance is so conspicuous
and charming we have described it in another place, and
in our description of the town have lingered rather over
the fragments of the Etruscan and the mediseval city.
As it would be impossible in this small book to give
anything beyond a cursory sketch of all the different
buildings of the town, we have decided to deal with
the details of some of the principal ones, leaving the
rest For the discovery of those whose leisure and intelli-
gence will always make such exploration a delight.
There is no lack of excellent guide-books to Perugia.
Of the fuller and rarer ones we would mention those
of Siepi and Orsini and the more modern one of Count
Rossi Scotti. These are in Italian. Murray's last
edition of "Central Italy" contains clear and excellent
general information, and there are several small local
guides — the best of these by Lupatelli — which can be
98
T'he City of Perugia
had in the hotel. No one who really desires to study
the town should fail to read the fascinating books of
its best lover, Annibalc Mariotti ; and the works of
Conestabile and Vermiglioli are invaluable for students.
All these can be had in the public library of the town
where there is a pleasant quiet room in which to study
them, and the excessive courtesy of whose head — Count
Vincenzo Ansidci — makes research an easy pleasure
there.
The topography of Perugia is simple: "The entire
city," says Mariotti, "since the very earliest days, was
divided into five quarters or rion/, which from the centre,
that is to say, the highest point of the town, and with as
gentle an incline as the condition of the ground allows,
stretch out in five different directions like so many sun-
beams across the mountain side. These gates are :
Porta Sole to the east, Porta Susanna to the west
(formerly called Trasimene), Porta S. Angela
(formerly Porta Augusta) to the north, Porta S.
Pietro to the south, and Porta Eburnea to the south-
west. Each of these separate gates bears its own
armorial design and colour. Porta Sole is white and
bears a sun with rays ; Porta Susanna blue, with a
chain ; Porta S. Angelo red, with a branch of
arbutus ; Porta S. Pietro yellow, with a balance, and
Porta Eburnea green, with a pilgrim's staff."
Owing to the extraordinary situation of the town
there are hardly any level squares or streets. The
two considerable flat open spaces on either side of the
Prefettura, the site of the Prefettura itself and of the
hotel Brufani are artilicial spaces, the result of the
demolition of Paul III.'s fortress (see chap. vi.). We
imagine that many intelligent persons have passed through
the comfortable hotel of Perugia not realising at all the
artificial nature of the ground on which it stands. The
Corso and the Piazza di S. Lorenzo may be said to be
99
The Story of Perugia
the heart of the town ; its pulse beats a Httle lower
down in the Piazza Sopraniuro where fruit and vege-
tables are sold and where there is a perpetual market-
day.^ The other big open square is the Piazza
d'Armi, on a lower level of the hill and to the south
of the town. There the cattle fair is held on Tuesdays,
and there the beautiful white Umbrian oxen, with skins
that are liner than the cattle of the plain, and the grey
Umbrian pigs, and tall Umbrian men and girls can be
seen in all their glory. Here too is the convent of S.
Giuliana with its splendid cloisters and little Gothic
campanile, and here above all do the soldiers of Perugia
practice their bands, their horses, and their bugles every
morning.
There are three things lacking in Perugia, as there
are naturally in all hill-cities, and these are gardens,
carriages, and running water. But all these things
have been delightfully overcome by the inhabitants.
As a matter of fact, there are plenty of hidden gardens,
behind the houses in the town, but in almost every
house you will see that iron sockets or rings have
been fastened to the walls below the windows, and in
' This square is one of the most charming points in the city.
In old days it was a very disreputai)le and untidy suburban
square or tiioroughfare. The last witcii burned in Perugia
was burned in this place. All the refuse of the city was cast
out upon it. In this way. and upheld by the first Etruscan wall,
an artificial space of flat land was procured which the houses to
the east of tlie piazza now occupy, but these were always threat-
ened by destruction as the soil below them was constantly giving
way, and one of Fortebraccio's great works was the bolstering
up of these houses with strong arches and walls from below.
The reason of the name of the square is that its pavement
actually covers the Etruscan wall. It is a beautiful and pictur-
esque place, full of fine detail. The buildings of the old
University (1483) have almost an echo of Oxford in their
square window frames ; the palace of the Capitano del Popolu
has a grand door in pietra serena with the figure of Justice
carved above it.
100
/
PIAZZA SOPRAMURO, SllOWINfi THE PALACE OF THE CAPITANO DEL
POl'OLO AND THE BUILDINfJS OF THE FIRST UNIVERSITY OF PERUGIA
lOI
The City of Perugia
these, pots of geraniums, daisies, and carnations are hung
and tended with excessive care. Some of the better
palaces or convents have stone brackets in the shape of
shells for window gardens, and even in the dusk of
grim December days the old stone walls seem green
and living. The lack of carriages is really only felt
in winter when the inhabitants seem to fall for the
while asleep, leaving the streets to assume their
mediaeval character, and to be swept by winter
hurricanes ; in spring and summer the place is gay
enough ; indeed the Corso is a very good specimen of
Umbrian Piccadilly on a fme May evening, and there
are plenty of carriages in the tourist season. But go
into any palace of Perugia and you will find the sedan
chairs of our grandfatliers ready for instant use, proving
that carriages are quite a modern innovation in the town.
The need of running water is, of course, the most serious
point about so big and prosperous a city, and a running
stream to turn a paper mill would heal more ills than all
her pictures and her wide calm view. The great rushing
stream of the Tiber down at the foot of the hill seems
like a sort of solemn mockery to people who have only
wells and a little river from the hill to drink from and
wash their linen in. We have realized this on winter
nights when the Tiber was out in flood in the moon-
light down below our windows, and small drops freez-
ing, one by one, on Pisano's fountain behind us in the
square.
Yet the town is prosperous. Its inhabitants and
those of the commune have increased by some six
thousand since the days of its first prosperity.
Commerce, it is true, seems somewhat at a standstill.
There is the commerce of travellers, which is by no
means inconsiderable ; and there is the commerce of
Mind. This last Perugia has always had since the
days when she grew powerful, and the University of
103
T'he St 07')' oj Perugia
Perugia has played a constant and important part
throughout her annals. It was founded in the end of
the fifteenth century, and its management, Hke other
things in the city, was chiefly in the hands of the
people and their representatives, the Priori. Five
Savi, one from each rione, were told off to regulate
its affairs and to elect its professors. Urban VIII.
brought it under the management of the Church, but
this did not in any way alter its first rules and laws.
We hear that " the Emperor Charles IV. bestowed
upon the University all those distinctions which were
enjoyed by the most celebrated universities of the
Empire," and Napoleon confirmed these and added
much to the magnificence of Perugia's univeisity. It
was during the Napoleonic rule that the college was
transferred from its old quarters in the Piazza Sopra-
muro to the vast new buildings at Montemorcino.
Her three main branches of study are jurisprudence,
science, and theology. Several of the popes studied
in Perugia. S. Thomas Aquinas lectured here, and
many distinguished men of science and of law passed
through their first schools in the Umbrian hill town.
The two great lawyers Baldo Baldeschi and Bartolo
Alfani were students in the University of Perugia,
and Alberico Gentile, who afterwards lectured in
Oxford, studied here at the University. The affairs
of war were never allowed to interfere with those of
the mind, and we hear that a guarantee of safe conduct
was given to any scholar who came here from a
distance.
The arts of peace, such as the manufacture of wool
and silken stuffs, were known in the middle ages in
spite of the want of water (the hand and foot looms
of Perugia are almost prehistoric in their simplicity),
and in 1297 we hear of the magistrates of Perugia
sending an embassy into Lombardy to fetch two friars
The City of Perugia
thence who should teach their townsfolk the secrets of
weaving. This art was zealously kept up for many
years, but finally it fell into decay. A branch of it
has lately been revived by a Milanese lady, and thanks
to her efforts we arc again able to buy the strange flame-
patterned carpets which we find on the altars of so many
of the older Umbrian churches.
Except in the Corso, life seems very quiet in
Perugia. Yet though there is poverty, there is none
of that feeling of decayed splendour, of arrested magni-
ficence and luxury which we feel in so many cities
of Italy. The Perugians were probably never very
luxurious. There are one or two beautiful old palaces,
but they are plain to look at, and the palaces of the
nobles had a bad time of it and were constantly pulled
to bits as their different owners were driven into the
country. The town is a town of a strong people ; it
is dignified and peaceful. When the wind is not
battering about its roofs and howling through its
narrow streets one becomes aware of an extraordinary
silence.
And in that silence the questions rise — one cannot
stiffe them : Where are the BeccJnr'ini and where are
the RaspantW Are the Baglioni really dead, and the
Oddi, where are they? And the Flagellants and the
Penitentl — have even their ghosts departed ? Will not
a pope ride in at the gates with his nephews and his
cardinals and take up peaceful quarters in the grim
Canonica ? Will not some warlike Abbot come and
batter down the church towers to build himself a
])alace ? Will no procession pass us with a banner of
Bonfigli, and women wailing that the plague should be
removed ? . . .
The snow falls silently upon the roads in winter.
No blood of nobles stains it. In May all Umbria is
105
The Story of Perugia
green with crops. No condottiere comes to trample
down the corn. But high upon her hill-top Perugia
stands as she stood then, and in her silence seems to
wait for something yet to come.
* * * * *
Before closing this chapter we would once again
repeat that no one with a few hours' leisure should
forbear to wander round the outer walls of the town
before leaving Perugia. With only one break : that
which is formed by the deep ravine (or bnlagnjo in the
local dialect) between Porta Sant Antonio and Porta
S. Angelo, one can walk on quite good paths and roads
under the outer walls of the entire city. The Via della
Cuparella is a pleasant lane reached by passing out
through Porta Eburnea. It skirts under the mediasval
and Etruscan walls to the west of the town and re-
enters the city again a little below Porta Susanna.
This lane is one of the most sheltered corners in
Perugia, and .we have wandered up and down it in the
early days of January, and found the sleepy lizards basking
on its banks and yellow aconites in all the furrows. The
trees bud early there ; their young green shimmers like
a vision of immortal youth against the grim walls of
the mediaeval and Etruscan city up beyond.
Another charming walk is that along the eastern
side of the town, passing out through Porta S. Ercolano
and through the Corso away along the broad high-road
to the convent of Monte Luce, which is quite one of
the most fascinating buildings of Perugia, with its front
of white and rosy marble, its court-yard and rose
window, and the splendid block of its nunnery walls
covering the crest of the hill behind the church.
The convent was built early in the thirteenth century
on the site, some say, of an Etruscan temple dedicated
to the Goddess Feronia, but more probably in the
sacred wood or lucus from which it derived its name.
1 06
The City of Perugia
It was one of the most prosperous convents of the
country, and Mariotti gives a delightful account of a
visit paid by the great Farnese Pope, Paul III., to
its Abbess. The Pope, it seems, gave himself the
permission to visit the nuns, who received him,
*' marvelling," as the most learned nun of her day
relates, "that the Vicar of God on earth should so
far humiliate himself as to visit such vile servants, as
we were." The Pope came into the church and took
Sfei.
^ . ».r ^'m '''-^ i-lifi^^:^
if
\:
\
CONVKNT or MONTK LUCE
the seat prepared for him in the choir, "all of his own
accord, without being helped by anybody, and like a
meek and gentle lamb . . . and being seated, he said to
the sisters, 'Come everyone of you and kiss my foot.' "
Then the Abbess and the sisters kissed the feet of the
Pope. A long conversation and exchange of compli-
ments followed, and finally at sundown the Pope
departed, " very greatly edified."
From Monte Luce one road winds down to the
107
The Story of Perugia
Tiber, passing under the charming villa of Count Rossi
Scotti, and another back into the city, first through a
strange row of wooden booths which are opened on the
feast day of Monte Luce (August 15th), and then on
through the walls of Monimaggiore's fortress and back
into the town through Porta S. Antonio.
But it is not possible to describe all the details of a
place which, like all fair things, should be explored
to be enjoyed. The discovery of its hidden lanes,
its little wayside villas, and its churches must be
left as it was left to the present writers, who
never will forget the tramps they took in the brown
winter twilight, the drives on warm spring afternoons
when honeysuckle scented all the hedges, and the
strange excited feelings which possessed them when
they found the hidden wayside house or chapel,
which had no written record to tell them who had
built it, and nothing but its own Perugian charm to
endear it to them, and to give it history.
108
chaptl;r V
Piilivzzo Pnbblico^ The Fountain^ und
the Diiomo
IN Professor Freeman's small sketch of Perugia he
says very truly that the most striking points of the
city — Mtruscan, Mcdia-val and Renaissance included —
are those which are gathered together in the Pia%%a
di San Loren-z,o.
The whole atmosphere of the square is unique and
impressive : individual as are the piazzas of the largest
and the smallest towns in Italy which have battled for
tlieir independence throughout the course of centuries.
The buildings have been changed about, burnt, battered
and rebuilt, but the spirit of the middle ages has never
really left them. Sitting on the steps of the Duomo we
seem to feel it creep up round our feet telling us stories
of a past which is immortal. It was here that the
people of Perugia fought and judged, preached and re-
pented, loved maybe, and most certainly hated. It was
in this little pulpit above our heads that S. Bernardino
])reached, and saw the books of necromancy and the
false hair of the ladies burned; here that the Podesta
and the people received ambassadors with deeds of sub-
mission from terrified neighbour towns. On the spikes
of the railing round the fountain one set of nobles stuck
tlie heads of others whom they hated, whom they
slaughtered ; and down those steps of the palazzo op-
109
The Story of Perugia
|)Osite, the great procesbion of tlie Priori came on days
of solemn ceremony, and uj) through the dark gateway
of the Canonica the Pope and all his cardinals passed in
when they arrived from Rome. Truly the spirit of the
past history is not dead. It is painfully and supremely
living. The Piazza di S. Lorenzo on a December
night with windstorms hurrying the sleet across its
great grim walls is more absolutely filled with the terri-
bilita of humanity than anything we ever realised.
One strange fact to trace in the square is the splendid
preservation of the municipal buildings as compared to
the almost ruinous condition of those of the church.
The strife between the people and the papacy is carved
as it were upon the very hearts of the monuments, and
whereas the palace of the people has remained com-
paratively perfect — a beautiful finished building which
delights the eye — the palace of the popes has been
battered and abused almost to destruction at the hand
of man, of fires and of time. Almost the only lovely
detail which still clings to the face of the cathedral is
the small pulpit whence the saint of Siena preached to
the people ; and this in itself is a symbolical fact, for it
was the power of a single human soul which, for an
instant tamed, if it could not quell, the passion of the
Perugians. The power of the church, as church, never
really mastered them. Paul III. mastered them, but
he did so in the character of a warrior and tyrant.
As far as position goes the cathedral entirely domi-
nates the municipal palace. It stands so high that in
any distant view of the city it seems to soar above the
other buildings. As we have seen before, the Peru-
gians had but little patience with architectural or
aesthetic matters. " They always preferred Mars to
the Muse," says Bonazzi. Some grim and enduring
respect kept their hands off their municipal palace when
once it had been completed to their satisfaction, they
I lO
PalaZ'Z'O Pubblico
took tlic piccaution of putting a large iron fence round
their fountain, but their cathedral suffered. They were
zealous during the time of their prosperity to have a
large and splendid church, but they never found time
■1iM.'-Vk I ■IS. •:'\^si::'-|
Slii»fk'j^t5,i-
7 ^- '.
PIAZZA Dl S. LORENZO, SEEN FROM UNDER THE ARCHES OF
THE PALAZZO PUBBLICO
to finish or adorn it. They left the brickwork
naked, hoping for some chance fight to furnish them
with marbles for it, and in 13H5 they were able to
secure those which had been prepared for the cathedral
of Arezzo. But they did not keep them. Pellini
II I
T'he Story of Perugia
gives a weird account of the bringing; of these marbles.
"These things being accomphshed," he says, refer-
ring to a very inhuman siege and conquest over the
unfortunate Arezzo, " some outward sign of the
acknowledged victory was necessary ; so many marble
stones were brought back to Perugia with some paintings
upon them which had been formerly in the cathedral
of the city ; and the oxen and carts which brought
them hither, with all the men who worked to bring
them, were dressed out by our city with red cloth ;
but of those said stones, although they were certainly
put up outside the walls of our cathedral, no sign at
all remains." A little later Pellini explains their loss,
for the people of Arezzo got back their marbles.
" They started on their journey back to Arezzo," says
the faithful historian, who will acknowledge no possible
conquest of his own city, " and were put up on a part
of their ehurch where they may now be seen, white
and red in colour, and very lovely to behold."
Throughout the history of Perugia, in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, we hear of fights and skir-
mishes in the square, but it was always the cathedral
and not the palace which was turned into a fortress.
In 14^9 one of the endless fights between the Baglioni
and the Oddi occurred, and the cathedral became a
castle. Guido Baglioni arrived in hot haste from
iSpello, and proceeded to turn the Oddi out of Perugia.
" Girolamo della Penna," says Villani, " deserted his
brother Agamemnon and joined the Signori Baglioni,
taking with him Silvio del Abate and others, and, to-
gether with the Baglioni, they took possession of S.
Lorenzo, placed artillery there, and fortified the church,
its loggia, and its roof in every way they knew of."
The Duomo, on this occasion, proved such an ex-
cellent stronghold, that the Oddi outside were entirely
discomfited, and had to abandon the siege and retire
1 12
Pala%'zo Piibbl'ico
once more to the country. Another remarkable in-
stance of fighting between the two pugnacious famihes
is given by Fabrctti, which ilhistrates, moreover, the
slight power possessed by the Pope at that period. " At
the end of October 1488 there was a great fight in the
Piazza degli Aratri, and then the Baglioni collected in
the piazza, and an ever-increasing throng of supporters
assembled round them. And on that same day the
brother of the Pope (Innocent VIII.) arrived, and
as he passed by the piazza the people called out,
' Chiesa, ch'icsa.' He was accompanied to the steps
of the Palazzo Pubblico by Guido and Grifonetto
Baglioni, who hoped that he might manage to arrange
matters. But the Priori looked out of the windows
above them, and seeing the Baglioni in the street
below, they began to throw down large and heavy
stones in the hopes of wounding Guido Baglioni. The
hubbub continued with renewed force, and only at dusk
did stillness fall upon the city."
Palazzo Pubblico.
Having glanced thus rapidly over the geneial his-
torical interest of the piazza, it may be well to describe
the buildings separately, taking the Pala%%o Pubblico
first. Anyone who comes to Perugia, even for a
single afternoon, will naturally hurry to this point and
spend an hour or two in the Cambio and Pinacoteca ;
but if a little time remains he should wander further
through its public corridors and halls and archives,
its council chambers, library, and prisons. All these
are gathered together with a certain indifference to
the first lines of architecture in the shell of the mas-
sive old buildings, and by penetrating these myste-
rious regions one seems better able to understand the
spirit of historical Perugia. The iron force of thie
H 113
The Story of Perugia
people's law — that force which alone kept head above
the breakers of foreign wars and civil discord in the
past — slumbers, but is not dead, in the halls where it
once reigned. A hum of modern life, a host of
'l:^:m^.
■#ySj
t-jS''
REMAINS OF THK FIRST PALAZZO REl PRIORI IN THE VIA DEL VERZARO
modern busts and portraits now clash with, now
mellow, the sombre walls and passages. At the other
end of the Corso there is a grand new Prefettura,
where the Prefect of all Umbria manages Umbrian
114
Palazxo Piibblico
matters, but the pulse of the old city beats on in its
old veins. The Priori, with their golden chains and
crimson gowns, have vanished, but the men and women
of the land are pretty much the same. They wear big
collars of foxes' fur on their long winter cloaks, just as
they did in mediaeval times, and they bring their claim?
of business into their first house of business, they swarm
and hum within the corridors, and trample up and
down the wide stone staircase with dignified deter-
mination stamped upon their features. In the rooms
to which they go the clerks sit writing steadily amidst
their piles of archives and of blue-books. Few
probably of all these people know, and fewer care,
about the Peruginos and Bonfiglis in the rooms above;
for the natural man or woman desires to pray before
his saints and not to pay to stare at them.
We hear that the present palace was finished in the
middle of the fourteenth century. Long before that
date there had been a public hall where the rulers of the
city met to discuss and settle its affairs. ^ But this build-
ing was comparatively small and cramped, and the new
meeting-house was undertaken with superb disregard to
expense. A rough calculation from the many bills
shows us that upwards of 14,041 Hire was spent on
the building of it, but it took nearly one hundred and
thirty years to build, and the fact that it was finished
at different periods — a bit being added at intervals
1 It is difficult to reconstruct these earlier buildings, which
have almost entirely vanished with time and different fires
l)iit they lay more to the west of the piazza, and formed a fine
group, with a great flight of steps leading up to them from
the square. The church of the Maesta delle Volte iielonged
to them ; also the exquisite little arch which is left standing
alone at the head of the Via del Verzaro. For an accurate
idea of the first plan of the buildings in the piazza it would be
well to look at a picture in the Pinacoteca, which hangs in the
small room out of the Sala di Alaiwtto.
"5
'The Story of Perugia
down the Corso — may account for the waving and
irregular line of the east front, which is one of its
most marked features.
The first architects employed were natives of Perugia :
Fra Bevignate and Messers Giacomo di Servadio and
Giovanello di Benvenuto. The original plan of the
building was probably a perfect square, reaching from its
present north front down to where the great door now
stands. One should examine the building from the
back in order to understand it fully. At one time we
hear that Lombard workmen were called in to assist in
the " very heavy labour," which, perhaps, gives a certain
Lombard look to parts of the brickwork round the
windows.
The citizens took a vast interest in the erection of
their public palace, and allowed many private houses
and even churches to be pulled down in order to make
room for it. As in the decoration of the cathedral, so
also for the palace, a neighbouring town was ransacked
to furnish ornaments, and the unhappy Bettona was
stripped of marbles to supply the magnificent Priori with
their pillars and their friezes. Different portions of the
huge edifice were given to the principal city guilds to
decorate, and it was probably a spirit of emulation in
these societies which produced the costly beauties of the
separate parts. The chapel was decorated by the Mer-
chants' Guild, and also the principal door, which was
dedicated to St Louis of Toulouse. It is a beautiful
piece of work, rich and lovely in its smallest detail, and
carved in the grey stone called p'tetra serena, which
always looks a little cold and dusty, like the fur on a
grey mole's back, but which lends itself to a certain
attractive style of polished carving peculiar to old door-
ways in Perugia. 1 Through it one passes into an im-
1 All the emblematic heraldry of the city may be followed on
this big doorway. The three patron saints of the city. S. Er-
ii6
Pala%^o Piibbl'ico
mcnse hall, from which a staircase leads into the rooms
of the palace above. In former times there were no
steps, and persons of distinction and of wealth rode up
on horseback to the council chambers.
A splendid open-air staircase leads up to the north
entrance of the palace, which is, perhaps, the most
impressive architectural point in all Perugia. Some
years ago this fme outer staircase was pulled down ; but
it has been rebuilt with extreme care and taste, and
probably exactly on the original lines. One can fancy
the great procession of the Podcsta and the Priori
proceeding up and down these steps on days of solemn
ceremony. " Four mace-bearers went before them,"
we are told, " bearing in their hands a silver staff richly
covered with beautifully wrought figures, with the
griffin on the top in enamelled relief. Without these
mace-bearers it was not lawful for magistrates to go
out." Each of the ten Priori wore round his neck
" a heavy golden chain, the emblem of his office ; and
on solemn occasions the magistrate was preceded by six
trumpeters to herald his approach with silver trumpets,
which same were about four metres in length, beautifully
enamelled, and with streamers of red satin on which
the white griffin of the city was depicted."
The principal door, from which the Priori probably
emerged, is guarded by great brazen beasts : a griffin
and a lion, emblems of the city and the Guelphs.
These creatures are very typical creations from the brain
colano (Herculanus), S. Costanzo, and S. Louis of Toulouse
stand in the centre. The last of these was the son of Charles
II. of Na])les, and a great grandson of Louis IX. of France.
Tile Perugians. who were always strong Guelphs, chose him as
their patron saint when Roi)ert I. King of Naples, and l)rother
of Louis, took arms against tiie Ghibellines at Genoa. S. Louis
was also tile ])articular patron of tlie Palace of the Priori. The
two lions wiio support the pillars of the doorway are symbols
of tile Guelpli cause.
117
T'he Story of Perugia
of some Peiugian artist, and among the most impressive
objects of their sort in Italy. They were originally
made for a fountain in the square by a certain Maestro
Ugolino, who received the modest sum of ten pounds
for making them. In i 308 the fountain was destroyed,
and a little later they were hoisted up to their present
position. Long chains and keys hung from their claws
in early days. " At the feet of these beasts," says
Rossi, " the bars and keys of the doors of Assisi were
hung as glorious trophies in 1321; and in 1358 the keys
of the Justice Hall of Siena. The undisciplined
militia which entered Perugia on the 3rd August 1799
pulled them down secretly, ('in the silence of the
night' Mariotti says,) and thus took from the citizens
of the present day the satisfaction of restoring to their
rightful owners these disgraceful mementos of patriarchal
warfare with cities, who to-day are their best friends.
The fragments which remain have not the slightest
historical interest ; they are merely the bars from which
the above-mentioned articles once hung."
The door with the brazen beasts above it leads
straight into the Sala del Notar'i — a splendid vaulted
hall, its ceiling covered with frescoes, surrounded
by high wooden stalls and steps of walnut. This big
hall was given over to the lawyers of Perugia in
1583. They bought it, and their CoUegio down
below, from the city for the sum of 1 000 scud'i ;
and they at once decorated their fine new quarters,
and settled comfortably into them, doing all their
business there till early in the century. By the
code of Napoleon they were, however, deprived of
their privileges, and during the imperial French rule
the hall was used as a criminal court. The lawyers
seem to have been utterly unhinged in their arrange-
ments. They never returned to the pleasant haunts
from which the Emperor ousted them, and the
118
Palazzo Pubhlico
big hall is now used for public concerts and
lectures.
The room which corresponds with this one on
the upper storey is now the Public Library, with a
magnificent collection of over 50,000 volumes, some
valuable manuscripts and beautiful painted missals.
Leaving the Sola del Notari one crosses the
main staircase of the palace, and passes into the
living heart of the building, into a network of
separate rooms and offices which it is not necessary
to describe at length. The Sala del Cons'iglio Comuni-
tati'vo, or d' Udien-za, is beautifully decorated with
crimson damask, and delicate arabesques, and has
a fine open fire-place carved in p'tetra serena.
Adone Doni's picture of Julius IIL (see page 181)
is hung in this room, and from it one can gain a
pretty accurate knowledge of what the Priori and the
potentates of Perugia looked like in their gala
clothes. In the Scda degli ylrchivi there is a fresco
of Parnassus by Baroccio. The colour is very
fresh still, and the nymphs seem hopelessly out of
place above the piles of dusty archives.
There is a curious history connected with the Sala
del Malconslglio — that room with the exquisite fresco
by Fiorcnzo di Lorenzo over its main entrance
door.' It was here that the celebrated debate took
place concerning the English prisoners (Hawkwood's
men) whom the Perugians succeeded in capturing
during the great fight down by the Tiber. The
prisoners concocted a letter as they lay in their cells,
and in the most pathetic terms they appealed to their
capturers ; " We too are Christians," they urged, "but
we die of thirst. Have mercy upon us, have mercy on
your poor captives, jc^wr English vassals.^^ The Peru-
' It is said that Fiorenzo painted this fresco to commemorate
the fact that he had been himself a Pr'iorc in 1472.
119
The Story of Perugia
gians, moved, or more probably Mattered by the cringing
words, in a moment of ill-timed leniency, let their
captives free. They lived to regret the action. A
short time later Hawkwood and his men attacked them
in another battle on the bridge of S. Giovanni. The
English gained an easy victory, i 500 of the Perugians
fell, and the Podeslu and the German captain of their
troops were taken prisoners together with a host of
other men. Thus it came about that the room in
which the council met to decide the release of the
English was thenceforth called the Sala del Malcon-
stgl'io in memory of the lamentable decision witnessed
by its walls.
Hawkwood's men were not coniined, as it happens,
in the prisons of the Palazzo Pubblico, but no pity can
be too great for those who were, for the Perugians were
by no means dainty in their treatment of prisoners in
medieval times. The street which runs from the Piazza
down into the Via del Priori is still called the Via della
Gabbla because of the large iron cage which used to
hang above it from the upper windows of the palace.
In this cage the Perugians were wont to imprison
thieves and other malefactors, and not even the
clergy escaped the horrid degradation. In 1442
we read of a priest, Angelo di Marino, who robbed
Roberto di Ser Francesco di Ferolo of some of
his possessions : " the missing articles," says Fabretti,
" were found concealed in the campanile and under
the altars, and, together with Angelo, the brothers
of the priest were discovered to be accomplices, also
a friar of S. Fiorenzo and many other priests and
excellent citizens. On the 29th the said Angelo
was piit into a round cage, and with a cord he was
dragged up into the corner wall of the Palace of the
Podesta and there he remained for two days, and
in the night he was put into prison and in the
I 20
:'^m
"^••' /'!" ^ ••''; ^ i ^ iii-^;' kk.-
!;■
s^^:*^^
OLDEST I'ART OF Till: V.W.XllO I'UUlil.lL'l)
Pahrzzo Pubbl'ico
loggia of that palace twelve sacks ot stolen goods
were stored and round that cage there was a garland
of false keys . . . and on the 28th of January the
said Angelo was once again put back into the cage
at midday, and it was very cold and there was
much snow, and he remained there till the first day
of February, both night and day, and that same
day he was brought out dead and laid upon his
bier in the piazza, and he was buried in the passage
of S. lyorenzo which leads into the cloister."
A big "open -air" prison looked into the Via
ilella Gabh'ia : a sort of large cavern in the fathom-
less walls of the old building, and here no doubt
the wretched prisoners sat huddled in chains together,
a prey to all the pigs and passers-by. A cork-
screw staircase leads up from the lower prisons to
the higher storeys of the palace, and into this, merely
in the thickness of the wall, separate cells arc built, win-
dowless, undrained, airless places, where other unfor-
tunate persons were put by the "men of warlike spirit."
There were even rougher modes than these of
dealing with malefactors. On one occasion we hear
of the most barbarous butchery of some gentlemen
whose offences were purely political. Some were
" thrown from the windows of the Palazzo Pubblico,
and others were hanged from the lum'tere, or long spikes
which project from its lower walls." "^rhc /i/miere were
intended for the heads of Perugia's enemies, and one
can fancy the faces of the butchered men looking down
on the unforgiving citizens, whilst their blood dripped
into the street. All through Perugia's history we find
references to the lumiere : "On the 3rd of July 1541,
the head of Ciancio de Burelio was borne along by one
of the twenty-five rebels of the Pope, a student killed
him : iiis head was put on a lumiere outside the Palace
of the Podesta " (Fabretti, iii. 22).
123
Tthe Story of Perugia
There were strange ways of catching prisoners in
Perugia. We find one statute which shows us that
every artizan was obHged to hang certain hooks and
gaffs to his house walls "ready to help in the capture
of a criminal, and all were expected to help in this said
capture." '
But if there was rude cruelty shown to prisoners it is
fair to say there was also an occasional rude mercy.
No doubt the latter was excited in the Perugians by
their extreme religious superstition. We hear of an
old custom of liberating prisoners "pro amore Del.
" Every six months, two buon uom'tni (or good men)
were chosen to elect certain officials who were given
full power to let out five condemned prisoners on Holy
Friday, two at Christmas, two on the feast of S.
Ercolano, and two on Corpus Domini. Also two
women on every feast of the Virgin Mary. In the
choice of women, only those condemned for minor
offences must be liberated. The men let out must
have suffered six months' imprisonment, and the
women one month, and neither must have been liber-
ated in this manner {j>ro amore Del) on previous
occasions." Also there was to be strict silence on
1 We would point out tliat. as far as prisons are con-
cerned, the nineteenth century lias certainly improved in clean-
liness and decency upon its predecessors. We visited the
dungeons in the Fia dclla Galibia, one bitter winter afternoon,
and left them shuddering. The following day we were taken
through the wards of the unromantic modern building which
stands — a veritable eyesore to the artist — on the southern
slope of the city. Civilisation has brought great good in
certain things, if not more beauty for liumanity. The modern
prisons of Perugia are given over to the care of Belgian
nuns. There seemed to be a scent of freshest lavender in the
long cool rooms where the prisoners sleep and work, and we
left them we may almost say with comfort, or, at least, with
far happier feelings than those which had saddened us the night
before in the gruesome cells of the Palazzo Pitbbitcu.
124
'The Foinita'in
the nature of the ofFencc. The Podesta published the
names of the freed prisoners in three parts of the town
so tliat the citizens might protest if they happened to
be so minded. Three days later the prisoners were
free and went to render thanks in the Church of S.
Ercolano, after which they presented themselves before
the civil authorities at the Palazzo Pubblico. These
scarcerat'i pro amore dei, as they were called, were
excluded from all public offices, " it not being decent,"
says the statute, " that they should be on the same level
as the rest of the Perugians."
The Fountain,
There is one remarkable object in the Piazza of 8.
Lorenzo which has little or nothing to do with in-
dividual factions or with the affairs of Church and
State, and this is the famous fountain which we are
told was ever " dear as the apple of their eye to the
people of Perugia." Indeed the citizens were in the
habit of declaring that their fountain was "unique not
only in Italy but in the entire world."
This beautiful bit of early Renaissance sculpture
needs but a slight description here, for its form is familiar
to most people either through engravings or through
photographs. It is, however, a rather common error
to suppose, as Vasari himself did, that the Pisani
were the sole architects of the fountain. The
only certain work which they did for it was the
ornamentation of the panels and probably the statues.
The whole plan of the fountain was supplied by
the Perugian architect, JMVi Bevignate, and it was he
who called in other sculptors to help in the build-
ing.^ In 1277 he applied to Charles of Anjou for
1 Fia Bevignate was a Sylvestrian monk. Pascoli says that
lie (lied in 1350, at the age of ninety-five, in which case he
was hut a youth when he designed the fountain.
125
T^he Stury of Perugia
permission to employ the Florentine, Arnolfo di Lapo,
to help with the sculptures on the second basin, and
in the same year a certain Rosso designed and made
the third bronze basin with its pillar and its ornaments
of Nereids and of griffins on the top.^
The fountain rises from the square — a broad pile of
marble now almost black with age, upon a circle of
stone steps. The second basin is supported on a forest
of slender columns which give an airiness and a necessary
lightness to the whole. The designs upon its panels,
which are infinite in their variety, were made by Niccola
Pisano and carried out by his son Giovanni. These
two big marble basins are crowned by a third in bronze
with the figures of three Nereids rising from it, and bear-
ing on their heads the eternal griffin of Perugia, without
which fascinating beast no single house or building in
the city would ever seem complete.
Niccola Pisano and his son must have studied the
tastes of the Perugians with exquisite care and tact,
combining these with the more general artistic taste of
the age in which they worked. The panels on the first
large basin are a fascinating study : the months of the
year, and ^sop's fables, scenes of domestic life and
Roman legend, the griffin and tales from the Old Testa-
ment, the Umbrian saints, the sciences and arts, all won-
derfully intermingled upon the separate panels. Even
the old joke about the fishes is gracefully treated by the
Florentine sculptor, for Lake Trasimene, as a beautiful
woman, clasps three large lasche in her rounded arms.
S. Ercolano, too, is here in all his glory, together with
S. Louis of Toulouse and S. Costanzo.
One cannot help wondering how Perugia got her
drinking water in early days. We may imagine that it
^ For full account of tlie fountain, see Mariotti, '• Lettere
Pittoriche," and Gio. Battista Vermiglioli's admirable work on
the subject. The latter is splendidly illustrated.
126
THE REAl'EK. DETAIL liN I'ANEl. ON THE FOUNTAIN
T'he Fountain
was entirely through wells, and wells on the top of a
hill are apt to run dry. Thirst, therefore, was probably
a far stronger factor in times of siege than the cowardice
of her inhabitants, and the city must often have been
driven to capitulate through the terrible need of
water, rather than through the fear of foreign arms.
As the city grew, a sense of inadequacy on this par-
ticular point grew too, and people began to wonder how
water could be procured from some tresh running spring
upon the neighbouring hills ; yet to bring it up to such a
height seemed to the Perugians an almost insuperable
difficulty. An early genius nearly solved it for them,
but like other early geniuses he failed. In 1254 Fratc
Plcnario, an obscure preaching friar, wandering through
the woods and hills around Perugia, conceived, what
in those days seemed the most hazardous scheme,
of bringing water into the piazza of the city by means
of a large aqueduct from the hill of Monte Pac-
ciano, which lies three miles or so to the north of the
town. Plenario urged his scheme upon the magistrates,
they approved it, and after certain difficulties as to the
necessary funds they determined to embark on the
adventurous undertaking. Frate Plenario was put at
the head of the works, and Messer Bonomi chosen as
architect. But the plan was large, the execution very
difficult. The arches were built too small and fragile,
and carried at too low a level. They fell to ruin in the
woods, and the poor little priest and his friend Bonomi
vanished with the desolation of their works. Their
plans, however, never died, they merely remained to be
carried out by stronger if not subtler minds.
In 1274 the question of a fountain again became
paramount in Perugia. More solid channels were built
across the hills and the ambitious magistrates called in
the most skilled sculptors of the day to decorate a re-
ceptacle for the precious water when it should arrive.
I 1 29
T'he Story of Perugia
It came tor the iirst time on the 15th of February
1280, and we can fancy the joyful pride of the citizens
as they saw it running over the lovely marble and
brass basins which had been so carefully prepared
for it.
The most elaborate and stringent laws were made
for the guardianship of the fountain and the use of its
waters. It was enclosed, as it is to-day, with iron
railings, and was, as the ever sarcastic Bonazzi rightly
says, " the subject of most grave solicitude." We
hear that there were seven troughs which gathered the
water outside the railing, but " beasts, barrels, unwashed
pots, and unclean hands were forbidden the use of the
water, and indeed this was guarded with such jealous
care that it seemed as though the people of Perugia
had built their fountain for the sake of beauty only. . . .
Yet," adds Bonazzi, " the five hundred florins
which were annually given over to its maintenance,
without counting extra expenses and the wages of
its special porters and superior officers, would have
been ill-spent indeed if beauty had been missing in the
monument."
But if it was difficult to bring the water it was equally
diflBcult to keep it always running. The elegant pile of
marbles, the thing that the Podesta, the priests and the
people all combined in literally doting on, was for ever
running dry, and growing lifeless. In this nineteenth
century the Prefect of Perugia is about to send some
forty miles instead of three to fetch his people water,
but the great fountain will be there to hold it when it
comes, and the first aqueduct will remain to break with
exquisite lines the little copses and the fields away to
the north of the city.
We know of few lovelier points about Perugia than
the place where its water is stored on the lower hills
of Monte Pacciano — low wooded hills where the
130
)| 11! iiiii
Mm
ilt'i !
.1 )',•''
■\ /\!i
'k '■& P^'M
GFOMF.TRY. DKTAII. IN .\ PANEL OH THE FOUNTAIN
'3'
iS*. Lortwzo
white heath grows in spring-time amongst the copses
of crimson-stemmed arbutus, and where one can lie for
hours on the turf looking away to Trasimene, and
all the waving hills and smaller hill-set cities of the
Umbrian country. Here the Perugians catch and
store their drinking water in three great reservoirs.
The first of these was built some time at the end
of the thirteenth century. The masonry is rough and
massive, and the water seems more green and more
mysterious in the mcdijeval basin than in those of this
practical nineteenth century. We went there late one
April afternoon, and lingered long in the cool and
cavernous places where the water is gathered together.
As we came home we traced the course of the old
aqueducts which have long since been abandoned.
The springs today are carried underground in a sort
of switch - back fashion over the sloping hillsides.
But the ruins of the earlier conduit remain in their
old places. Seeing them, we thought of the times in
which they had supplied the men and horses crawling
home from some hot skirmish on the plain, and of how
the water had washed the blood of nobles from the
steps of the Duomo and quenched the thirst of preach-
ing friars and painters. How dead, how gone, that
passionate past, how hum - drum, and how dreary
seemed the clatter of the table d'hote when we got
back that evening.
But in describing the water supply of the city, we
have wandered rather far afield from the subject of
the piazza. A great flight of steps leads from the
back of the fountain up to the cathedral.
Cathkdral of S. Loren/.o.
As we have pointed out at the beginning of this
chapter, the Church has suffered terribly, both from
'33
The Story of Perugia
neglect and warfare. The outer walls look very brown
and bruised and naked too, without their marbles,
but as such they form a monument of history which
ON THE STEPS OF THE CATHEDRAL
few would wish to alter. The first old church was
pulled down in 1200 in order to make room for a
superb new cathedral which was to take the place of
the old one down outside the city walls at Porta S.
'34
iS'. Loren'zo
Pictro, and the citizens met in solemn conclave to
talk their project out, they even appointed their
architect, Fra Bcvignate, to make their plans for
them. But the Peruvians were full of wars, and
other business and buildings at that period, and
they soon found that their funds were far too low to
allow of a new cathedral. They therefore let the
matter drop, and some years passed before they made
another effort. In 1345 the Bishop laid the founda-
tion stone of S. Lorenzo. It was a solemn occasion,
and all the clergy were present at the ceremony ;
but the stone, when laid, remained in solitary state
for the rest of the century, and the people of Perugia
were forced to pray and sing, to marry and baptise
elsewhere, for another hundred years went by before
the building was completed. Other catastrophes
awaited it when finished, for the inexorable French
Abbot Mommaggiore was at that time building his
fortress at Porta Sole, and in doing this he found
it necessary to knock down a great part of the new
cathedral. Finally, in the middle of the fifteenth
century. Bishop Baglioni, whose beautiful tomb stands
to the right as one enters the cathedral, put the place
in comparative order again, and it only remained for
his descendants to use it as their fortress in the years
to come !
There is a feeling of great warmth about the in-
terior of S. Lorenzo, which is built in the form
of a Latin cross with three naves. The ceiling is
badly painted, much of the glass is poor, the twelve
tall columns covered with a sort of stucco which
imitates a stone no one has ever seen and only the
artist dreamed of; but with all these faults tlie
church has charm, and none of that desolate chill
which the outside walls suggest. The clergy are rich
at Perugia ; the people have never lost their strong
'35
The Story of Perugia
religious sense, which the advance of civilisation has
turned from a wild fanaticism to a tone of more
sober devotion, and the services are always impres-
sive in S. Lorenzo — the whole body of the choir
filled with choristers, the priests forming themselves
into splendid coloured groups around the bishop's
chair, and up against the woodwork and red damasks
on the stalls.
Something of the life of the city, and much of
the lives of the popes, has crept into the inner walls
of the cathedral. The chapel of S. Bernardino stands
to the right as one enters. This belonged to the
Merchants' Guild of Perugia, and by them it was
magnificently decorated. The merchants purchased
their rights to the chapel in 15 15, and they at once
began to adorn it with splendid woodwork. They were
naturally anxious to get a really good picture for their
altar, but they took their time to select a suitable
artist. Finally, they decided on Federigo Baroccio, of
whose skill they had heard great things, and they sent
their captain to Urbino where Baroccio lived, begging
him to come and paint their altar. The subject chosen
was the " Descent from the Cross." Federigo came
and finished his picture between 1567 and 1568.
Tradition says that he was suffering from the effects
of poison which a jealous person had administered to
him in Rome, as he painted. Be this as it may,
his picture gave the utmost satisfaction not only to the
Merchants' Guild but also to "the whole city of
Perugia," and it scarcely looks like the work of a man
who was sickening from the effects of fatal drugs, but
rather like that of one with all his health and wits
about him. The figures are full of action, and although
the colour is so warm and glowing, the atmosphere is
one of storm and tempest. To the left of the cross
the Magdalen strains her white arms to the un-
136
S. L
orcfi%o
conscious Virgin whose iigure is supported by a
radiant woman in a yellow gown. To the right
8. John stretches forward to catch the body of
the falling Christ, whilst a young man, leaning
backwards in a hurricane of wind, supports Him to
the left. The only quiet points in this over-
dramatic composition are the fainting figure of our
l^ady and that of her dead Son. Looking at
it one is reminded of Tintoretto's work in its
extravagant sense of action, but the touch of senti-
mentality throughout is foreign to the Venetian
painter.^
Baroccio was a native of Urbino, born there in 1528.
He studied ])ainting with the Zuccheri and also with
Michelangelo, Titian, and Raphael, and he had in his
day a great reputation for his treatment of sacred
subjects. It seems that he fell in love with the city
of Perugia, for he stayed on painting there long after
his work was finished, and he would often come again
like the popes and other tired persons of distinction.
He adopted a child of Perugia, Felice Pelegrin, and
took him back to Urbino, where he educated him as a
painter. Felice became distinguished in his way, and
his success encouraged the generous P'ederigo to adopt
another child, Felice's brother. But the second ex-
periment was not so happy. The boy grew into an
astonishingly beautiful young man ; women idolised him
and he was murdered by some jealous rival when still
com])aratively young.
To the left of Baroccio's picture there is a fine glass
window designed by Arrigo Fiammingo in 1565.
1 Some years ago a gentleman of Perugia iiought from a
grocer in the town for the sum of twenty-five centimes the
original drawing of Baroccio's "Deposition."' (See No. 9.
Oabinetto della Torre. Pinacoteca.)
»37
'The Story of Perugia
The window has been restored, but is beautiful
in parts, both in colour and design, and Perugia
is not rich in coloured glass. The subject repre-
sented is S. Bernardino of Siena preaching to the
people of Perugia in the church of 8. Maria del
Popolo. The Saint is in the background — he, and
the people and the architecture round him, are brown
and quiet in colour. The figures in the foreground
are tar more brightly coloured, notably that of the old
merchant in a blue cloak. The small naked boy who is
leading him is perhaps the most charming point ot the
whole composition. The child's figure is like a little
S. John, but he is probably meant to represent the
Spirit of the Merchants' Guild, for he has a bundle
bound about his shoulders, over which his yellow curls
fall down, and a bundle or "/>^rco" is the sign of the
Merchants' Guild.
The stalls in the chapel are very fine work of the
sixteenth century. A whole book might easily be
written about the stalls of the Perugian churches.
Their wealth of beauty and of real excellency is
inexhaustible, but it would be hopeless in so
short a space to attempt any full description of the
individual ones. The choir of the cathedral is in
itself a fine example and worthy of a very careful
study.
Immediately opposite the chapel of S. Bernardino is
that of the Virgin's Ring. To the mere lover of art
the interest of this chapel is dead indeed. Perugino's
" Sposalizio " : that wonderful design which Pietro
created for his Duomo, and which Raphael a few years
later copied, went, as so many of the very best Perugian
paintings went, to swell the galleries of Napoleon. The
poor picture has never travelled back across the
Alps as many of its contemporaries have done. It
hangs on the walls of the Gallery at Caen, and an
138
S. Lorenzo
inferior copy iills the frame whicli first was made to
hold it.
To the pious, a treasure of infinitely greater price
than Perugino's altar-piece is still shut safe and sure
within the railings of the chapel, and this is the wedding-
ring of the blessed Virgin Mary. It was brought
to Perugia by a certain Winterio di Magonza, who
"piously stole it" from Chiusi in 1472. The Ring
is kept in a wonderful and exquisitely worked silver
casket,! bm- go extraordinary is its value, that it can
only be seen five times a year, and during the rest ot
the time a monstrous silver cloud covers the spot where
it is stowed away.
We were privileged to see the Ring on one of Mary's
greatest feast days (December 8th), and to examine
it closely, even to handle it. We shall not ever for-
get the sight, which was impressive, and savoured
almost of a pagan rite. The Ring was exposed from
7 A.M. to 6 P.M. We went to see it in the evening.
In the square outside it was dark and pouring with
cold rain, the great church too was dark and cold, a
candle or two in the organ loft, and the organ sending
a stream of mysterious music across the aisle, for the
benediction. In the chapel of the Relic there was
light — a blaze of innumerable candles, and underneath,
the priests and an immense throng of people at their
prayers. A staircase hung with crimson damask had
been built for the day up the side of the wall to the
little platform where the Ring is kept. We climbed
the stairs to the platform and entered the chapel up
above. There were only a few of the privileged
Perugians there : some ladies, two smiths with the
bolt and keys, the custodian, one or two members
of the municipality, and the Ring which, in the light
of all its candles, had an extraordinary, nay an even
' See model in the Museum of the University.
139
T'he Story of Perugia
uncanny effect, and seemed cut out of some large opal.'
When the service below was ended, the priest of the
Ring arrived up the ladder. He took the relic out of
its shrine, and a strange, half hysterical prayer went
up from the tiny crowd. With the excessive courtesy
peculiar to the Perugians we were asked to come
forward : " You people of Perugia can always see
your Ring, and these ladies are strangers," said the
priest, who bade us examine it closely. Then the
locking up began, and it was a mighty business. The
relic is kept in a wonderful variety of cases. It is
iirst locked into a little leathern case with a golden
key kept by the bishop. Fifteen other different locks,
their keys kept by fifteen different persons of impor-
tance in the city, follow. The weight of the last iron
chest which covers the other boxes is stupendous.
Two locksmiths and a custodian could scarcely manage
to close it. As the locking up proceeded the candles
went gradually out in the cathedral, and only one or
two small tapers remained to light the mysterious
burial. We passed from the chapel into the rain-
swept square, and some of Ciatti's strange, unlikely
fables ran in our head as we splashed through the
desolate wind-swept streets. He tells us of the
marvellous properties of the Ring — how the power
1 The stone is probably some rare form of agate. It is trans-
parent and takes many lights ; the colour is a faint yellowish
l)lue. The people of the place have strange fancies about its
colour. Before we had seen it we asked of others what it
looked like. "Ah." answered the small son of the sacristan,
•• it is white, and it is not white. It has no given colour. It
is impossible to describe it, for nothing else is like it."
Cioldoni, in his memoirs, gives the following description of
it: — "The ring with which St Joseph wedded the Virgin
Mary is made of a transparent blue stone, and is a circle of
some thickness ; thus it appeared to me, but they say that the
ring changes its colour and form miraculously, according to
the various persons who approach it,"
1 40
S. Lorenzo
possessed by it was so potent that people's ills were
cured by merely looking at it, and how when a
Tuscan lady had the audacity to wear it, her hand
became withered, even as a dead leaf in autumn.
And then he gives the story of the finding of the
Ring: —
•• Now Judith Marchcsana ol Tuscany, having a great
love of jewellery (a thing not contrary to the nature of
woman), despatched a certain Raneiro of Chiusi to Rome
to make diligent search for jewels in that city. There
he chanced to meet with a jeweller who had just returned
from Jerusalem, and from him he bought many gems
which he thought would he to the liking of his mistress.
After abiding three days with the jeweller he decided to
return to his home, and the Levantine, hearing of this,
otTered again to show him more gems till at last Raneiro grew
angeretl and spoke i)itter words to his host. ' Nay,' said
the jeweller, • 1 have treated thee in all good faith, but
now I know not whether by a spirit I am moved, or by
the love I bear to thee, but certain it is that I feel driven
to give thee this Ring ; ' and he drew a small hoop from
out the urn where the jewels lay. Raneiro, thinking it
was an amethyst, an onyx or white agate, which stones
are of but very slight importance in the history of gems,
laughingly told his friend to keep his precious gift —
' Do not esteem my offering so vile,' said the Levantine,
'but, believe me, it is tlie most priceless treasure I possess;
for he it known to you that this is the wedding-ring of
the blessed Virgin Mary. Receive it therefore with all
reverence, and see that the sacred relic fall not into the
hands of the profane.'"
* -X- * * -«•
There is a fine " miraculous " ' picture on the third
column to the right as one passes up the aisle of the
cathedral. A great many myths centre around it both
as a work of art and as a healing relic. Some say that
it is the earliest painting in Perugia, transferred to its
present place from the column of a Pagan temple where
' A picture capable of working miracles.
141
The Story oj Perugia
an early Christian painted it, others that it is the work, of
Giannicola Manni. Concerning the miracles performed
by it, the strings of silver hearts and offerings bear ample
testimony. The painting is very charming, and we
hear that Perugino loved it as a boy and drew his
earliest inspirations from it (?). Our Lady stands against
a crimson arras, her hands are opened out as though to
bless, her gown is of a faded pink, her mantle blue and
lined with the green of early spring. She is so calm,
so young, and smiling, that one does not wonder at the
crowds of worshippers which linger always round her
shrine.
The chapel of the baptistery has some good Lombard
stone work ; and there are one or two interesting things
in the sacristy ; splendid intarsia over the presses where
the priests of Perugia store their gorgeous gowns of cloth
of gold and silver, and a wonderful bit of early gesso
work in the inner chapel.
There is a big altar-piece by Signorelli in the chapel
of S. Onofrio, which is interesting as being the only
comparatively good piece of the master's work in the
whole of Perugia. The picture has suffered much
from restoration, but the restorer contented himself
with mauling the principal points ; he neglected the
detail, which is admirable throughout. The garlands
of pink and white convolvulus behind the chair of
our Lady are true to life ; the Infant Christ carries
a stem of lilies in his baby hand, and beside the
long limbed angel who plays his lute at the Virgin's
feet stands a tumbler full of the freshest jasmine, whilst
below him on the steps another glass is filled with
fading violets. One marvels that a man who could
so superbly draw every line and muscle of the human
body, should care to linger over these frail details of
the flowers.
S. Lorenzo
In the left transept of the cathedral three of the
popes are buried, and to anyone who has studied the
history of the town and realised its connection with
the power of Rome this otherwise rather dreary and
uninteresting corner of the church will conjure up a
host of half fantastic visions.^
The little porphyry urn on the right wall of the
transept holds all the earthly remains of the three
popes, Innocent III., Urban IV., and Martin IV.,
who all died at Perugia. A delightful legend is
told concerning the death of Innocent. With his
usual surprising seriousness the ingenuous Ciatti tells
us that the following remarkable vision occurred to
a certain Abbot of the Cistercian order who was liv-
ing in the neighbourhood at the time of Innocent's
death :
" Now one hot Mimmer clay, overcome by heavy sleep,
the Abbot withdrew himself under the shade of certain
plants and there lay down to rest upon the soft green
grass. No sooner had he closed his eyes in sleep than
the eyes of his mind were opened and he saw Christ
appearing in the east accompanied !)y His angelic court
and seated on a throne. Looking to the west the Abbot
then perceived a naked man, hurrying all out of breath
towards the throne, and not even the weight of his pon-
tifical mitre impeded him in this most rapid progress,
for a fierce and terrifying dragon followed close behind
him, and he was frightened and cried out : ' Have mercy
on me. oh thou most merciful God.' Wherefore the
dragon too lifted up his voice and cried: 'Judge with
justice, most liigh judge.' Then the good Abbot awoke
trembling with fear and much mystified by all that he
had seen, and arriving at the gates of Petugia, he heard
the heavy tolling of the bells and was met by the citizens
who all were wailing with loud voices, crying out : Pope
' To those who only search for art, its picture by Perugino
will seem the chief attraction. This is, however, a poor bit of
the master's work with many of liis later affectations.
'4.S
77?^ Story of Perugia
Innocent, Pope Innocent is cieml.' Then the worthy Abbot
understood that it was Pope Innocent III. that he had seen,
and he marvelled at the mercy of Almighty CJod who treats
the humble and the powerful with ecjual law and mercy."
Innocent was, of course, a very powerful Pope, and
the historians of Perugia gloat over the fact that he did
their city the honour to die in it, devoting whole pages
of their books to this important subject.
Urban IV. is another remarkable figure in the Church
of Rome, and it was during his stay at Perugia that he
threw his mighty bomb which was to explode with
such disastrous results upon the land of Italy. Ke was
probably staying in the monastery of S. Pietro with his
friend S. Thomas Aquinas when he sent the fatal letter
which summoned Charles of Anjou down to Rome.
" A terrible comet preceded Urban's death which
occurred in 1264," says Mariotti. There was a report
that Urban had been done to death by eating poisoned
figs, but this is unfounded. The Pope lived in constant
terror of poison, and by his incessant talk and letters
on the subject had infected the minds of those around
him.
Martin IV. is the last Pope buried in the Duomo.
He often came to Perugia, and in 1285 he returned
with the full intention of making a considerable stay
there. But he died on Easter morning, having
eaten a surfeit of eels ; (it appears that Martin IV.
was greedy of this particular delicacy). Dante re-
cords the fact in the " Purgatorio " (canto xxiv.),
where Foresc points the Pope out seated among the
gluttons :
" . . . e quella faccia
Di la da lui, piu che I'altre trapunta,
Ebbe la Santa Chiesa in le sue braccia :
Dal Torso fu : e purga per digiuno
L'anguille di Bolsena e la vernaccia."
144
S. Lorenzo
The following inscription is said to have been written
over Martin's tomb ;
" Gaudent anguilhie quod mortuus hie jacet ille.
Qui quasi morte reas excruciabat eas, "
Perhaps it was with a view to expiate this very
insulting epitaph that the Perugians, in spite of the
canons of S. Lorenzo, who refused to contribute to
the fund, erected a magnificent tomb for Martin later
on. They employed G. Pisano for the purpose, but only
a few fragments of his work remain. Mommaggiore
pulled it down, as he pulled so many other things, and
used its priceless ornaments to adorn his own palace at
Porta Sole. The two small pulpits on either side of
the high altar screen were made, it is said, from the
fragments of the tomb, and also, perhaps, the marble
Pietii with the blue background which hangs on the
right as you pass back down the church.'
The bones of the three Popes have been terribly
pulled about : buried and then unearthed, buried again,
and changed. Innocent, according to most authorities,
was buried in the cathedral. About 1376, when
Martin's tomb was destroyed by Mommaggiore, the
bones of Innocent III. were taken from their resting-
place and laid along with those of the other two popes
in a sort of chest, on the top of a cupboard, in the
sacristy of the new cathedral. Thence, in 1605, the
chest was removed to another chapel by order of
Bishop Comitoli. When it was opened the bodies of
Martin and of Urban were found intact, with their
mitres and their chasubles ; but of the powerful Innocent
III. only a few broken bones remained, wrapped up
in a little packet. It is probable that when the three
Popes were removed from their different tombs in i 376
1 This fact is uncertain, and many people ascribe the work
to Dueci.
K 145
The Story of Perugia
and stuffed into the chest, the memory of Innocent III.
in connection with the temporal dominion of the popes
in Perugia which he was the first to found, induced
some persons present to violate his tomb. Be this as
it may, all the bones of the Popes now rest together in
the dull little porphyry urn, crowned with a brass
tiara. ^
In leaving the cathedral it would be well to glance
at the tomb of Bishop Giovanni Andrea Baglioni, a
beautiful bit of low relief in marble. Very lovely are the
three small angels with the ribbons in their heavy hair,
guarding the Baglioni arms, very alien from the spirit
of that bloody race of men, the gentle figures of the
women in the panels.
The Canonica.
One great building in the square remains to be
described, namely, the Canonica, or, as Bonazzi calls
it, the " Vatican of Perugia." Although a mere wreck
of its former splendid self, this building is still one of
the finest relics of the mediaeval times that the city
boasts of. It stands to the left of the Duomo — a great
mass of bricks, with huge cavernous rooms inside, and
walls some six to eight feet thick in places. The
cloister is comparatively modern, but the beautiful open-
air staircase which leads from it down into the Piazza
Morlacchi is probably very much the same as it was
in the days when the popes arrived to take a holiday in
their loved Umbrian city.
In old days the magistrates and the Podesta shared
the abode of the clergy, but, as may easily be imagined,
1 A note to Gregorovius' " Tombs of the Popes " says that
Innoceiit'3 bones have been carried to Rome by Leo XIII. and
buried in S. John Lateran.
146
.M
M
'Mr
IN THE CIOISTERS OF THE CANONICA (oR SEMINARY)
'47
this arrangement did not answer, and was, as Bonazzi
tells us, the cause of most extreme contention between
the canons of the Church and the councillors of State.
The canons had a very comfortable time in the Canonica.
" Professing to follow the rule of St Augustine," says
Bonazzi, " they had much to fear from the manifold
terrors of conscience." Their cellars must have been
excessively well stocked, for on one occasion when the
Podesta s property was burning, the flames were quenched
by wine : " To extinguish the flames, nothing would
do save the immense cellars of the colossally rich
Canonica."
Of the visits of the popes to Perugia we have
dealt elsewhere (see chapter ii.). It is enough
to say that they often came to the Canonica ; three
of them died there, and there were five conclaves
in the mysterious halls where the new popes were
elected.
One beautiful story is told in the " Fioretti "
about Gregory IX., who doubted of the miracles
of S. Francis till the saint appeared in person and
revealed the truth to him. There is little doubt
that the vision occurred to the Pope as he slept
or dreamed in his grand rooms at the back of the
cathedral : — •
'' . . . Now let it he known that to Pope Gregory IX.,
who was a little doubtful concerning the wound in the
side of St Francis, and according to what he himself
relates, that the saint appeared one night, and lifting his
right arm on liigli he showed the wound in his side, and
asked to have a little phial fetched ; and the Pope had it
fetched and St Francis bade them place it under the wound
in his side; and it seemed to the Pope as though truly
the phial became filled even unto the brim with blood
mixed up with water which issued from the wound, and
from that time forward all doubt forsook him, and he,
with the consent of all his cardinals, approved the holy
miracles of St Francis."
149
T^he Story of Perugia
Thus the power of the Umbrian Saint penetrated this
grim Umbrian building, and, appearing to the haughty
Roman Pontiff, overcame him by the power of pure holi-
ness, even as it had overcome so many furious passions
of a century that was evil.
S. FRANCIS FROM THE STATUE OF DELLA ROBBIA AT S. MARIA DEGLI
ANGEU, ASSISl
150
CHAPTER VI
Fortress of Paid III. — S. Er cola ho —
S. Domenico — S. Pietro — S. Costan%o
CROM an historical point of view the crowning
interest of the buildings of Perugia was to
be found in the great fortress which Paul III.
built in the middle of the sixteenth century in order
to amaze the citizens, and to subjugate the rebel-
lious passions of the nobles. For three centuries this
huge building performed its office admirably and Perugia
lay silent and subdued under the oppressive shadow of
its walls. But no sooner did other influences appear,
no sooner did the imperial French power open a way
to a freer method of government than that allowed
by Rome, than Perugia shook, herself free of a yoke
which had been odious from the first, and on the 23rd
December 1848, in the sight of a great crowd of people,
and with a pomp and ceremony dear to the Perugians
from the very darkest ages of their history, the first
stones of the splendid building were torn from their
places. By a strange coincidence or, perhaps, agree-
ment, tiie man to give the first blow was a certain Bene-
detto Baglioni, and as he let the hammer fall it split the
cornerstone on the very spot where the palaces of his
ancestors had stood in former years ! The masons
followed suit, and soon the bricks and stones were
tumbling from their places. The whole town joined in
the work of devastation, but so splendid was the mortar
T'hc Story of Perugia
used by the builders ot the indomitable Paul that at
times nothing but blasting would destroy the masonry.
In one of the great explosions several people were killed,
"and thus," says Bonazzi, "did the Farnese Pope once
more avenge himself on us, even after a period of three
hundred and eight years! "
No sooner was the Papal fortress gone than the Peru-
gians began to make new buildings on its site. All the
modern architecture of the town has sprung, like fresh
mushrooms spring, on the site of the old wood, and it is
not easy in the present day to reconstruct Paul's mighty
citadel, hampered as our vision is by the open squares
and houses which now have taken possession of its site.
It was divided into two parts. The top part covered
nearly the whole of the level space which the Prefe-
tnra, the Hotel Brufani, and the Piazza Emanuele now
occupy. The fire of the Pope's guns could therefore
be turned on recalcitrant citizens or nobles, either up the
Corso and the Piazza Sopramuro, or down the main
approach to the city from the road to Rome. A strong
branch or buttress of the fort ran down from this high level
to a second fort which, in the shape of a fan, extended
itself along the level ground which is now occupied by
municipal buildings and the Piazza d'Armi ; a large part
of the lower building was devoted to a great walled
square for games, called the Piazza del Pallone.
Adolphus Trollope was one of the last people to see
and to describe the great Farnese citadel. He saw it both
before and during its destruction, and the description
which he gives of the building and of the hatred which
it excited is so vivid that we quote it here at length. ^
'• Few buildings,"' he says, " have been laden with a heavier
amount of long-accumulated popular hatred than this ; and few
have more richly merited it. The Perugians were for many
ages — nay, it may pretty well be said that they never ceased to
1 See " Lenten Journey in Umbria, 1862."
Fortress of Paul III.
lie— a hard nut lor tht- griiulinj^ teetli oi j)iipal tyranny to crack,
and this huge Bastille was, at the time of its erection, a symbol
of the final destruction of liberty in Perugia.
'* When I had last been in Perugia the entire building was
open to the curiosity and free examination of the public.
There was no crowd when I wandered over the labyrinths
of its stairs and passages, guard-rooms, barracks, casemates,
and prisons of every sort and size. I had the foul place then
all to myself, with the exception of a few workmen, who were
beginning to take the roof off one of the upper buildings ; for
the public of Perugia iiad already satiated their curiosity. I
saw the large dungeons, accessible only by a circular opening
in the pavement of the less dreadful dungeons above them ; I
saw the fearful cells, constructed in the thickness of the
colossal masonry, in such devilish sort, that the wretches who
had dared to tjuestion the deeds of Christ's Vicar on earth,
once introduced into the cavity through ajjertures barely
sufficient to admit a crawling figure, could neither stand nor
sit in them. I jxiced the lofty battlements, which commanded
such a panoramic view as can hardly be matched, over the
l)eautiful country and the many cities within its circuit, all
priest-trampled and poisoned ; and I marked the narrow light-
holes in some of the less dreadful prisons, througii which a
miserable, tantalising strip of far distant sunlit horizon was
dimly visible to the immured victim, who knew too well,
that he should never, never return to the light of day.''
On Trollope's second visit, that is to say, in 1862,
the work of demohtion was progressing, and an in-
scription had been placed on the wall of the piazza
fronting the former main entrance to the fortress, which
struck, him as ironically satirical in its simplicity. It
stated that the magistrates of Perugia were removing the
fortress raised for the oppression of the citizens ^'■for
the impro'vement of the prospect from the Piazza " !
Some time later Trollope returned to Perugia. The
fortress was then being quickly pulled to pieces.
''There were a number of people," he says, "on the occa-
sion of my second visit gloating over the progressing destruction
of the detested walls, as crowbar and pickaxe did their work. I
saw one remarkable looking old man, with a long flowing
white beard, sitting on a fallen fragment of wall in the sun-
The Story of Perugia
shine, and never taking his eyes from the workmen who were
tumbling down the great masses of concrete as fast as their
excessive liardness would permit of their being detached. A
gentleman I was with noticed the direction of my look, and
said : ' That old man comes here at break of day, and remains
till the workmen knock off at night. He was many years a
prisoner in the fortress, and was liberated at the fall of the
Papal Ciovernment."
"I felt that his presence there was fully accounted for, and that
I could guess without any difficulty • of what was the old man
thinking? ' as he watched the demolition of his prison home."
But however great the damage done both to the people
and their buildings by the fortress of the great Farnese,
it must be admitted that the Pope at least employed a
man of taste to carry out his vast designs. In building
the new walls and knocking down the old, San Gallo
left unharmed some of the finer characteristics of the
city. He pulled down all the Baglioni strongholds,
he battered down ten churches, and as many as
four hundred houses — indeed, he destroyed a little
corner of the mediseval town — but he preserved, with
a tender carefulness, the churcli of the patron saint,
S. Ercolano, and one of the first Etruscan gates :
the Porta Marzia. As it was not possible to keep
the latter in the form of a city gate San Gallo used
it as a decoration, building it into the west wall of
the fortress where, as Dennis rightly says, it still
remains, " imprisoned in the brickwork, to be liberated
by the shot of the next besiegers of Perugia, and
looking as much out of place as an ancient Etruscan
himself would look in the streets of the modern city."
The Porta Marzia is surmounted by the usual frieze of
short pillars, but the statues of four mysterious persons
are inserted in the niches. A tradition in Perugia
says that these statues are the portraits of a Perugian
family who died from eating a large quantity of
poisonous fungh'i (mushrooms). How this myth origi-
nated it is not possible to say, but the figures with
154
Porta Mar^'ta
their inscrutable history add a phantom touch to the
already phantom portal. They are ))robably Roman
divinities.' It is worth getting the doors of the Porta
Marzia opened to sec the funny world inside : a whole
li'S
•.. i'v*^f
4,:.
<i'"-
vi:':
ii.jornjjj'
I'ORTA MARZIA
small town of battered streets, even the fragments of a
chapel, and many house-walls still intact.
1 The word Marzia naturally suggests a temple to Mars, and
indeed certain half-legendary records point to the fact that such
a temple formerly existed on this same spot.
'55
T'he Story of Perugia
S. tlRCOLANO.
The church of S. Eicolano is built straight against a
part of the first Etruscan walls on the spot where the
saint is supposed to have been decapitated by Totila.
It is a strange little church, octagonal and very tall and
narrow. The first church is said to have been built as
early as 1200 and out of the remains of an old amphi-
theatre, or, as some say, the temple to Mars, which
originally stood on the site. Its early history is,
however, somewhat hazy. In 1600 the church was
finally rebuilt by Bishop Comitoli, who at once
looked about him for some suitable tomb in which
to place the body of S. Ercolano, which had hitherto
had such a very unquiet history. It happened that just
at that time a splendid sarcophagus was dug up under
the little chapel of S. Orfito at the foot of Monte Pac-
ciano. Six skulls and a wooden cross, together with
certain legends connected with some early Christian
martyrs and a chapel in the woods, seemed to prove that
the sarcophagus had formerly held their " holy bones."
The pious bishop Comitoli very reasonably concluded
that " Heaven was ministering to his need," so he took
the sarcophagus and put it on the altar of his new church,
and in it he laid the body of the saint. The translation
of the body from its old abode in the Duomo was marked
by a magnificent ceremony. The Bishop got up into the
pulpit in the square, which had never been used since
the days of S. Bernardino, and thence preached a
sermon on the merits of their patron Saint to the people
of Perugia, who came in thousands to attend him.
S. Ercolano, who is purely a local saint like S.
Costanzo, plays an important part in the history of
Perugia ; he may, indeed, be called the presiding
genius of the city. His history is often confused
with that of a most obscure and highly mythical person
156
CHURCH OK S. ERCOI.ANO .\ND ARCllWAV IN TIIE ETRUSCAN WALL
•57
S. Ercolano
of the same name who was martyred at Perugia in very
early days and devoured by wild beasts in the amphi-
theatre. The shining point in the life of the second
S. Ercolano is the part that he played in the defence ot
his city during the siege of Totila. This has endeared
him to the hearts of the citizens, and his name is as
familiar to the street boys of Perugia as that of S.
Ubaldo to the children of Gubbio. Unlike the saint
of Gubbio, however, S. Ercolano failed in his diplomacy.
Barbarossa listened to the prayers of Ubaldo and
departed from Gubbio ; Totila took. Perugia and be-
headed its Bishop, and the Gothic soldiers cut off his
head on a ledge of the Etruscan walls where the present
church now stands to commemorate his martyrdom.
All sorts of strange ceremonies and religious
festivities grew up round the worship of this beloved
saint, for the Pcrugians were as religious as they were
warlike, and they delighted in pious displays. Indeed,
one old proverb describes the credo of the city as
consisting of three P's : Processione, Persecuzione, Pro-
texione. There were countless rules and regulations
concerning the processions of the various saints. Some
had a double procession, or one which extended itself
over two days. On the first of these, the procession
started from the house of the Saint and proceeded to
the Duomo, and on the second the order was reversed.
In the case of S. Ercolano his statue was carried on
the first day from his house with a wooden head upon
its shoulders. On the second day it returned to its
abode with a silver head in commemoration of his
martyrdom. So when anybody in Perugia lied or
was deceitful, he was described as having two faces
like the blessed Ercolano !
In Monaci's collection of the Uffizi Dramatici dei
Disciplinati dell' Unibria we find many of the great
tragic songs or plays sung by the Flagellants of Perugia,
159
I'he Story of Perugia
and some of the finest of these are addressed to S.
Eicolano, who, as we have said, exercised a peculiar
influence over the minds and consciences of the
Perugians. The outside world made great sport of this
almost infantine side to the character of the Perugians,
and on one occasion the P'lorentine painter, BufTalmacco,
made use of it in combination with their other worship,
namely, their love of fishes, to play a rather hazard-
ous practical joke upon them. Vasari recounts the
history at length : —
" Now the Perugians," he says, '• gave BufTalmacco an order
to paint in the Piazza of S. Ercolano a portrait of that saint,
who is the patron and was the bishop of their city. The price
being arranged, a scaffolding of wood covered with matting
was put up for him in order that none might watch him at his
painting ; and this being done he set to work upon it. But ten
days had not passed by before everyone who happened to walk
that way began to ask when the picture would be finished, as
though sucli things as this could be cast in a mould, and at last
the thing became a nuisance to BufTalmacco. Therefore, having
finished his work and being wearied of so much importunity,
he decided within himself to be quietly avenged on the im-
patience of these people, and he succeeded ; for the work being
finished, he showed it to them before uncovering it. and they
expressed themselves absolutely satisfied. But when the
Perugians expressed their desire at once to pull down the
scaffolding, BufTalmacco told them to let it stand for another
two days because he desired it to retouch certain points for his
own satisfaction, and thus it was settled. Then BufTalmacco
went back to that spot where round the head of his saint he had
painted a large golden aureole, and as was the custom in those
times, with a high relief of plaster he made him a crown, or
more properly speaking, a garland, and wound it round and
round his head, and all oi lascke. And this being done he one
day paid his landlord and returned to Florence. Then as the
days passed by, and the Perugians failed to see the painter
moving about as was his custom, they asked the landlord what
might have become of him, and hearing that he had returned
to Florence, they immediately hurried to uncover the picture,
and finding their saint crowned only with a wreath of fishes,
they immediately carried the news to the governor of their city
and then, with hottest haste, sent horsemen in pursuit of
1 60
S. KrcohuKj
BuHalmacco ; luit in vain, loi' lie liad returned to FJoreiice
with the liest speed he might. Therefore they decided to
have tile crown of fisiies removed from tlie head of the saint
and the aureole replaced by one of their own jiainters, and in
future to speak as much evil as they coulil, liotli of Buffalmacco
himself and of the Florentines in general."'
The story of Buffalmacco, the saint, and the crown
of llshes is comic enough, but the square in which the
scene described above was acted witnessed the deepest
liuman tragedy that the annals of Perugia have preserved
for us. It was just outside the church of S. F.rcolano
that Grifonetto Baglioni got his death-wound. Driven
back from Porta 8. Pictro with only a few men, he
prepared to keep the gate of " Sancto Ercolano " and
there, hopeless of anything save death, he awaited the
assault of Gianpaolo. It was here in this place that
he fell. Did Raphael come down the street along
with the other terror-stricken people after the fight
was over ? Did he, with the quiet eyes of the artist,
look on this passionate scene of love and death I Was
it Grifonetto that he painted later in his picture —
" Grifonetto gracious in his person." We cannot
tell ; we only know as a fact that the " Entombment,"
now in the Borgliese villa at Rome, was ordered by
Atalanta Baglioni, and in a letter from Raphael con-
cerning it we see that he was acquainted with her
j)ersonally. It has been suggested to us by a Perugian
who is wise in art and history, that Raphael painted
a portrait of Grifonetto not in the figure of Christ
as one might naturally suppose, but in the more pro-
' In Bonfigli's fresco of the siege of Perugia l)y Totila at
the I'inacoteca (see chapter x.), we have an admirable portrait
of the square of S. Ercolano, and on one of the house walls,
under a small pent roof, there is a minute copy of a fresco : a
madonna and saints with angels. It is not at all improbai)le
that this fresco is really the one by Buffalmacco (now destroyed)
descrilied in the ai)ove passage by Vasari.
L l6l
T'hc Story of Perugia
niincnt ligurc ot the vigorous young man wlio supports
the feet of the dead Saviour. The whole attitude of this
figure is one of dauntless energy and courage such as
one would expect to see in the son of two such cousins
as Atalanta and Grifone Baglioni.
* * * -Tf- ■*
From the steps of S. Ercol.mo one of the only broad
and comparatively even streets of the town — the Corso
Cavour — leads to the main road through the Porta
Romana, down the steep hill to the Tiber and across the
plain to join the road to Rome. Most of the history of
Perugia has come and gone along this road ; it was here
that the popes made their triumphal entries, here probablv
that the barbarians forced a passage, and here, even in
our own days, that Perugia suffered a final and a painful
siege from Rome. It was on the 20th of June 1859
that the Swiss guard fought its way along it, burning
down the houses and beating back as they advanced
the ill-organised body of inhabitants. Strange thrill-
ing details of that day have been told to us by people
who were present. One inhabitant, a mere boy then,
was up with his parents at the top of their house in the
Corso Cavour, but smelling smoke in the shop below
they crept downstairs to see what might be happening,
and found the Pope's guard foraging amongst their
medicine bottles. The mother and boy fled back up
the stairs, but the father was caught and carried out
into the street to be shot. Then the small boy leaned
from the window, covering his face with a scarf, and
pleaded so passionately for his father's life that the
Swiss soldiers spared him and passfd to more profitable
pursuits further up in the town. (We hear that they
were filled with so great a lust for blood that they
even wrung the neck of a tame falcon in the Piazza
Sopramuro ! ) Another gentleman who had come in
with the Pope's guard gave us some details of the
162
S. Tiomcnico
siege, and amongst tlu-m In- told us of a certain priest at
S. Pietro, who, thinking to kill the leader of the troops,
shot at the drum-major, whose magniticent appear-
ance would no doubt make him remarkable to a quiet
monk. The unfortunate priest was shot for his pains
up in the square on the following morning.'
The Corso Cavour has a very modern look about it.
Most of its big buildings are used as barracks, but some
few of the old are left. The Palazzo Braceschi has a
fme old outside staircase and a good collection of pic-
tures, amongst them an exquisite Madonna and child
attributed to Filij)po Lippi, but more like a Neri di
Bicci, also some fine original drawings.
8. DoMl-NICO.
The gigantic church of 8. Domenico towers above
the street to the left. It is one of those desolate un-
linished Gothic buildings which one finds so often in
Italian cities — a great idea dwarfed, not by want of
inspiration, but by the need of money to complete it.
The church as we now see it is merely a patchwork of
the first architect's original conception. It was begun
' 'I'liis last fact is interesting for several reasons. It shows
tliat even some of tlie Perugian priests took part against the
Pope on this memorahle 20th of June. The Benedictine
monks at S. Pietro opened their convent to the citizens to use
as a fortress on that day. and themselves joined in the fighting.
Their loyalty to the city has never i)een forgotten. When in
i860 all the convents of Perugia were broken up the govern-
ment spared the monks of S. Pietro. They left the jiictHres in
the church, which was turned into a •• national monument";
and they left tile monks in tlieir cells with tiie uniierstanding
that when their number sbould be at last reduced to two the
convent with its vast lands was to be turned into an agricul-
tural school, but in no ways to be divided up, sold, or dese-
crated. Hence the comparatively perfect condition of S.
Pietro.
163
T^he Story of Perugia
early in the fourteenth century from designs by Gio-
vanni Pisano, but it was not finished till i459' The
building owed much of its splendour to a young man of
Perugia, Cristiano Armanni, who, whilst studying at
Bologna, had been converted to the faith by the preaching
of S. Domenico. Cristiano returned from the university
in the society of a certain S. Niccolo of Calabria, and
induced his parents and his friends to give him money
for the new church which was about to be built to
honour S. Domenico. The magistrates of Perugia
contributed a banner to the cause, and they decided
that wherever S. Niccolo might place this banner, there
the new church should be built. He planted it near
the church of S. Stefano, and on that site the present
church of S. Domenico now stands. Through the
fault of inferior masons, part of the choir and the
middle nave fell through in 1614, but Bishop Comitoli
determined to rebuild it on the original design. He
spent more than 4000 scud'i on this generous act and
was as ill-rewarded as the most patient builder of card-
castles ever was, for the whole of his work collapsed
for the second time. It was finally rebuilt on the de-
signs of Carlo Maderno, in 1632. But all this tinkering
has left very sorry scars, and even the tower outside has
not been spared. It was begun later than the rest of the
church and was not finished till about the end of the four-
teenth century, when Paul III. at once had the top of it
knocked off because he declared that the monks of S.
Domenico could, from their campanile, look down and
spy upon the building of his fortress !
One or two relics alone remain of the many
beautiful bits of art with which the church was rich
in early days. Of these the tomb of Pope Benedict
XL is the most fascinating.
Of the life of Benedict there is not much to say ;
his reign covered a period of only eight months, and
164
S. Do77ie?i}co
perhaps his greatest glory is in his tomb. He was a
native of Treviso and belonged to the Dominican
Older. In i 304 he, like other popes and tired people,
came to Perugia in search of the peace he could not
find in Rome, and there, in that same year, he died.
When in Perugia his mother came to see him — a thing
which had only once happened to a pope before.
" Moved by a desire to see her son," says Mariotti, '• Filo-
mariiia came to Perugia, and here having had herself nobly
dressed by the people of Perugia, as befitted the mother of the
Pope, she presented herself to her son. But he, seeing her so
beautifully clad, pretended that he did not know her, saying
that this was not his mother, because she was a poor old
woman and not a lady like this one. And his mother hearing
this thing, and being a good and holy woman, took off those
rich adornments, and putting on her own again, she returned
to the Pope, who recognising her as his mother, received her
with all tenderness."
Pope Benedict was anxious to make peace between
the Bianclii and Neri of Florence, and received from
some of the heads of the Guelph factions a visit of state
in his residence at Perugia. Twelve of them, headed
by Corso Donate, came with all their suite behind
them : one hundred and fifty horses we hear, and many
friends and relatives. No satisfactory agreement was
arranged, and shortly afterwards this holy but power-
less Pope passed into his rest.
It was supposed that Benedict died of poison, and
the older stories run, like the modern one of Zola, on
the subject of a basket of j)oisoned figs.
" In the year of Christ 1304. on the 27th of the month of
.Fune." says Villani, •• Pope Benedict died in the city of
Perugia, and it was said that he died of poison. As the Pope
sat eating at his table a young man came to him dressed and
veiled in the guise of a woman, anil as a servant of S.
Petronilla. with a basin of silver in which w^ere many
beautiful figs and flowers which he presented to the Pope in
the name of the faithful Abbess of the convent. The Pope
.65
'The Sto?'y of Perugia
received the figs with very threat delight, and because he loved
them, he made no enquiry concerning them, seeing moreover
that they came from a woman, and he ate a great quantity,
whereupon he immediately fell ill. and after a few days he
died, and was buried with great iionours by the Preaching
Friars who Iielonged to the Dominican order at Perugia.
Benedict was a good and an honest man, but it is said that
because of the envy of certain of his cardinals, they had him
poisoned in this fashion."
Some say that Benedict was poisoned because of
the ill-feeling of the Florentines towards him, and
^i^\ '^M0"'^!^:r^" v^; '-ymr ;jffl"^^*^?iwrg
nKTAII. OF THE TOMB OF I'OPE BENEDICT XI. IN THE
CHURCH OF S. DOMENICO
Others that he died by the jealous hand of Philippe le
Bel of France. The historians of the present day deny
the fact of poison at all. Be these matters as they
may, the fact of the dead pope's tomb remains — an
entrancing bit of human workmanship. It was made
by Giovanni Pisano, son of the great Niccola, " who firs.t
breathed life, with the breath of genius, into the dead
forms of plastic art." Pope Benedict lies asleep ;
stretched out quite flat and thin in his exquisitely
folded robes ; tiiere is a canopy over him with
1 66
S. Pietro
curtains strung across it and two angt-ls have drawn the
curtain back to gaze at the figure of the dead man.
The columns of the tomb were filled up once with
precious mosaics, but during Napoleon's occupation of
Perugia, a regiment of men and horse were quartered
in the church of S. Domenico, and the French soldiers
are said to have employed their leisure hours in picking
out these treasures with their pen-knives. Perhaps it
was these same thoughtless beings who wilfully mutilated
the exquisite figures of children, fragments of wliich
are still left clinging to the spiral curves.
The terra-cotta decorations in the cha])el ot the
Rosario arc the work of Agostino Ducci — the Florentine
sculptor who made the lovely front of S. Bernardino,
(see chapter viii. ), and they would be interesting if
only for that reason. Though mutilated in parts,
and spoilt by careless white-wash, much of the detail
is still charming ; notably the three little angels over
the central arch. As for the rest of the church it has
hut little interest now-a-days. The immense Gothic
window of the choir is said to be the largest in Italy,
but the original glass is entirely gone from its frame.
The whole has been carefully restored by Signor
Moretti of Perugia. The stalls are covered witii
good intarsia work, but they have been greatly spoiled
by careless restoration, and have a naked and forsaken
look about them. S. Domenico is one of those pathetic
buildings which leave upon one's mind the feeling of
arrested decay, and one hurries gladly from it and out
into the sunlight of the street.
S. PiKTRO.
Very different in every way is the church of S.
Pietro, which one reaches after passing through the
gate of Porta Romana. "The Basilica of 8. Pietro
167
T'he Story of Perugia
is so adorned with beauties," says its faithful, but
perhaps too fond, biographer, " that it would suffer
and be overburdened were others added to it." The
praise is certainly high, but it has a certain grain
of truth, and the church of S. Pietro, is, amongst
the churches of Perugia, a jewel of inestimable
price, for unlike all the others it has been left
with all its treasures and its pictures in it (see note,
p. 163).
The church and monastery of S. Pietro are built on
the hill of Capraio or Calvary, which stretches away to
the south of the town. They form the first object which
catches the eye as one approaches the city on the line
from Rome, and they serve as a sure landmark from
many distant points of Umbria, and one cannot stay long
in the city without becoming sincerely attached to the
beautiful group of pale brick buildings, crowned by
their graceful campanile, which catch the sunrise and
the sunset lights, and fascinate one's fancy at every
time and season.
It is difficult to decide the date of the first church
of S. Pietro. Tradition says that it is built on the
site of an old Etruscan temple, and that it was the first
Christian building of Perugia, certainly it was the first
cathedral. We hear that the earliest Christians of
Perugia used to meet in subterranean passages under
the present church of S. Costanzo, which stands on
the same spur of hill as that of S. Pietro, and that
there S. Costanzo, the second Bishop of Perugia,
gathered his little flock together to "feed them with
the milk of the holy word of God." We know that
the present basilica was built by a certain Abbot,
Pietro Vincioli, a monk of the Benedictine order,
who lived in the tenth century, and was a great friend
of the Emperor Otto III. Bonazzi gives a delightful
description of this Abbot and of his method of building
168
S. Pietro
and the miracles he employed for the purpose. It
seems that Pietro was famous for his great sanctity and
learning, and that he lived at a time when everybody
imagined that the world was about to come to an end :
•• He hud rich IViiiul'^. tlie Emperor among' tliem, and the
latter, who entertained tile general su]ierstition about the end
of the world, gave liim a great deal of money, with which the
Abljot determined to Iniild for himself tiie jiresent church of S.
Pietro. l"he Pope, the Emperor, and many other jiersons
showered down donations and privileges for the purpose, and
the new Benedictine monastery soon became celebrated, and
its monks took an active and important part in the affairs of
Perugia. . . . Although S. Pietro was of a somewhat surly
temper," continues Bonazzi, '• lie hati the gift of miracles, and
once when tlie Tiber was in lieavy flood, and a mill belonging
to the convent was threatened with ilestruction, tlie saint cau^ed
the waters to subside. On another occasion during the build-
ing of S. Pietro, the ropes wiiich were raising one of the
columns snapi^ed in two. and tlie Saint caused the column to
remain suspended in mid air until new ropes were brought, so
tiiat nobody was hurt. This particular column is the second
on the left as you enter. ... It is impossible to imagine.''
Bonazzi continues. •• how great was the sensation caused liy
these miracles, and for the time lieing. nobody thought any
more about the end of the world — perhaps they hoped that
our Saint had exorcised that, as well as the lesser catas-
tropiies."
.lust as the Abbot had built his church in 963 — a
beautiful bare basilica, with colonnades, and naked
raftered roof — so she remained till well down into the
fifteenth century, waiting, as it were, for the raiment
of the Renaissance to clothe her with fresh glories.
Then gradually, first by the roofing of the ceiling,
then by pictures, chapels, the enlargement of the
sacristy and choir, and such things of rare and exquisite
beauty as the stalls and the altar-piece of Perugino, S.
Pietro grew into a thing of marvellous taste and finish.
But it was an evil day in which some person ruined
the original facade by adding the courtyard and the
169
The Story of Perugia
cloisters. In old times the campanile stood free of the
church, and the front of the church had strange figures
and frescoes on it, parts of which can still be seen by
penetrating a dark passage under the bell-tower at
the back of the little sacristy.
The history of the campanile of S. Pietro is a study
in itself. This most lovely and unfortunate tower was
for ever suffering at the hands of man or else the
elements. Its chronicler is unable to discover the
date of its first erection, but he tells us that it was
probably built on the site of an old Etruscan tomb,
which even now forms its basement. The earliest
written record of the campanile is dated 1347, at
which time we are told that it was so elegant, and
so very richly adorned, that an early historian thought
it to be the "loveliest in Tuscany," yet a certain
war-like Abbot, Fra Guidalotti, a man " who rather
inclined to the affairs of war than the discipline of
religion, with a view maybe to convert his campanile
into a fortress, that it might thus better serve his
war-like spirit," began to claw it down. He got
as far as the first obelisk, and in his evil operations he
tumbled down the metal statue of the Saint which once
adorned the summit. The engaging work of the
Abbot was taken up and continued by Pope Boniface
IX., who, in 1393, spent 180 florins in turning the
gracious tower into a strong fortress! In I468 the
campanile was rebuilt by the monks at the great cost of
4000 florins, but some years later it was struck by
lightning and much injured. " From this point
onward," writes its historian, "the history of the
tower can only be traced through one continuous series
of repairs, which injury from lightning necessitated."
These injuries were of such a sort and so continuous
that finally the building showed signs of approaching
ruin. Iron clamps were added, but the lightning
170
S. P'lctro
continiK'd to attack it. At last someone had the
wisdom to put up lightning conductors, since when the
tower is safe, and one of the loveliest points in the
landscape is secured for us.
A door festooned with splendid garlands of fruit,
carved deep in creamy marbles, leads from the court-
yard into the church. 7^1ie interior is heavily decorated,
but though some of the pictures are far from good, the
impression given by the whole is beautiful and pleasing ;
and the choir, which was added in i 400, is one of the
loveliest things of its kind in Italy. The colunms of
the nave are some ot the remains of the only pagan
temple which was left in Perugia after the siege of
Augustus (see S. Angelo, chapter vii.). With the
exception of Perugino's great altar-piece, S. Pietro has
preserved nearly all the pictures which were painted
for it. Amongst these is a good P'leta by Perugino
(perhaps one of the panels out of the big picture at
S. Agostino). There are tiiree large canvases by
Vasari in the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, a painting
by Eusebio di S. Giorgio of the Adoration of the
Magi on the wall outside and a picture by Guido Rcni
in the chapel of the Annunciation.' At the end of
the left transept is a Pieta by Bonfigli. " Cette Piete
incorrecte et pieuse," as M. Broussole describes it.
The picture hangs in a bad light between the Vibi
chapel and the door, and at first only the white naked
figure of Christ shines out on the dark blue gown of
tlie virgin ; but looking a little longer we find ourselves
in the study of S. Jerome : one of those enchanting
rooms which this particular saint inevitably inhabits,
neat and exquisite in the airangement of its benches and
' The Vuirdcn of Githsimanc. Tile iiicturc has been struck hy
lightning, and the strong slanting line which crosses it IVom
iMui to end adds a certain mysterious cliarm to the group ul"
the sleeping Apostles,
171
The Story of Perugia
Its lectern. Our Lady of Pity is sitting there, holding
the dead figure of her son and kissing his head upon her
shoulder. To her right is a figure of S. Leonard, to the
left, and wholly unconscious of the tragedy, S. Jerome
sits, smiling a little slyly. There is beautiful intarsia
work (older than that in the choir) on the walls of the
sacristy, and some fine illuminated books ; lower down
the church in the right transept, a beautiful bit of work
by Salimbene of Siena, and on the last wall a fine
picture of the school of Perugino, very rich and bright
in colour. The two Alfanis have left ample specimens
of their art in S. Pietro, and there are several of Sasso-
ferrato's copies of great masterpieces. But the greatest
treasure of the church, like those of S. Lorenzo and
S. Agostino, did not escape the terrible eye of Napoleon
Bonaparte. Perugino's great Assumption, which formed
the glory of the high altar, is gone to France. Only six
of the saints, battered and cut from their frames, linger
like unhappy ghosts on the walls of the sacristy.
The altar in the chapel of the Vibi and Baglioni
families is a lovely bit of Mino da Fiesole's work.
Vasari accuses this sweet-souled sculptor of a lack of
originality — of a desire to copy the sentiment of his
master (Desiderio da Settignano) rather than to draw
straight for himself from the sources of nature. Be this
as it may in the case of Mino's portraits of people,
those of his flowers in this particular piece of work are
strangely realistic. We think he must himself have
gathered and bound the garlands which hang fioni the
narrow frieze, and in doing so he took for models the
sharpest and the prickliest fruits and leaves of autumn :
hazel nuts and tiny fir cones, their points just tipped with
gold. The halos, too, on the angels' heads, their wings,
and the details of the architecture are all picked out with
gold. White, clean, and flat and fair is Mino's altar-
piece in the Baglioni chapel. How different from the
172
S. Pietro
blood-stained hands and hearts ot those same men who
came to tell their beads here and be buried.
Long after other details in the church have been
forgotten, its choir will remain a haunting vision of
excessive beauty. Every inch of it is worked with
exquisite care and finish, for the monks spared
no pains or money, cither in its construction or its
decoration. Although a piece ot the purest Renais-
sance fancy, it docs not clash with the lines of the
older basilica, and the two little pulpits of pietra
screna, with their rich gilding, the organ lofts and the
rather rococo frescoes on the ceiling, seem only to
iiarmonise the meeting of the different styles of build-
ing. Raphael is said to have designed the stalls, but
there is no sort of document to prove this. " Because
our choir is the work of a genius, it does not follow
that that genius should be Raphael . . . genius is not
the possession of one sole person," pleads M. Cassinese.
Raphael died in 1520, the present stalls were not
iinished till 15^5, and they are probably almost entirely
the work of Stefano da Bergamo and the men and
boys whom the Bergamasque employed. Some few
may be of an earlier date, for we know that the choir
was begun in 1524, and that the work was interrupted
by the same terrible pestilence as that which killed
Perugino. In 1532, Stefano da Bergamo undertook
the work of the choir. He worked steadily, and
the monks of S. Pietro kept the most accurate ac-
count of what they paid him, and of how many
measures of flour and pence they gave the men and
boys whom he employed. Little is known of the life
of Stefano da Bergamo ; we do not even know from
whom he learned his art, but M. Cassinese rightly con-
cludes that he drew his inspiration from the divine
Raphael, since his designs are purely Raphaelesque.
The carving is unequal, and some of the stalls are
173
T'hc Story of Perugia
inlinitely lovelier than others. Note the ninth on the
right of the choir : a mother and three children en-
circled by a heavy garland of fruit and flowers, and
under them a child, with flying hair, playing with snakes.
Note, too, the extraordinary rows of mythical beasts which
lie upon the arms of the lower row of stalls ; catch them
in perspective one evening in the dusk — they will give
you food for most fantastic dreaming. What minds,
half childlike and half mad, these early carvers had !
The doors of the choir are the work of Fra Damiano
of Bergamo. Tiiey are intarsia work, and show a
most delightful fancy. They have unfortunately been
much polished and restored ; still what a jewel this
panel is, which is said to represent the finding of
Moses ! Compare the banks of the Nile with this
palace and this pleasaunce of the purest Renaissance.
Its bulrushes are turned to pergolas, its pyramids to a
maze of pillars and of marble terraces, and there is a
bear in the foreground eating honey, a crane, a rabbit,
a long-eared goat, and other beasts of singular delight.
It is strange to think of Fra Damiano sitting in his
rooms at Bologna and preparing these same decorative
panels for a place which, maybe, he had never seen.
Above the doors is a fresco attributed to Giannicola
Manni (?), and when the doors open you step out straight
upon a little balcony, and down below lies the Umbrian
plain, without a break of building, and straight in front
of you Assisi lies upon its broad, calm hillside.
The work for the stalls of S. Pietro was finished, it
seems, in 1535, but the pieces were not put together
till 1591. In that year, on the 4th of August, a
native architect undertook to put the carvings in their
places. He worked so steadily that on Christmas Eve
of that same year, " at the first vespers of the feast, the
choir was solemnly inaugurated in a musical mass sung
by the friars."
174
S. Pietro
What a picture wc have- — the dull light ot the candles
on tile winter morning and the monks singing together,
in the midst of all their beautiful new woodwork!
A curious incident is told in connection with the
choir of S. Pietro and three citizens of Perugia.
Wlien on the 20th of June 1H59, the papal troops
entered Perugia, a detachment of them were quartered
in the church and monastery of vS. Pietro, after the
town had been seized, and three gentlemen of Perugia
who had been lighting for her liberty at the gates found
themselves cut off from the town and surrounded by
the Swiss guard, who, however, were not conscious of
their presence, in the monastery of S. Pietro. It will
be remembered that the monks of S. Pietro, on this
occasion, sided with the citizens, and one of them,
Fra Santo, hustled the three gentlemen up into a little
cupboard in the organ-loft where he kept them con-
cealed for three whole days, feeding them, as best he
could, with a little bread and water. One other gentle-
man, who was concealed in another part of the church,
managed to escape under cover of certain dust-pans be-
longing to the friars, with which he passed himself off on
the guard at the gates as a sacristan. Either he, or some-
one else, let the cat out of the bag about the gentlemen in
the organ, and a most diligent search was set on foot.
However, the little cupboard escaped notice for the
time, and on the morning of the fouith day of their
confinement, whilst the Papal guard were getting their
pay, Fra Santo and another monk took from the stalls
the ropes which they had cut from their bells on the
])receding evening, and tying these to the balcony of
the choir, they hastily let out the three gentlemen from
the organ, who clambered down the ropes, and waving
adieu to their benefactors, scampered off as quickly as
they could across the open country. Five hours later
the Pope's guard went up into the organ, but even then
175
T'he Story of Perugia
they tailed to discover the cupboard whence their
enemies had so lately flown !
When, some time later, the monks of S. Pietro went
to Rome to beg the Pope's pardon for the part they had
played against him in the siege of Perugia, the heaviest
blame fell, of course, on Fra Santo ; but his Holiness
with extreme good sense thus put an end to the
question : " If Fra Santo has done what you tell me
he has, God has willed that he should do so, and we
must ever respect the will of God."
There are one or two lovely bits of deila Robbia
work, in the refectory of the monastery, a fresco by
Tiberio d'Assisi (?) in the chapel, and a fine well in
one of the cloisters. The garden, too, is very charming,
but it is not easy to get permission to wander in these
pleasant places where popes and monks and men of
learning spent such pleasant and such profitable hours.
The place is now occupied by students as the whole
convent was turned last year (1896) into a great
agricultural college. (See Note, p. 163.)
S. CoSTANZO.
A little lower down the hill is the small church
dedicated to S. Costanzo. For some obscure reason
this saint, who is purely local, has become the patron
saint of lovers, and on his feast day all the lovers of
the neighbourhood assemble at the shrine. If the eye
of S. Costanzo blinks at the young man or the girl
who kneel before his image, they feel a happy certainty
that the course of their affection will run smooth, and
that the year will end in happy union.
S. Costanzo was converted to the Christian faith
by S. Ercolano I., whom he succeeded as bishop of
Perugia, and Ciatti gives us a long list of his virtues
and his miracles. The blind of the city received their
176
S. CostciJi'zo
sight from him, we hear, and the lame were made
to walk. But all his miracles and his conversions
made him an object of hatred to the pagans, and one
day he was seized together with his followers, and
thrown into prison. They were then put into scalding
baths, "but," says Ciatti, "the Holy Ghost, who
filled their souls with fire, tempered the external heat,
and they sang hymns to signify their great tranquillity."
Their only discomfort lay in the darkness all around
them, but soon " a wonderful brightness appeared unto
them from heaven which comforted them exceedingly."
Then the pagans continued their tortures and forced
the Saint to walk on burning embers, but as these did
him no harm he was stripped and covered with red
hot coals ; and all the time he went on singing much
to the annoyance of his tormentors. Finally he and
his followers made their escape and fled to Spello,
where fresh conversions, followed by fresh tortures, are
recounted. At last, in 154 a.d., he met his death at
Spoleto. His body was taken back to Perugia by a
certain Serviano da Foligno, who found it " surrounded
by a choir of rejoicing angels, and in a shroud of
heavenly light. The holy burden was too heavy
for Serviano to carry alone, and he called on two
men who were passing by to help him. At first
they refused and scoffed at the miracles he related,
whereupon they were both struck blind, and trembling,
they prayed for mercy to the God of the Christians.
On touching the body of the Saint they received their
sight, whereat they gladly helped to carry it into
Perugia. They entered by Porta S. Pietro, and were
met by many of the faithful." The body of S.
Costanzo is buried in the little church outside the Porta
S. Pietro, rebuilt by the present Pope, and the beautiful
byzantine doorway seems a fit entrance to the tomb of
this suffering and much tormented martyr of Perugia.
M 177
CHAPTRR VII
Piazza del Papa^ S. Severe, Porta
Sole, S. ^gostino, and S. Fra?icesco
al Monte
THE Piazza del Papa ' lies a little to the right of the
entrance door to the Duomo. In former times the
straw market was held in this square, which was then
called the Piazza di Paglia, and at that period the statue of
Pope Julius occupied a splendid position on the steps of
the cathedral. But during the great revolt against the
Papacy in 1780 the Pope's statue was taken away from
its prominent place by some wise persons who foresaw
its destruction should they allow it to remain there, and
it was bundled into the cellar of a tavern in the town,
where it remained, not, it must be confessed, entirely
incognito, till people's nerves had calmed a little.- Not
so very long ago the Pope was once more brought to
the light of day and set in his present position.
Pope Julius III. is a great figure in Perugian history.
He is in a sense a lay figure, for he never set foot in
the city after his student days, and he was worshipped
almost in the manner of an unseen deity by the Peru-
gians. .Julius succeeded Paul III., and though he by
no means did away with the supreme power of the
1 Sometimes called Piazza Dante.
2 There are many people still living in Perugia who remem-
ber the time when those who wanted to converse over a glass
of good wine would give each other rendezvous at " 11 Papa."
178
Pia%%a dtl Papa
Church in the city, still he mitigated many of the hard-
ships and the ignominies which that power had entailed
IIOUSK IN TllK VIA I'F.RNICK
in the hands of the great Farnesc. When Paul III.
died in i 549 his fortress remained as a legacy to the city,
179
The Story of Perugia
with a Castcllano to watch over its (Papal) interests.
This man proceeded to rule as his master had taught
him, and he defended the castle vigilantly against the
Pope's nephew, who made some efforts to gain posses-
sion of so rich a prize.
The policy of Julius III. was of a much milder
order. " Julius had always loved our city with a
peculiar partiality," says Mariotti, "and he sent his
relation Cardinal della Corgna hither, endowing him
with full authority, and hardly had the Cardinal arrived
than he restored to the city the arms of which she had
been deprived so long ; and in February of that same
year Julius III. sent a brief to the holders of ecclesi-
astical liberty, which was addressed to the Priori (idle
Arte (heads of City Guilds), a title which had not
been heard of in Perugia since 1539; and to this grace
the same Pope added considerable sums of money for
the maintenance of those same magistrates. . . ."
It will be easy to anyone who has formed even a dim
conception of what the strength of the spirit of liberty
was like in the minds of the Perugians to understand the
pure sensation of delight which the Pope's open acknow-
ledgment of their old municipal rule, followed as it was
by a message couched in such friendly terms, was
likely to produce. Fretting as the citizens had been
for many years under the rule of the despotic Paul, they
hailed his more temperate successor as a sort of saviour,
and they determined to express their sentiments of joy
in what Bonazzi fitly terms " a day of political baccha-
nalia." ^
'• So on the morning of the first day in May the heads of the
principal guilds of the Mercanzia and the Cambio met in the
piazza, and there having put aside their black apparel (Paul
1 It must, however, be remembered that Julius' policy was
only on the surface, and that the yoke of Rome was not by
any means lifted from the city.
180
S. Severe
III. had insisted on tlie Priori wfating a torm ot mourning, in
order, and probably with perfect wisdom, to insist on his own
authority in Perugia), tliey reassumed the crimson of the former
Priori, and thrusting their heads through tlie golden chains
which the Pope"s Vice-Legate himself insisted upon hanging
round them in token of their reinstatement, they took their
seats upon the damask benches and listened to the Mass of the
Holy Ghost, sung by the Vice-Legate. I'hen, upon leaving
the church, all the religious orders, the ConJ'ratiriiilas, the
guiliis, the gentlemen, the troops, and the excited populace
seeing the transfigured magistrates, lifted a frenzied cry, and
forming into a monstrous procession to the sound of i)ipes, of
drums, of trumpets, bells, and much artillery, the whole crowd
followed the Priori to the Church of S. Agostino and there,
having heard another musical mass, the new m'jgistrates, fol-
lowed by an ever increasing and clamorous cortege, went on to
take up quarters on the first floor of the Palazzo Pubblico."
Not satisfied with tliis demonstration of their delight
and loyalty toward the new Pope, the Perugians de-
termined to commemorate the occasion through the
medium of art. They commissioned Adone Doni to
paint the above described scene of the reinstatement of
the magistrates (see the picture in the Palazzo Pubblico),
whilst Vincenzo Danti, then a mere boy, was employed
to make the big bronze statue of .Julius III., which is
one of the most remarkable points in the present town.
But to us who know the almost purely democratic, or
at least municipal, tendencies of jjast Perugia, this great
bronze figure of a Pope eternally blessing the city
always excites a sense of something false and contradic-
tory, and had we been permitted to visit the benevolent
Julius in the caverns of the wine shop, we should have
felt him in that place to be a truer symbol of the spirit
of the town throughout her troubled liistory.
S. Severo.
From the Piazza del Papa several roads branch off
to different points of the town. To the right the Via
i8i
I'hc Story of Perugia
Bontcmpi leads down past some beautiful old palaces
into a network of typical Perugian streets. The
churches of S. Fiorenzo, the Carmine, and S. Maria
Nuova, all of which have gonfaloni or banners by
Bonfigli, lie in this direction, and are very well worth
visiting. Indeed, the gon/a/onv in S. Maria Nuova is ex-
traordinarily interesting : a typical specimen of that tragic
and almost passionate form of art which arose out of,
and answered to, the needs of a people convinced of
its own moral depravity. To the left of the Via
Bontempi a narrow street winds stee])ly up the hill
to the church of S. Severo, which stands high up
above the church of S. Maria Nuova, and commands a
splendid view to the east of the city, and away across
the valley of the Tiber to Assisi. " It is asserted
by some persons," says Siepi, " that in the year T007 ^
little colony of Camaldolese monks was transferred to
the city of Perugia, who, during the lifetime of their
holy founder, took up their abode on the hill of S.
Severo, and here, upon the ruins of an ancient temple,
which some believe was dedicated to the sun god, and
upon a s])ot which might be termed the Acropolis of
Perugia, they built their church, and dedicated it to 8.
Severo, Bishop of Ravenna, probably because they came
into Perugia from that same city." As to whether the
church of S. Severo was really built on the site of an
old pagan temple dedicated to the sun god we cannot
say ; it is certain that this whole quarter of the town
is called Porta Sole, but, however it be, the church
of the Camaldolese monks has been quite altered in the
course of centuries, and, except for its position and its
fresco, it has not much to charm the casual tourist.
During later restorations the outer porch with Raphael's
and Perugino's fresco was preserved, and built into a
little chapel, where we see it now. The fresco is
signed 1 505, so Raphael was no longer a boy
I.S2
Porta Sole
when he painted it. Sonic years later lie painted
liis great pictures in the Stanze of the Vatican,
and, perhaps, he was fecHng his way to these grand
compositions when he drew his semi-circle of saints
on the walls of the little old church of S. Severe.
Did his master Perugino watch his brilliant pupil as he
])ainted ? There is a touch of pathos in the facts
which follow : — Raphael the mighty genius dies, and
Rome goes into mourning for him; fourteen or fifteen
years go by, and Perugino, who, be it remembered,
was not a young man when the slim youth from Urbino
came one day into his studio and asked to learn the
art of painting from him, comes back to the spot where
Raphael's fresco shines upon the wall, and paints, in his
most faded style, the six pale saints which we now
see below it. . . .
Porta Soli:.
But to return once more to the piazza. Another
road leads up immediately behind the statue of Pope
Julius to one of the most surprising points in the city,
namely, the bastions of Porta Sole. It was to this high
point, which commands an extraordinary view over the
north of the town, that Dante alluded when writing
of Perugia :
'• Intra Tupino u I'actiua clie discende
Del colle eletto del beato Uhaldo
Fcrtilf costa d'alto moiite punde,
Onde I'erugia senti- ireddo e caldo
Da Porta Sole, e diretro le piange
Per grave giogo Nocera con (iualdo."'
Porta Sole is mixed up with a strange and a most
typical bit of Perugian history. We have seen how
much this city was influenced by the popes, and how,
'«3
T'hc Story of Perugia
in the many fluctuations of her history, she nearly
always returned to the nominal rule of the Church of
Rome. Early in the fourteenth century she broke away
for a time from Papal power, but in 1370 again swore
allegiance to Pope Urban IV., who sent his brother.
Cardinal Albano, to receive tlie act of submission from
her people. The following year the Cardinal of
Jerusalem came to Perugia to establish peace between
the nobles and the Raspant'i. He was escorted by
about 500 horsemen and 300 infantry, and the people
received him with enthusiasm, coming out to meet
him with palms in their hands, and cries of "Viva
Santa Madre Chiesa, eviva il Signore ! " Unfor-
tunately his wise rule lasted but a year, and he was
succeeded by a very different sort of person, namely,
the Abbot of Mommaggiore from Cluny (seep. 30), who
arrived in Perugia in a most hostile frame of mind, and
quite prepared for war and for revolts of every kind.
The Abbot at once set to work to build for himself
fortresses, the like of which, as one proud chronicler
relates, had never before been seen in Italy. He
erected a massive citadel at Porta Sole, and in order
to be in connection with the Palazzo dei Priori he
made a covered passage with high machicolated walls
to join the two together. In doing this he did not
scruple to knock down a large part of the cathedral
which happened to come in his way. At Porta S.
Antonio, too, the Abbot built some large and splendid
houses, part of which may still be seen, and these
he joined by means of a covered passage to the
other citadel on Porta Sole. Thus Mommaggiore
may be said to have had a run over half the city
of Perugia. So beautiful and luxurious were his
palaces at S. Antonio, that we are told they seemed
a veritable paradise. In them he stored enough wine
and flour and other things to last him and his French
184
Porta Sole
companions for at least ten years, and not content
with all these preparations for a possible revolt of the
citizens, he even called in the help of an English
condott'terc. Sir John Hawkwood, who was at that
time in the service of the Church, to come and ravage
all the country round Perugia.
The Pcrugians looked on in silence, and in silence
they planned a desperate plan of revolution, for they
were determined to resist this abominable French Abbot
and to assert their former authority. Silently, and
with bowed heads, they watched the Abbot's troops
scouring the streets on the evening of the 1 2th
December 1375 ; and not till night had fallen on
the town did a hum arise. Then deep growling
sounds rang through the darkness of the night, and the
tyrant, sitting in his palace, knew that the men of
the town were up, and that a mighty mischief was
preparing. Down in the Porta S. Angelo the cry
of "Viva il Popolo" was heard, and with one ac-
cord, little and great, nobles and people, forget-
ting private injuries and discords, and moved by a
single purpose, clasping hands and crying, " Viva
il Popolo, and death to the Abbot and the pastors
ot the Church," rushed into the piazza just as
the sun had risen. The terrified Abbot, seeing
that the people were about to storm the Palazzo
Pubblico, fled with his friends and soldiers along the
covered passages to his ])alace at S. Antonio. The
furious citizens were quick to follow and arrived be-
fore the fortress with all sorts of infernal machines,
amongst others a large catapult which hurled forth
stones of such a size and with such excellent effect
that it received the name of Cacciaprete (Kick out
the priests). We hear of a great battle which took
place when the Abbot, being besieged in his citadel,
was forced to implore the help of Sir John Hawk-
■ S5
T'hc Story of Perugia
wood ; but the latter, having been well bribed by
the Perugians, abandoned his unfortunate patron, leav-
ing him, surrounded night and day by a crowd of
angry citizens, to meditate upon the various fortunes
of war. At last, however, a peace was concluded,
and Sir John Hawkwood arrived at the head of 300
lancers! to escort the Abbot, his P'rench friends, and
his I 500 horse and soldiers safe beyond the city. The
Perugians, seeing their enemy the Abbot arrayed in
heavy armour and hardly able to lift his feet, slipping
moreover at every turn upon the muddy ground, saluted
him with shrill whistles, which even the mighty Hawk-
wood was unable to suppress, and a chronicler devoutly
tells us that " thus in the name of God, of His holy
Mother Mary, and of the blessed Saints : Ercolano,
Lorenzo, and Costanzo, was the city of Perugia delivered
from the hands of those accursed pastors of the Church."
The happy event was celebrated by grand religious
functions, although the revolt had been entirely against
the temporal power of the Pope. Even Milan and
Florence rejoiced at the news, and ambassadors from
Siena and from Arezzo came to Perugia to grace
the feasts and the rejoicings with their presence.
" Priori and treasurers of the Republic, doctors,
nobles, Raspatit'i, and Beccherini, danced for a whole
week, day and night, in friendly concord, and there
were fireworks and much sound of music."
These things were done at Porta Sole in the past.
The Abbot's palaces and covered passages were well-
nigh battered to bits by the revengeful citizens, but the
charm of the small piazza has not vanished with them.
Looking from the bastions one still can trace a portion
of the covered passage by which the terror-stricken
Abbot fled at sunrise to his palaces at Porta Sant'
Antonio ; and on winter evenings we have often stood
1 Lancic: stands in old Italian for three horsemen.
186
Arch of Augustus
there, watcliing, with an ever tiesh delight, the brown
roofs of the slumbering town below — the brown woods
of the biowner Apennines beyond ; and seen them fade
and gather into one harmonious whole just as they did
five Iiundred years ago, when Mommaggiore sat at
supper and heard the first low hum of revolution.
From the piazza of Porta vSole a steep ])aved road
or staircase leads down to the Piazza Grimani, and
here one is confronted by what is perhaps the most
remarkable point in the whole city, namely, the Arch
of Augustus. ^
Arch ok Augustus.
In Dennis' admirable account of Perugia he gives a
full description of this arch : —
'• The best preserved and grandest of all the gates of I'erugia."
lie says, '• is the Arcn d'Au^iulo, so called from the inscrip-
tion, August,! Piriisia. over the arch. It is formed of regular
masonry of travertine, uncemented, in courses of i 8 inches high ;
some of the blocks l)eing 3 or 4 feet in length. The masonry
of the arch hardly corresponds with that below it. and is pro-
i)al)ly of subsequent date and Roman, as tlie inscription seems
to testify, thougli the letters are not necessarily coeval witli the
Ntructure. The arch is skew or oblique; and the gate is
doulile, like those of Volterra and Cosa. Above the arch is a
frieze of six Ionic colonnettes, fluted, alternating with shields ;
and from tliis springs another arch, now blocked U]), sur-
' There are one or two other points of interest in this s(]uare.
wiiich are dwarfed, of course, by the splendid Etruscan relic.
Ill tile big block of late Renaissance building (Palazzo CJalenga;
to the left. Goldoni acted as a child, and in the same si|uare
the composer, Francesco Morlacchi, was born. Morlacchi was
the author of much music, sacred and profane, and the Peru-
gians.who cannot truly be called a musical race, are very proud
of, and have named their biggest theatre after him. Morlacchi
tlied in 1841, and the great Retjuiem which he liad composed
for the funeral of his patron, Frederic Augustus I. of Saxony,
was siuig in the Duomo of Perugia, •' to obtain eternal peace
lor tile soul of this her valiant son."
187
T'bi' Story of Perugia
mountL'tl by a second frieze of Ionic pilasters, not fluted. All
the work above the lower arch is evidently of later date than
the original construction of the gateway. . . . This gate stands
recessed from the line of tlie city wall, and is flanked on either
hand by a tower, projecting about 20 feet, and rising, narrow-
ing upwards, to a level with the top of the wall above the gate,
'i'he masonry of these towers, to the height of the imposts
of the arch, corresponds with that of the gate itself, and seems
to be the original structure, all above that height is of a later
period. . . . The gate still forms one of the entrances to the
city, though there is a populous suburb without its walls. Its
appearance is most imposing. The lofty towers, like ponder-
ous obelisks, truncated — the tall archway recessed between
them — the frieze of shields and colonnettes above it — the
second arch soaring over all, a gallery, it may be, whence to
annoy the foe — the venerable masonry overgrown with moss,
or dark with the breath of ages — form a whole which carries
the mind most forcibly into the past."
The history of the arch of Augustus, or Porta
urb'ica etriisca, has been given again and again by local
and by foreign guide-books and historians, but we
know of no better account than the above by Dennis, and
little is left to say on the subject here. In speaking of
Etruscan walls in another part of his book, Dennis
remarks that one of their most striking features is the
apparent newness of the stone. The big blocks of
travertine on the Arco d'Augusto are as sharp almost as
on the day when the Etruscans brought them up the hill,
something like three thousand years ago, the marks of
the individual masons are perfectly clear upon their faces,
and time has mellowed the light and graceful colonnade
of the Renaissance and Roman architecture, as much
or more than that of the vanished people.
For a vivid first impression of the city one should
certainly enter it from its northern side, and pass at
once into its grim, dark, mediaeval streets, through
these splendid early portals. The usual approach from
the station, which is certainly no quicker and much
188
S. Agostino
more tedious, gives nothing like the same impression of
the real Perugia, which we love to read about and
study.
•■MW>**r^^A
ARCO DAUGUSTO
S. Agostino.
Many roads meet in the Piazza Grimani, and joining
as it were together, pass back to the heart of the town
through the arch of Augustus. The whole of the
Borgo S. Angelo, which spreads away to the north of
1H9
T'he Story of Perugia
tlie piazza, though enclosed by very early walls, is not
part of the first city of Perugia, and is indeed a little
city of its own with one main street, the Via Longara,
and houses closely packed on either side.^ To the
right as one passes up it is the church of S. Agostino,
with its wonderful choir — one of those choirs which,
by its exquisite variety of design and transformation of
the wood to beasts, delights and fascinates one.
The choir was made in i 502, and, as Mariotti, who
describes it at length, remarks, it is *' indeed worthy of
praise." Perugino himself supplied the designs, which
were carried out by his Florentine friend Baccio
d'Agnolo, and Perugino saw that the payment of the
work was good : 1 120 florins down at the end of the
year when the work was done.-
S. Agostino, like other churches of the town, has
long since been despoiled of its best treasures. We
read a long list of its early pictures ; the crowning glory
of these, the large and many-sided altar-piece by
Perugino, was pulled to bits and scattered during the
Napoleonic raids. The history of this great altar-piece
has been traced with extraordinary precision, and as it
throws some light on the ways of the painter we give a
sketch of it here. It seems that in the autumn of i 502
the indefatigable Pietro signed a contract in which he
promised to paint his " Sposalizio " for the Duomo,
three other smaller pictures, designs for the stalls of S.
Agostino, and finally an immense two-sided altar-piece
for that same church. As may easily be imagined the
' The borgo of S. Angelo was always reported in old days
to be inhabited by the most wicked people in Perugia, and,
indeed, during the turmoils of the centuries the first rumble
of revolution and of discord could usually be traced to this
quarter.
- Perugino seems to have taken a particular pleasure in work
of this sort ; his designs for the Cambio stalls are a good
illustration of the ingenuity he expended on them,
190
^'I'T^H
''% %iai
■'"^ k!ii^|^^^
s r i'
= ^l
Tj M T*^««
S AGOSTINO AND PORTA BULAGAJO
191
S. Agosthio
carrying out of this colossal contract was no'light matter,
and it dragged on for years during which time Perugino
did not hesitate to embark on several other works ; and,
not at all abashed by his own lack of faith in promises,
we find him writing to the friars of S. Agostino from
Pieve di Castello, where he was for the time engaged
on other work, begging them in a large round hand
and most marvellous spelling, to give some corn to one
of his proteges, bearer of the letter (see Pinacoteca).
The letter is dated March 30, 1512. The next we
hear of the picture is in the autumn of 1521 when
there is a question about payment which proves that
the work was iinished. It is not an easy matter to re-
construct this picture, but we have seen the plan of it
in a very early manuscript which shows a grand pile of
frame and canvasses much in the style of Pinturicchio's
altar-piece in the Pinacoteca. Of all its many parts
Perugia has only kept a few of the saints, the Baptism,
the Nativity and the P'leta ( ?). We read of scattered frag-
ments in such different towns as Grenoble, Toulouse,
Lyons, and Nantes. The Madonna herself, we hear,
was pierced by a German ball at Strasburg.
There is in a side chapel of S. Agostino a rather
beautiful old fresco, probably by some scholar of Peru-
gino, of a Madonna and some saints with a white rab-
bit in the foreground. I^ooking one day at the picture
we wondered vaguely why the rabbit had been painted
there : " Ma, per beilezza," hazarded the small son of
the sacristan with the delightful intuition peculiar to the
children of his nation. No doubt he was perfectly
right. Another good fresco by Perugino or his scholars
may be found, strangely enough, in the back passage of
a baker's shop a little farther up the Via Longara ; but
before leaving the church of 8. Agostino it would be
well to look at the splendid meeting-room of the Con-
fraternita next door to it. This room, like that at
N 193
The Story of Perugia
S. Francesco, is a magnificent specimen of rather heavy
and sumptuous Renaissance wood-carving.
S. Angelo.
At the very end of the Borgo, just before turning
into the open country, is the little old temple of S.
Angelo. One of the earliest facts we find in the his-
tory of Perugia is that this temple was the only building
which escaped the fire kindled by Caius Cestius (see
p. lo). The church is probably built on the site of
some old Etruscan temple, but in its present state it
bears only a phantom resemblance to the form of its
first architecture. Some say that the early temple was
dedicated to Pan, more likely it was a temple to Venus
or Vulcan. Conestabile declares that three distinct
periods of building can be traced in it, and he suggests
that the original temple was pulled down and rebuilt by
ignorant early , Christians with the ruins of another
temple dedicated to Flora. The pillars are certainly
of different sizes and very different qualities of stone.
Some few are of Greek marble, and one has an Etrus-
can capital ; yet in Fergusson's description of S. Angelo
he says that " the materials are apparently original and
made for the place they occupy ; " he also suggests
that the church was originally used as a baptistery, or
may have been dedicated to some martyr, " but in the
heart of Etruria," he adds, " this form may have been
adopted for other reasons, the force of which we are
hardly able at present to appreciate ; though in all cases
locality is one of the strongest influencing powers as far
as architectural forms are concerned." In the first
form of the Christian building it was surrounded by a
third row of columns (see p. 171) which were taken
by the Abbot of S. Pietro to adorn his new basilica,
and in those times the third circle stood open to the air
1 9 J,
S. Angela
with vestibules and atrium. The altar of sacrifice, now
a side altar, stood in the centre of the church where
m
CHURCH OF S. ANGEI.O
the hideous rococo baldachino stands to-day. The
small square pillar with the Latin inscription was prob-
195
T'he Sto?-y of Perugia
ably moved from its place, and turned to the north at
the time when, as a local writer fitly says, *' the archi-
tecture of S. Angelo was burdened by so many baga-
telles and such a profusion of false ornament." Among
other late Christian "ornaments" In S. Angelo we
must mention the body of a young Saint which lies
embalmed under one of the side altars. It is one of
those odd pathetic bits of bad taste which somehow
charm us. The Saint is dressed in tawdry armour, but
his face and limbs are exquisitely fine, his expression
pure and very peaceful. His hair is long, the skin of
his face waxen, he seems to be merely sleeping.
One of the very earliest Umbrian frescoes of Perugia,
" La Madonna del Verde," is painted in a chapel to
the right. The whole building is a remarkable mixture
of early pagan, of Roman, and of Christian art, and we
can only regret that the last should have been added
later, and in its worst and most degraded era.
The temple stands on a quiet plot of ground within
the city walls, which, a little to the left of it, end in a
great medieval tower or portcullis put up in time of
war by a condott'iere ! It needed the Umbrian sky, it
required the Umbrian landscape to make of such strange
contrasts an harmonious whole. Yet S. Angelo is one of
those things which at once possesses men's fancy, and
we read that even in the middle ages fantastic legends
settled round it, and that the early writers believed it to
be the "pavilion of Orlando."
Having, in this chapter, run through some few
historical facts relating to a Pope, an Abbot, two
Umbrian painters and a pagan temple, we may as
well complete the medley with one or two calm
records of the Umbrian saints. Leaving the church
of S. Angelo one passes back to the street and out
through the Porta S. Angelo into the open country.
196
S. Fra/iccsco al Monte
The gate is lialf a castle, and was built by Fortebraccio
when he was strengthening the city with new walls.
There is a charming detail in the life of S. Francis
connected with it. We hear that when Pope
Honorius III. was staying at Perugia, the enthusiasm
for saint Francis of Assisi was at its height, and
the Pope with all his court went down across the
plain to visit the quiet dwelling-place of the gentle
Christ-like teacher : "And the friars of S. Francis,"
says Mariotti, " beheld many counts and cavaliers
and other noble gentlemen, and a great number of
Cardinals, Bishops, Abbots and ditfercnt clergy, who
all came down to see the large but humble congregation
of S. Francis." And then the Saint returned the
visit, and coming in person to call upon the Pope
in order to obtain indulgences for his new church of
the Angeli, it happened that as he passed through the
Porta S. Angelo he met with S. Domenico who
himself was hurrying in the same direction. They
met each other in the archway — these two founders
of great religious orders — "and with their usual
charity they embraced each other." The picture
is beautiful and striking indeed ; maybe a hot May
morning, and the two men, who more than most on
earth had overcome themselves and elevated the
souls of other men, staying to embrace in a quiet,
homely fashion before passing further on into the
presence of the acknowledged Pontiff of the Church.
S. Francesco al Monti:.
A little further down the road on the left hand
side, is the monastery of S. Francesco al Monte. We
hear that the place was endowed in the following
manner : " It happened that a rich gentleman,
197
T'he Story of Perugia
Giacomo di Buonconti de' Coppoli, who, in his
houses of Monteripido," (the hill on which the
present convent stands) " was wont most tenderly
to entertain the blessed brother Egidio, delighted
beyond power of description in the ecstatic trances
of that Saint ; and having become a widower, by
the death of Donna Vita, who died childless, Messer
Giacomo took holy orders, and in his will he ordered
that his houses should be turned into the convent
of S. Francesco al Monte which was therefore
built in 1276 by the Minori Osservanti." We
may conclude that Fra Egidio, who was one of
the most fascinating followers of S. Francis, long
outlived his ardent worshipper, for we hear that
he spent a great deal of his time , in the convent
that was built to do honour to the Franciscan order.
Poor Fra Egidio ! when he knew that death
was near he begged to be taken back to Assisi
to die and be buried in the home of his loved leader ;
but the Perugians, although they simply idolized
him, refused him this last comfort. They forced
him to die in their midst so that they might have
his corpse and profit by the miracles that they
expected would be worked by it. They gave him
a beautiful tomb at last, which may now be seen
in the church of the University. His staff, his
book, his poor brown gown, are kept in a crystal
case tied up with roses and silk ribbons.
The monastery of S. Francesco al Monte rises bare
but beautifully proportioned on its hill top. Tall lines
of slender cypress trees guard either side of the steep
ascent or " sacro monte " which leads to it. We can-
not explore the cells ; the little church is bare, its
Perugino altar-piece and other pictures gone, like the
rest, to the Pinacoteca ; but sitting on the grass-grown
steps we may read one of the most delightful and
198
S. Francesco a I Monte
ingenuous stories ever told about cither Perugia or tlie
followers of S. Francis : —
" So S. Louis, Kinjr of France, went upon a pilgrinnage to
visit ail tile sanctuaries upon tlie earth, and hearing great fame
of the holiness of Brother Egidio, who had been one of the
first companions of S, Francis, he set his heart on visiting
him in person, wherefore he came to Perugia where Fra
Egidio then was living. And coming to the door of the
convent dressed as a poor and unknown pilgrim with but a
few companions, he encjuired with great insistence after Fra
Egidio, saying nothing to the porter of who it was that
asked. So the porter went to Fra Egidio, and told him
that a pilgrim was asking lor him at the door, and to Fra
Egidio it was revealed by f Jod that he who waited for him
was the King of France, whereat he immediately and with
the utmost fervour left iiis cell and hurried to the gate; and
without further questioning and althougii they had never met
before, with the most deep devotion those two kneeled down
together kissing each other witli such a sweet familiarity it
seemed that they had held long fellowshiji together: but in
spite of all these things neither the one nor the other spoke a
word ; they merely held each other in that close embrace, with
every sign of charitable love, in silence. And having stayed
together tlius for a long space of time without exchange of
words they parted from each other ; and S. Louis went fortii
upon his journey and Fra Egidio returned unto his cell." . . .
Then we hear that the monks in the convent arose
and murmured together, and questioned Fra Egidio
about the mysterious guest with whom he had stayed
so long in close embrace, and Fra Egidio told them
very simply that it had been the King of France.
Then they upbraided him for his discourtesy towards
so great a man : " O Fra Egidio, wherefore hast thou
been so rude as never to have spoken even one syllable
to so devout a King who came all the way from France
that he might see thee, and hear from thee some holy
words?" And Fra Egidio answers them with the
child-like and unruffled candour peculiar to his order,
and begs them not to marvel at the mutual silence of
that meeting,
'99
T'he Story of Perugia
•' Because," lie says. •• as soon as we had embraced each other
the light of wisdom revealed and showed to me his heart, and
likewise mine to him ; and thus by a divine concurrence
seeing into eacii other's hearts, we understood far better, he,
what I desired to say to him, and I. what he desired to say to
me, than if we had spoiien together with our mouths; and
we found far greater consolation than if we had attempted to
explain with our voice that which we felt in our hearts: for,
had we spoken with our mouths, such is the faultiness of
human speech, we should more likely have had discomfort in
the place of comfort ; now therefore understand, that the
King went from me marvellously contented, and his whole
soul refreshed."
So King Louis of France went out across the
Umbrian hills, the Umbrian Saint returned to his cell,
and Perugia added a new and splendid number to her
list of royal visitors. Probably this story, be it a
myth or be it truth, has caused the confusion between
the French King and the French bishop, one of whom
is certainly a patron of the city to this day. The lilies
of France are scattered everywhere at the feet of the
Umbrian griffin. But the true patron of Perugia is
S. Louis Bishop of Toulouse, and as far as we know
the visit of King Louis of France was only recorded
by the author of the Fioretti.
200
CHAPTER Via
Fid del Priori — Perng'uios House ^ —
NLadoniia dclla Liice—S. Bcniar-
diiio and S. Frcuiccscu cil Prato
JUST under the bell tower of the Palazzo Pubblico
a narrow street, called the Via del Priori, well-
paved, and preserving many chaiacteristics of the
mediaeval city, runs steeply down through the Porta
S. Susanna and into the open country by the station.
Once when the nobles were fighting in the square
above, or more probably in the Corso, the blood
llowed so freely that it is said to have come running
down the street in a crimson stream at night — hence
the name of Via del Piscinello which is given to the
street a little lower down. The houses are very old,
very giim, and closely packed in the Via dei Priori.
The lumieri, where the heads of enemies were hung,
stand out maliciously upon the walls of the Palazzo
Pubblico to the right, and many of the palaces have
still their narrow doors for the dead ox porte dd mortucc'io.^
From the Chiesa Nuova (built in 12 iS but entirely
remodelled and spoilt by bad decoration) a narrow
' In oiiL- of till.' loveliest oi the old houses as one passes down
to the left. Madame Alinda Brunamonte lives: a poetess of
whose talent Perugia is most justly proud ; and a little lower
down is the Palazzo degli Oddi witli its exquisite copy, said to
he l)y Pinturicciiio, of Raphael's Madonna del Libro, and the
strange charts of the Oddi palaces upon the plain, decorating
its walls.
201
The Story of Perugia
street leads off to the left and down past some charm-
ing red brick palaces into a narrower street where
what is known as Perugino's house still stands.
Though there seems to be but very slight evidence about
TUli ULL) COLLEGIO DEi NOTARI, SAID TO Bli THE STUDIO Of I'ERUGINO
the real abode of the painter, his studio has been fixed
in the beautiful old corner palace with the red marble
windows in the Via del Commercio off the Corso. But
one place does as well as another to pin a legend to,
202
Pcrng'/no s House
and this little house of mean appearance tucked away in
a dark and somewhat dingy street, with only a marble
P
Ot
Ji
Efc....-
TDRRK DEGI.l SCIRKI
slab to mark it, serves the purpose well enough.
Indeed, if one believed Vasari, one could with case
203
T'hc Story of Perugia
imagine Perugino choosing such a spot as this to hide
his wife, his crimes (?) and all his money in, and see
him hurrying thither in the dusk, of a December
evening from some big church or city where he had
been to paint an ahar-piece for prince or pontiff. One
can even picture the long dark cloak he wore to cover
up his money bag, his little cap pressed low upon his
rather cloudy forehead, and one can almost hear him
chuckle as he eats his maccaroni and strokes the fair
hair of the woman he so loved, thinking with the joy
of malice of all the other women who would come to
pray and weep before his saints and his Pietas.
But this is nothing better than a dream. Blankly
one looks at the slab above the door, at the wall from
which even the frescoe of S. Christopher has vanished,
and from the utter silence of the place one hurries
away and further on down the Via dei Priori. The
street ends, and one passes into the open country through
the Porta S. Susanna. Just above is the Torre degli
Scirri — one of the only specimens remaining of all
the wealth of towers in the j^ast. A tree has grown
upon its very top as though to seal the peace which
follows after strife. A little further on is the small
church of the Madonna della Luce. The front of this
church is a very dainty bit of architecture and was
designed by Cesarino Roscetto, a Perugian goldsmith,
who also made the silver shrine in the cathedral which
holds the Virgin's ring. It has inside a beautiful
altar piece by some scholar of Perugino. The picture
is exquisite in colour and in sentiment. Siepi gives
a long history about it, which, although it does not
altogether fit in with the facts of dates, we cannot
refrain from mentioning here. (Perhaps he was
alluding to some older fresco which has disap-
peared.) He says that on the i2th of September
I 5 1 3 some youths were playing at cards under the
204
NLadoinia del/a Luce
wall of a butcher's shop which in old days stood
outside the church of S. Francesco. One of them, a
./ .
ETRUSCAN AUCU Ol'
young barber, called Fallerio, lost heavily at the
game, whereat he swore a terrible oath, hearing which
blasphemy the Madonna in her shrine by the wayside
205
T'he Story of Perugia
closed her eyes, and kept them closed for the space
of four whole days. On the i6th she opened them
again. So great was the fame of tliis miracle, and the
sensation it caused, that processions and great multi-
tudes of people came to worship before her shrine, and
on the 7th of April 1513 her picture was carried to its
present place in the new church which the people built
for her, and she was no longer called the Madonna di
S. Luca, but the Madonna of Light to commemorate
this wonderful occurrence.
From the church one road leads out into the
country through the old Etruscan gate of S. Luca and
another to the right into the Piazza della Giustizia :
that fair open green which holds one of the loveliest
flowers of Renaissance art — the facade of the Oratory
of S. Bernardino.
S. B
ERNARDINO.
The Oratory was built in i 450 by the magistrates
of Perugia, who were anxious to leave to their city
some enduring mark of the man whose influence in
times of extreme moral depravity and perpetual party
strife had been so purely one of good to the citizens
of Perugia. The life of S. Bernardino of Siena is
familiar to most people. He, like S. Francis,
exercised an extraordinary power over the minds of
men in the middle ages by the mere example of pure
living and sweetness of character, but perhaps his
power lay a little more in preaching and in stirring men
to action than that of the saint of Assisi, whose influ-
ence was more absolutely that of peace.
S. Bernardino of Siena was born at Massa, near
Siena, in 1380. His mother died early, leaving the
child to the care of an aunt. By this lady, Diana
degli Albizeschi, he was educated with extreme care
and tenderness, and he grew up beautiful, gracious, and
206
S. Bernardino
very pure of heart. At seventeen he joined a con-
fraternity at Siena, and by the early age of twenty-four
he had ah^eady shaken an always weak, constitution by
his great labours for the sick in the time of plague.
He died at Aquila in the Abruzzi, and was canonized
in I 450 by Pope Nicholas V. S. Bernardino's life was
one perpetual strain towards the light in an age which
was dark, and one of its greatest objects had been to
reconcile the mutual hatred of the Guelphs and
Ghibcllines. He was full of child-like faith and wise
philanthropy ; and tradition says that it was he who
started the first Monte d'l P'leta or pawnshop, and
Perugia claims the privilege of having seen the first of
these institutions. 1
The figure of S. Bernardino is always unmistakable
in art, and it becomes familiar to us in Perugia, where
he exercised an extraordinary power, and where he
would preach from his pulpit in the public square to an
almost maddened crowd of penitents. The saint is
always represented holding a square tablet with the
initials of Christ set round with rays upon it, because
lie was accustomed to hold one of these whilst
preaching. His face is emaciated, but beautiful both
in line and in expression ; it is a face which the
spirit illumines with an unmistakable glory. Mrs
.Jameson, in her life of the saint, says that the finest
sculptured portrait of him is that on the fagade of his
Oratory at Perugia ; and certainly, if taken merely as a
graceful bit of art, few things could do more honour to
the man whose best tribute, however, will always be
his extraordinary hold on the hearts of men throughout
the whole of Italy.
In 1 46 1 the people of Perugia called in a Florentine
' It is fair to say that many other towns dispute this
strange honour with Perugia, and probably witii far better
claims.
207
T'be Story of Perugia
sculptor, AgOotino Ducci or Gucci, to ornament the
fagade of their new oratory. This sculptor is
described by both Vasari and Mariotti as Agostino
(lella Robbia, and connected, either as a son or a
brother, with that well-known family. The connec-
tion is, however, not proved, neither does his work
seem to corroborate it in any way.^
The facade of S. Bernardino is a marvellous and
perhaps a unique thing in art. The work on it is light
and airy like the winds of spring. The figures of the
angels, the garlands, and the saint himself, are full of
that elegant and subtle charm which now and then
surprises one in sculpture. Ducci made wonderful use
of the pale pink marble of the country, mixing it with
terra-cotta figures, bits of blue sky, and marble, creamy
white, for all his garlands. Perhaps the loveliest
figures, where all are lovely, are those of the six
virtues, Mercy,'-^ Holiness, and Purity, Religion, Mor-
tification, and Patience, on either side of the entrance
doors. But the different angels playing on different
instruments, and the flying angels round the figure of
the saint, are each delightful in their separate ways.
Even the inevitable griffin seems softened by the hand
of the Florentine sculptor, and he has admirably caught
the purely spiritual nature of the saint, both in the large
central portrait, and in the smaller plaques where some
of his miracles are represented. Siepi gives a full
description of the different scenes :
" Under the two higher niches," he says, " are two squares,
1 Ducci did other excellent work in Perugia, namely, the
gate of S. Pietro, the beautiful altar in S. Domenico, and a
Madonna and child which is now in the University Museum,
but which was originally made for a niche on tlie faqade of
S. Francesco al Prato. It was the Florentine sculptor, too, who
is said to have founded the pottery works at Deruta.
- See plate.
208
S. B
cruar
dint
and on tile right one of these we see the Saint, who, whilst
l)reaching on the Isola Maggiore of our Lake of Trasimene re-
ceiveti into his order the i)lessed CJiacomo of the Marches. . . .
MKRCY. nETAlI. ON F.ACADE OF THE ORATORY OF S. liKRNAKDIM)
I'o the leit." he continues, •• tile Saint is discovered preach-
ing, and illuminated hy a star, which in the full light of
day shines over his head, a miracle wliich hapijeneii in the
city of Aquila five years betore his death, while preaching
o 209
The Story of Perugia
the praises of Mary. . . . Three other miracles of the Saint
are given on the frieze below. In the middle one of these
we see the Saint preaching to the people of Perugia, and the
bonfire which he made them light on the piazza of our Duomo,
where books of superstition, of necromancy and the law ot
astrology were burned in public, together witli fashionable
follies of the period : packs of cards, obscene pictures, forbidden
weapons and ornaments of female luxury — instruments all of
iniquity and of delight. Therefore it is that from the flames
demons are seen to rise. In the miracle to the right we see
two children saved by the intercession of the Saint from the
furious waters of a mill-stream in which, having been caught,
they were miraculously saved by the Saint from death. . . ."
It is not very clear why this particular spot was
chosen from all others on which to build the Oratory
of S. Bernardino, but it was probably because it stood
so close to the convent of S. Francesco al Prato,
where the Saint, who himself was a Franciscan, would
naturally stay when he paid his visits to Perugia.
We hear that he was deeply attached to a certain
bell which hung in the campanile of the convent, and
which bore the name of Viola and was noted for the
peculiar sweetness of its voice. It happened once,
when all the bells of the town were ringing, that
Viola fell. S. Bernardino was preaching at the
minute up in the square of the cathedral, but by a
miracle he heard her fall and stopped his sermon for
an instant, saying to the people : " My children, Viola
has fallen, but she is not harmed ! " and he was right.
Viola was set up in her place again and rings with a
clear strong voice, dear to the heart of the Perugians,
even in the present century. ^
* * * * *
Long even before the birth of S. Bernardino a
much older order or Confratern'ita held its meetings
in the small church at the back of the present oratory.
This was the Confraternita di S. Andrea della Giustizia,
1 See poem of '• Viola," by Alinda Brunamonte.
210
S. Bernardino
and it was one of the earliest of those remarkable
societies — one may almost describe them as religious
guilds— which rose up out of that great devotional move-
ment at the end of the middle ages which resulted in the
extraordinary processions and displays of the " Flagel-
lants." "The movement," says Doctor Creighton,
"passed away ; but it has left its dress as a distinctive
badge to the confraternities of mercy which are familiar
to the traveller in the streets of many cities of Italy."
Morals, as we have seen, were very low in the
thirteenth and the fourteenth century ; blood flowed
freely in party feuds and towns were devastated and cor-
rupted by the strife of church and people. All these
things, and the great pestilence which ravaged the
country and the cities, were taken, and probably
with perfect justice, to be the signs of an ofl^ended
deity. " It was then," says Bonazzi, " when men
had grown familiar with death, that those strange
songs arose which the people sang in the moonlight,
wrapped in white sheets, whilst they danced the dances
of the dead about the streets, clanging the bones
together in weird accompaniment to their songs."
Doctor Creighton ' dates this movement to the end of
the fourteenth century. He says also that it originated
in Provence. Perugia, however, lays strong claim to
having herself sown the first seed, and this as early
as the middle of the thirteenth century, of the displays
of the Flagellants.
In 1265 we read the strange tale of a monk who
describes himself as " Fra Rantero Fasano de Perosc'ia
Comen-zatore della Regola del Battut'i di Bologna."
Raniero tells us that he was accustomed, as a young
monk at Perugia, to lead a life of excessive privation
and abnegation, and one day, when scourging himself as
1 See "History of the I'apacy during the Reformation,"
vol. i. p. 146.
21 I
The Story of Perugia
w;is his custom, he was joined in a vision by certain
saints who accompanied him to the church of S.
Fiorenzo, and there they all beat themselves together
in front of the high altar. This vision occurred day
after day to Raniero, but at last one of the saints spoke
to him and told him that it was the will of heaven
that men should purge their sins in this same fashion.
Raniero carried his tale to the Bishop, who expounded
it in a sermon to the inhabitants of Perugia, and this,
according to some historians, was the origin of all the
fantastic demonstrations of public repentance which
soon spread over Italy, and from which, as years went
by, there arose the calmer and more practical institutions
of Confraternities in the several cities. One of the
earliest of these at Perugia itself was the company of
S. Andrea, and it is interesting to read its laws and
statutes. Through its own annals we lind that it was
started in i 374, during the reign of Pope Gregory XI.
" for the furtherance of the worship of God and 'of
His Mother the blessed Virgin Mary, and of the
glorious martyrs and protectors of the city — Messers
Sancto Ercolano, Sancto Laurenzo, Sancto Costanzo,
and Sancto Andrea the apostle ; and for the honour
and estate of the Holy Mother Church and her pro-
tectors ; and further for the maintenance, the govern-
ing, the magnificence, and the peaceful state of the
people and the city of Peroscia."
Infinite and careful laws of civil and religious duties
follow — laws for the maintenance of peace and the
Christian comfort of souls : the day of the saint was
to be most strictly kept, fasting if possible, or by him
who could not fast, a feast was to be given to a beggar
or twenty-five paternosters told, " and all must be at mass
that day or pay a fine of twenty soldi." But the great
.work of the society of S. Andrea was the help and
protection of criminals. Its members got permission
212
S. Francesco al Prato
from the city government to meet those who were
going to execution, and to accompany them to the
scene of death, comforting them by the way, and
sustaining them with prayers and even sweetmeats to
the very last. In early times criminals were beheaded
far from the city walls ; and in Perugia the place of
doom was down in the open country on the site of an
old Etruscan tomb, the Torre di S. Manno. "Where-
fore," writes one historian, "in the fatal passing of
these miserable people, the jjious disciplinati met them
on the tlireshold, comforted them, assisted them, and
went with them even unto the gallows." Hence
probably the name of " Giustizia " given to this
particular square, and not, as is usually said, because
justice was carried out on the spot itself.
The Confraternitii of S. Andrea continued to increase
both in power and in size. Other societies of the
same charitable sort sprang up all through the city, and
after the death of S. Bernardino of Siena a new one
was started in his name at Porta Eburnea. But in one
of the great lights between the nobles, their buildings
were so knocked about and mutilated that the members
of the society had to seek out different quarters, and
they then joined themselves to the older confraternity
of S. Andrea down at S. Francesco and thenceforth
" worked together, extending their labour of charity to
the inspection of prisons, and to the Christian comfoit
of prisoners." '
S. Francesco al Prato.
To the right of the Oratory of S. Bernardino is
the immense, but quite ruined, church and convent
1 In Eonfigli's great gonfalouc now at the Pinacoteca. but
originally painted tor the Oratory of S. Bernardino, we see a
meeting of the ConlVaternities, and an admirable portrait of
their ciiapel and their square.
213
The Story of Perugia
of S. Francesco al Prato. S. Francesco, more even
than S. Domenico and so many of the churches of
Perugia, is only the skeleton of a once beautiful body
from which the silken robes, the jewels, even the flesh,
have been torn rudely off by men and time. The
church was built in 1230, in the form of a Latin cross
with a single nave. But from the moment it was built,
owing to the crumbling nature of the soil, and the
heavy and overweighted style of its architecture, it was
threatened with immediate destruction, so that in 1737
it fell in almost completely.
Throughout the history of Perugia we read of great
events which centred in S. Francesco, of great men
who were buried there, artists who painted, and popes
who blessed and prayed. Of all these former splen-
dours, nothing remains beyond a carcase of stone walls.
The pictures — the Raphael, the Pinturicchios and the
Peruginos, with the exception of Bonfigli's banner in
the chapel of the Gonfalone,^ and one interesting early
fresco down in the crypt, — have been removed to the
Pinacoteca and to other towns. Fortebraccio's bones
have gone to the museum, Fra Egidio's tomb is in the
church near the museum, and the roof has fallen in
upon a rubbish heap of beams, and bricks, and mortar.
S. Martino.
There are several ways of returning to the Duorao
from the Piazza della Giustizia. One of the pleasantest
runs through a bit of cultivated land outside the town
walls : the Via di San Francesco, and, joining the Via
della Conca, passes up under the Arco d' Augusta and
1 This Gonfalone is one of the loveliest of the series men-
tioned on p. 238. Like the one in the Duomo it is covered
with a gauze veil, but can easily be seen with a little patient
inspection.
2 14
S. Martiiio
back by the Via Vecchia. But another way, which few
could find who did not know of it, winds back into the
heart of the old town, actually crossing the Etruscan
walls in one place, and comes out op|)Osite the Canonica,
having passed the little old church of S. Martino.
S. Martino is so old, and so much overshadowed by
the big ])alacc opposite, it is sunk so low upon the street,
that passing by it hurriedly one scarcely recognises it as
a church at all.^ The high altar has a very beautiful
altar-piece by Giannicola Manni — one of the loveliest
bits of Umbrian colouring that we remember in Perugia,
and there is a rather faulty fresco by some scholar of
Perugino on the west wall, redeemed by that subtle
and sweet charm peculiar to the work of the master.
The little church is guarded by a true friend, who
not only honours its pictures, but has even copied them
with faithful care, and the whole place is filled with
something of the quiet and religious fervour which
lingers only after centuries of prayer and incense, and
which is lacking in so many of the more frequented
churches of the town.
' Siepi says that ht- cannot t-vun imajjint- liow old S. Martino
is, but he knows tliat it is luiih upon the toj) of the Etruscan
wall.
215
CHAPTER IX
P'tetro Pcrugino and the Camb'io
T^HE name of Perugia is naturally connected with
that of Pietro Vannucci detto it Pervgino, or, as he
preferred to sign himself, Petrus He Castro Plebis, who
stamped the peculiar personality of his painting upon a
whole school of Renaissance Italian art. Vannucci was
by no means the first artist of the Umbrian school, but
he was the man who brought it into general notice, and
it was in the city of Perugia that he lived and worked,
and had his school of painting.
The best of Perugino's work, however, with the
exception of his frescoes in the Cambio, is not to be
found in his native town. The indefatigable Napoleon
had a profound admiration for Pietro's altar-pieces.
He sought them out, he insisted on getting every inch
of them, down to their smallest predellas, and the
splendid pictures of S. Pietro, S. Lorenzo, and S.
Agostino went over the Alps to swell his galleries in
the Tuileries. The frescoes of the Cambio could not
go, and they at least remain exactly as the master
painted them. To understand the man Pietro as
well as the artist, we must study in the Cambio, for
there his portrait hangs face to face with a whole set
of his frescoes, and the contrast of the painter's face
and the faces he invariably gave to his saints is almost
as strange as that between the Umbrian saints and
2l6
Pictro Pcrug'iiK)
the liistory of the times in which they lived and
worked.
To understand the painters of Perugia one must
understand the period in which they were produced.
One wonders whether Vasari reckoned at all with this
when he wrote his life of Perugino. The Florentine
was not particularly just to Umbrian painters in general,
and of Pietro Vannucci he paints a very unsympathetic
portrait. He accuses him of two great faults: avarice
and irreligion, and these have become so inevitably con-
nected with Pictro's name that it is not easy to dispute
them. Yet, if not absolutely false, the facts have been
grossly exaggerated. Concerning the first — avarice —
Vasari maintains that Pietro painted exclusively for the
sake of gain, and never for that of art or faith. This
accusation has been disproved by later writers in so far
as the early life of Perugino is concerned. We hear, for
instance, that he painted several banners for his native
city in the time of plague and war, that he asked no
money for them, and when the time of need was past
he took them back and kept them in his studio. Also,
merely as an amusing anecdote, Vasari himself tells us
that Pietro could open his puree for the woman he
loved, and dress her in the fairest and the costliest
clothes, setting the pins and folds himself upon her
headgear. In the latter part of his life, which was not
witliout some shadow, he did paint for money, allowing
soulless pictures to pass from his studio to the altars of
believing monks and ladies; but his best work belongs
to his earliest period, and there is no reason to be-
lieve that it was uninspired save by the inspiration of
gold.
Concerning the second accusation — lack of faith —
we have dealt with it at the end of Pietro's life, and we
can only add here that the man must have been of super-
human gentleness who could live through the scenes
217
T'he Story of Perugia
that Vannucci lived through, and maintain the faith of
childhood.
The portrait in the Cambio is a stumbling block.
The expression is heavy and unspiritual. This fact
jars, and we resent it. (See frontispiece.)
But whatever Pietro's appearance, whatever his
personal character may have been, he did two things :
he left behind him an enduring mark in the history of
art, and he gave the soul to that considerable school of
painting from wliich young Raphael went forth into the
wondering world, together with a host of other painters
whose tendency was entirely in the direction of the
spiritual and purifying elements in human life.
*****
Away to the southwest of Perugia, above the lakes
of Trasimene and Chiusi, with a wide view southwards
towards Rome, and northwards to Cortona, is the little
Umbrian hill-town of Citta della Pieve. It is so deeply
buried in its oak woods that one can barely see it from
the hills and plains around it. The town is very old
and very sleepy, built of red bricks with hardly any
stones, and scarcely any buildings of importance. The
streets seem fallen dead asleep. " Why do you come
here ? The place is dead. Nothing ever happens in
our city," said the melancholy daughter of the landlord,
and the girl, by her unconscious words, explained the
very reason of our visit.
Nothing ever happens in Citta della Pieve. The
town has fallen on sleep in its delightful landscape —
on sleep as silent and profound as that of all the fossil
shells in the banks along the roads which lead to
it. But the place is strangely and marvellously
beautiful ; it holds the very essence of that intense
religious charm peculiar to the landscapes of Umbria,
and to the painters who have painted them ; without
exaggeration, we may say that the city looks to-day
'218
Pietro PerugiiKj
just exactly as it looked over four hundred years ago,
at the time when, to the lovers of art, its history began
and ended.^
Pietro Vannucci de Castro Plebis detto il Perugino,
was born at Citta della Pieve in the year 1446.
His parents were very poor, but they were of a good
family and position. There were many children, and
life was a struggle for bread in the small boy's home.
When he was about eight, his father, Christoforo
Vannucci, decided to educate him as a painter, and so
he brought him to the city of Perugia, and there, as
Vasari says, " this child, who had been reared in penury
and want, was given as a shop drudge to a painter who
was not particularly distinguished in his calling, but
who held the art in great veneration, and highly
honoured the men who excelled therein." The
jiainter was probably Bonligli, one of the most delight-
ful artists of the Umbrian school, but Pietro must have
gathered instruction from other sources too, from
Fiorenzo di Lorenzo and Piero della Francesca, who
we know were painting at that time. Maybe the boy
met them at tiieir work in churches, maybe he even
travelled with them as a sort of journeyman. But it
was probably Bonfigli who early inspired him with an
ambitious desire to spread his wings in iiigher spheres
of art than the little Umbrian town afforded him, and
who gave him the worldly-wise advice retailed to us at
some length by Vasari : Perugino must go to Florence,
•• for the air of that city generates a desire for glory and honour,
and gives a natural quickness to the perceptions of men. Yet
it is true that when a man has acquired sufficient for his pur-
1 The town, like every other small Italian town, has had its
complicated and tempestuous history. Its walls, many of
wliich are very early, have siitfered siege (see pp. 19, 20) ; and
its hills are honeycombed in i)laces with Etruscan tomlis.
2 19
T'he Story of Pei'iigia
poses in Florence, if lie wishes to eHect more tiian merely to
live from day to day, as do the beasts that perish, and desires
to become rich, he must depart from its iioundaries and seek
another market for the excellence of his works and for the
rejnitation conferred on artists by that city. For the city of
Florence treats her painters as Time treats her works, which,
having perfected, he destroys, and liy little and little griidually
consumes."
Pietro listened to these naive counsels ; lie drank
them in and he followed them out to the letter.
When quite a young man he started across the hills
to Florence. He probably travelled as a journey-
man, begging or earning his bread along the way.
He reached Florence, entered the studio of Andrea
Verrocchio, buried himself in a passionate study of his
art, and, barely ten years after the date when, as an
almost unknown artist, he had entered Florence with
the secret of his genius in his soul, he left it again to
go to Rome and paint a portion of the Sistine Chapel
at the command of the reigning pope. Pietro studied
in good schools and in excellently good society. In
Florence he probably met with men like Botticelli,
Credi, and certainly Leonardo da Vinci. Raphael's
father, Giovanni Santi, is said to have written the
following lines about the two young painters :
" Due giovan par delate e par damore
Lionardo da Vinci, e '1 Perusino
Fier della Pieve. ch'e un divin pittore."
Divine in truth were the two young men, tor they
were to be the fathers of the Lombard and the
Umbrian schools of painting.
Perugino's earliest commissions for pictures were
received in Florence, but nearly all the work of that
period is lost. We cannot exaggerate the loss, but
it is useless now to dwell on it and to describe the
vanished frescoes of the Gesuati convent. Pietro was
220
Pictro Pen/g/No
called to Rome about the year 14153. There he
painted several pictures on the walls of the Sistinc
I'KKUGINO : MADONNA AND I'ATRON SAINTS OF I'ERUr.IA I'AINTK
I'OR TllK magistrates' CllAl'EL AT l'ERUGL,\,
NOW IN THE VATICAN AT ROME
chapel. Only two of them lemain, and tiie figures of
Michelangelo's Last Judgment have long obliter-
ated the sweet-faced Umbrian saints and land-
22|
T'hc Story of Perugia
scapes which used to cover the east wall.^ Having
spent a little time in Rome, Perugino returned to his
native land, and the best of his paintings belong to that
period — namely to the years 1 490- 1502.
This is no place in which to describe the works of
Perugino's prime. The world knows them and the
capitals ot Europe possess them, but from the city of
Perugia, for which some of the very best were painted,
they have been taken away by " quel stupendo ladro —
Napoleone Bonaparte."^' Perugino's fame spread like
wildfire over the cities of Italy. " This maestro Pleiro,^
says a very old chronicler, "was distinguished (^singolare)
in his art throughout the universal world." So intense
was his fame and popularity, and his work in such
demand, that it was impossible for him, for one single
man, to supply all the work which men demanded of
him. We should not therefore feel surprised at the
number of second-rate pictures, planned by the master
and carried out by his scholars, which have come down
to us bearing his name.
From the period of his prime, Perugino perhaps
went wrong — that is to say, he realised his own
charms, specified, docketted them, stereotyped the
smile of his saints and set his scholars working, so to
speak, on the reproduction of the labels he himself
had painted. His personality extended itself into a
school, where, at times, it became mere caricature.
Other stars had risen on the horizon, great and
shining ; some of them straight from the master's own
' It is curious to note that it viras Paul III. who ordered
Michelangelo's Last Judgment to be painted over Perugino's
altar-piece, and that it was also Paul III. who built his fortress
on the ruins of the Baglioni palaces at Perugia.
- "That stupendous thief Napoleon Bonaparte." This
magnificent title was conferred on the dead Emperor by a
poor little withered custodian of an Umbrian church,
222
P'lctro Pcrngnio
workshop, some from other cities. There is a piti-
ful story told of the jealousy of the old Umbrian master
for the growing fame of Michelangelo. It ended
in a lawsuit from which Pietro withdrew his claims ;
but the tale may be unfounded, and we know that
Vannucci praised the David when called to pass a judg-
ment on it, we also know that he named one of his
own children after the Tuscan sculptor.
But if we can recognise the later weakness of
Perugino, the men who lived in his days and who
openly declared him to be the master of masters
never apparently recognised it. They seem to have
worsliipped his decadence as they had worshipped his
dawn. They paid large sums for the feeble saints
which rose like ghosts beneath his brush. They
desired no better man to save them in the time of
plague and bloodshed by the creation of a S. Sebastian
which they might carry in procession, or a Madonna
that they miglit kneel to. And truly to the end an
ineffable sweetness, a religious amiability, is the under-
current of the master's painting.
Pietro Vannucci died of the plague in the year 1523
at Fontignano, a small village near Perugia, where he had
been called to paint a S. Sebastian in the time of pesti-
lence. He was hurried into some desolate grave under
an oak by the wayside, and he died, as they say, without
faith of immortality, denying to the last that Saviour,
whose face and figure, whose Mother and surroundings,
he, of all men on earth, had striven through life to
idealize.
So writes Vasari, but on this accusation we would
])ause. There may have been some sickness in
Pietro's soul, we feel and see it in his work and
portrait ; but he had lived in terrible times and seen
much evil and striven to ])aint much good. The fact
that he was buried in unconsecrated ground proves
223
T'hc Story of Perugia
literally nothing, for an old chronicler, describing the
wretchedness of the times, combined with the terrors
of the plague, tells us, " that such was the state of
affairs, that the dead were paid as little attention to in
those times as in our day we might give to goats or
sheep ; and that especially in the country where no one
attended to anything, all died, almost without excep-
tion, not like men but almost like beasts ; and as the
consecrated ground did not suffice for burial they put the
bodies into ditches, covering them up with a very little
earth." Furthermore, " it was prohibited to visit the
sick, and to attend the funerals of the dead." This
being the case, how was it possible to find the corpse of
one old man in order to lay it in consecrated ground l
Pietro's sons tried hard to find it. We read of them:
of Giambatisto, Francesco and Michaelangelo, search-
ing diligently but in vain for their father's bones, that
they might lay them in the Church of S. Agostino.^
Mariotti the chronicler of Perugino, whose loving
and infinitely careful search has soothed, if it could
not obliterate Vasarl's spiteful words, ends his notes
on Perugino with the following quotation from a Latin
poet : —
•• Se pictus moreris, non morituriis obis."
*****
It was just at the end of the period of Pietro's
prime, namely, about the years 1499 to 1507, that he
was commissioned to paint the walls of the Cambio.
It is interesting to remember that at this time Perugino
was in correspondence with the monks of Orvieto, who
wished him to paint the frescoes in their Duomo. He
had long dallied with his answer, he had certain other
' Since writing the above, we have been shown a very early
MS., which shows that Pietro's bones were taken from the
ditch by a priest and buried under the walls of his church at
Fontignano.
224
The Cambio
large works on hdnd, but when liis fellow-citizens
sent in their request that he should undertake this
very considerable work for them he did not hesitate ;
he threw over his previous engagement, which, as
we know, was magnificently taken up by Signorelli,
and he at once set to work upon the walls of the
Cambio.
Perugino was perhaps out of his element in this new
undertaking. He had no choice of subjects, for they
had been selected for him by the members of the Guild,
who throughout show a most naVve interest and concern
in the decoration of their rooms. These men were de-
termined to secure the very best work they could ; their
scats, their panels, their doors were of the finest wood,
worked by the most skilful carpenters and artists of the
day. They were not wise in literature themselves,
so they applied to the best scholar of their city,
Francesco Matarazzo, for instructions, and it was he
who most probably arranged the curious mixture of
classic subjects and inscriptions which Perugino, with
a certain child-like and ingenuous persistence, painted as
he had painted all the familiar subjects of the Bible.
For the ceiling of the audience chamber, which deals
entirely with mythological figures, he may have con-
sulted certain old illustrated missals in the Perugian
archives; one of these, a Cicero (unhappily stolen from
the library some years ago), very probably suggested
some of the figures and beasts of the Zodiac which
decorate the ceiling.
The impression made upon one by the painting in
the Cambio is very calm and pleasing. The whole is
a harmony^ — a harmony of subjects sacred and profane
such as the classic-loving minds of scholars in the days
of the Renaissance delighted to create, and give to one
of their purely religious artists to carry out success-
p 225
I'he Story of Perugia
fully. The left wall is covered by two frescoes —
two lines of figures — eight Romans and four Greeks.
Behind these figures stretches the fair, calm, TJmbrian
landscape, dear to the heart of the Umbrian painter.
In the sky above them are four female figures, Prudence
and Justice, Fortitude and Temperance, and below
them small angels hold the long inscription which is
written over every group. Very soft and tender is
Perugino's conception of Roman Emperors and Greek
philosophers. They have the hands of women, their
faces are sweet like the faces of saints. They look a
little sad, and very gentle as they bend towards each
other — not one of these men could have proved a
ruler of nations. What did Perugino mean when
he painted in the second group this visionary host of
warriors ? Surely he dreamed of some fair Umbrian
girls that he had met in May along the lanes, but not of
heroes. These youths, with their wonderful head-gear
and their long, limp bodies would have fallen as field
flowers fall before the scythe or even a summer shower.
That they are fair no one denies, and in the face of
Cincinnatus there is a mysterious sweetness which
disarms our criticism; but they are merely spiritual
or imaginative portraits of the men whose names
are carefully inscribed beneath them. The opposite
wall is covered by a group of Prophets and of
Sibyls — a combination which was not uncommon
in later Christian art. To the left Isaiah, Moses,
Daniel, David and Jeremiah, and opposite them the
Persian, Cumaean, Lybian, Tyburtine and Delphic
sibyls. Perugino crowned this most singular mixture
of pagan and of Hebrew figures with a portrait of God
the Father in glory. Many of the faces in this group are
very beautiful, notably that of Daniel, which is said to
be a portrait of young Raphael, and is a truly exquisite
thing. Jeremiah is represented as a young and very
226
The Camb'io
melancholy man, and his tace is said to be a portrait ol
Pinturicchio, but if this fact is true the likeness is much
idealized.
In the two frescoes at the end of the room, namely,
the Nativity and the Transfiguration, Pietro was in his
old and dearer element. The former of these is a
beautiful bit of his best religious work, but it has been
terribly damaged by smoke, as the lamp of the Camblo
used to hang beneath it.
There is some dispute as to whether Pietro worked
alone at these frescoes. It appears almost certain that
he did do so, with the exception, perhaps, of one of
his scholars, I'Ingegno, who is said to have painted the
face of Christ in the Transfiguration. ^ The ceiling,
where the planets are painted in medallions, is perhaps
the work of his school, although the drawings were
entirely supplied by Perugino. Pinturicchio is said to
have helped in the painting, and Raphael doubtless
watched it with delight, and from it drew suggestions
which he carried later to the Vatican. Delightful
animals, dragons, and different birds pull the chariots of
the various planets. The arabesques are infinitely varied,
1 Vliigcgno is a mysterious figure in the school of Perugino.
Our National Gallery has a picture signed A. A. P. (Anurkas
Ai.OYSii Pinxit) which is helieved to be an autlicntic work of
his. We have no distinct records of tilt- man, thoiigli the
pictures ascribed to him are very numerous. The best known
of these are at Assisi. His work and his personality are
a sort of shadow of Perugino. Vasari felt no sort of doubts
aI)OUt I'higegno ; indeed he pronounced him to l)e the best
master of Perugino's school, and vying with Raphael in his
studio. He also tells us that I'lngegno's glory was early
withered by the curse of blindness; this fact has, however,
been disproved by Rumohr, who has made very careful re-
search upon the suliject. Whatever I'Ingegno was, or whatever
he did. one cannot ignore his existence in a survey of the
Umbrian school, and the very fact of the mystery in which he
is shrouded attracts and draws one to him.
227
T'he Story of Perugia
and form a study in themselves. Small boys and
cherubs ride astride of dragons or of goats, and strange
fantastic animals turn and twist themselves through
flower stalks and bowls of fruits and flowers. Squirrels,
peacocks, snakes, and many other known and unknown
creatures, cover the arches like enamelled gems.
It is curious to pass from Perugino's frescoes in the
audience chamber of the Cambio to those of his pupil
Giannicola Manni in the chapel of the same guild.
Manni's work is very rare, and indeed it is barely seen
outside Perugia.^ He was a scholar of Perugino, and
in his earlier years he followed in the steps of his
master, but in later life he went to Florence and there
acquired a love for the style of Andrea del Sarto.
The influence of the two distinct schools of painting
is strongly marked in the chapel of the Cambio, the
ceiling of which was painted early in Manni's life, the
walls after his return from Florence. Manni is a
genial and attractive painter. He paints exactly as he
pleases, regardless of religion or of history, and in his
series of scenes from the life of S. John he gives us a
set of luxurious human beings leading a very human
cinque-cento life. The colour is bright, the figures
portraits of the time. The ladies are very decol-
letees, fat, and dressed in comfortable gowns of the
most beautiful stuffs and the simplest cut. One lady in
the Nativity is particularly attractive. She wears a
gorgeous gown ot red ; her fluffy yellow hair is neatly
gathered in a net, embossed with bobs of the purest gold.
S. Elizabeth, too, may be envied the splendour of her
bed, and the looping of its heavy damask curtains.
There is a sense of luxury, a sort of wanton abund-
ance which is almost Venetian, throughout Manni's
1 There is a beautiful bit of his work in the little old church
of S. Martino at Perugia. fSee chapter viii.)
228
The Camb'io
frescoes of the life of S. John. In the banquet scene,
a dog and cat are preparing for a playful battle in the
foreground of the picture. Had tlie Umbrian painter
seen some canvasses of Veronese? Certainly he had
wandered far afield from the eaily teaching which
shows so clear upon the ceiling. He died in 1544,
and most of his work, which we know to have con-
sisted chiefly of banners, is lost to us, lost too, the
painting of the city clock which Mariotti records for
us with such minute precision.'
On leaving the Cambio it would be well to look in
at the Magistrate's audience chamber which opens on
to the Corso two doors further on. It is a magnificent
piece of Renaissance woodwork where every inch is
exquisitely carved and finished. Perugia is rich in
rare and lovely carvings, but nowhere more than in this
single hall.
' For account of tlie Camhio sec Sturia arthtica del dimlnu Ji
Fcriigia by Adamo Rossi. For account of Perugino".s life and
work see 'W'. .1. Stillman's notes in Oh/ Ilnlim Muiters, en-
graved by 'I'imothy CoK-.
229
CHAPTER X
The P'lnacoteca^
'• . . . Parmi de pareilles moeurs, les ames se maintiennent
vivantes. et le sol est tout lalioure pour faire germer les arts.
. . . Mais quel contraste entre ces arts et ces mcEurs ! "
H. Taine, " Perouse et Assise," Voyage en Italie.
T^HERE is perhaps no gallery in Europe as single-
minded- — as devoted to one set of men — as the
gallery at Perugia. In passing through its separate
rooms one feels none of that painful sense of clash
and strain produced by a mixture of different schools,
which haunts one in so many collections of statues
or of pictures ; and the most tired and indifferent
traveller will feel something soothed and softened
in his brain before he turns his back upon the quiet
sacred pictures of the Umbrian masters.
In no land perhaps, and in no school of art, was the
feeling of the painters more purely and more absolutely
religious than in the land of Umbria. The saints were
painted for places where saints were worshipped ; the
Christs have the love of the Father in their faces ; the
Marys are Mothers of pity and of grace ; the bishops
have )-enounced the ways of earth — their faces are calm
and grey beneath their mitres. And the Umbrian
1 There is a good Italian catalogue to the gallery by Signor
Angelo Lupatelli, and the same author has composed a use-
ful and comprehensive guide to the art of Perugia : Storia delta
Pltiura in Perugia.
230
T'he Pinacoteca
angels are crowned with roses, but they are the roses
of Paradise, and not the flowers of earth and of her
banquets. Think of the galleries of Venice, of Boni-
fazio's Dives, and the glorious women of Titian ;
think of the Roman collections, of Bologna and
Guercino ; nay, even think of the later art of Florence,
and then come back to these calm Umbrian masters.
The gap is wide ; the one is full of the passion and
splendour of earth, the other of the sentiment of
heaven.
In M. Rio's chapters on the Umbrian school {T Art
Chretien, vol. ii.), he dwells at length on the purely
spiritual tendency of the Umbrian school, and to
enforce this he points out two of its most remarkable
characteristics ; firstly he remarks that the Umbrian
painters rarely painted portraits, and secondly, he gives
an account of one of their chief products, namely,
the painting of the gonfalone or banner.
We have seen in the history how the inhabitants
of Perugia, driven to desperation by their own wicked-
ness, would take fits of the most passionate religious
revolt, and, casting aside the vanities of the flesh,
half kill themselves with cords and stripes and
lamentations. This excess of repentance took dif-
ferent forms. Sometimes, as we know, it resulted in
an appeal to the saints through wild, mad litanies ; at
others in an appeal to Christ's mercy through art ; and
it was at such times that the Umbrian school, beginning
with Bonfigli and ending in works like Raphael's
Sistine Madonna and Baroccio's much later designs,
painted the gonfalone, a style of picture which is quite
peculiar to Umbria, and which should be looked at with
a knowledge of the events from which it first originated.
These banners were carried about the city, the i)riests
walking in front, the populace behind, a wail and sliriek
of lamentation falling on the air as the procession passed.
231
The Story of Perugia
Sometimes, as in the banner of Bonfigli at S. Fiorenzo,
a poem of supplication to God would be painted, up-
held by angels, on the banner itself, with passionate
words of prayer upon it. It is difficult to render into
English the palpitating style of the original verses, but
we quote some passages to illustrate the sentiment which
inspired the painting of the gonfalone of S. Fiorenzo
(the date of the banner is about 1476) :
'• Oh. most obstinate and wicked people — cruel, proud, and
full of all iniquity, who hast placed thy faith and thy desires on
things vvhicli are full of a mortal misery. I. the angel of Heaven,
am sent unto you from God to tell you that he will put an end
to all your wounds and weeping, your ruin and your curse,
through the mediation of Mary. . . . Turn, turn your eyes,
most miserable mortals, to the great examples of the past and
present, to the utter miseries and heavy evils which Heaven
sends to you because of all your sins : your homicide and your
adultery, your avarice and luxury. . . . O, miserable beings,
the justice of heaven works not in a hurry, but it punishes
always, even as men deserve. . . . Nineveh was a city florid
and magnificent, and Babylon was likewise, but now they are
as nothing ; and Sodom and Gomorrah, behold them now — a
morass of sulphur and of fetid waters. . . . Oh, therefore be
grateful, and acknowledge the benefits and graces of Our
Saviour, and let your souls burn hotly with the fire of faith
and charity, of hope and faithful love. . . . But, and if you
should again grow slothful and unwilling to renounce your
errors, I foretell a second judgment upon you, and I reckon
that it will prove more terrible, more cruel than the first. ..."
The gonfalone on which this menacing appeal of the
angel of God is painted is by Bonfigli, and was made
at the time of a terrible pestilence which raged through
Perugia at the end of the fifteenth century.
In Umbria therefore, more than in most countries,
the history of her art should be studied side by side
with the history of the times in which it was produced,
for the one was, as it were, the spiritual escape or
reaction from the other. The art of Umbria was
perhaps only another form of that spirit which produced
232
The Pmacoteca
the teaching of S. Francis. Tlic lirst pictures of
Perugia arc full of man's best prayers, the earliest of
them bear his stripes, in very few can we detect his
wantonness or humour ; and when we say that the later
ones are imbued with man's weakness, or at least
his sentimentality, we make a most apparent platitude.
It is sufficient in this place to note that whatever the
final faults of the school, it originated in a purpose
that was pure — the purpose of men who strove to
represent tiie very o])posite of all that fury, blood, and
passion peculiar to the time and place in which they
lived and painted.
To most people, therefore, who once have grasped
these facts, there will be something sad, nay, even
offensive, in the Pinacoteca at Perugia. Why, and
for whom, were these purely religious paintings torn
from their niches in the quiet churches, and hung up,
side by side, in a glare of light on the walls of a
gallery ? How pale, and how sad they look, after all,
the saints and the Marys, the angels and the holy
Child, here on the bare grey walls. The thing has
been said a hundred times before, but a friend at
Perugia said it to us in a way we have never forgotten.
He was a priest, and he loved his church. We were
discussing together the present system of local picture
galleries. His eyes grew dark. "Yes," he said, "it
is as though they would tear a child from the breasts
of its mother. The mother withers and dies, and the
child dies too, without her care in the wilderness where
they laid it."
It is the student of art who profits by the present
arrangement, for the pictures at Perugia are not
difficult to find. With the exception of the
Duomo and S. Pietro, most of the churches have
been ransacked, and their canvasses and panels
233
The Story of Perugia
neatly stored in perfect order of dates and names on
the walls of the Pinacoteca, and it is an easy matter,
even in a quiet morning's stroll, to follow here the rise
and fall of Umbrian art. In the limited space before
us it will not be possible to give anything but a
skeleton sketch of the school of Perugino. Larger
works contain abundant store of facts about this par-
ticular centre of Italian art ; but if one only shuts
one's eyes and dreams of it, the three great names start
up before one : Pietro Vanucci, Raphael, and Pin-
turicchio. Close upon these follow other names ;
some, and these perhaps the fairest and most charm-
ing, rise like the dawn behind them : Ottaviano
Nelli, Bonfigli, and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. The
])upils follow after Manni, Lo Spagna, Eusebio di
S. Giorgio, I'Ingegno, Sinibaldo Ibi, Tiberio d'Assisi
and a host of others, who die at last, feeble, but
not utterly degraded, in the works of the two
Alfanis.
An easy-going historian of Perugia summed up the
earliest stages of her art in the following sentence : " I
have not been able to discover that Perugia had any
painters before the time of Bonfigli, but even if she had
them, they will not have been worthy of mention."
The assertion was sweeping, and later writers have
taken pains to contradict it, but for those who have
only time for a superficial and general study of Perugian
pictures it yet holds a good deal of truth. No great
original work (with the exception of the missal
workers, in which style of art Perugia is very rich) is
left to us from the hand of a Perugian artist before the
time of Bonfigli, and the early history of her art may
be said to have been a great deal that of outside influ-
ences, for from very early times the best and greatest
masters appear, like foreign tribes before them, to have
234
'The Pinacoteca
climbed the hill and left some subtle marks upon
her churches. 1
As the School of Siena died, that of Umbria awoke
to life. Close upon the heels of Matteo da Siena and
ot Taddeo Bartoli, those men followed who were born
to precede the School of Perugino. Before them there
were around Perugia only phantoms : stiff saints on
panels and on parchment, without dates, ghosts of un-
attained, though dimly felt, ideals — a scattered flock
of" primitives," left here and there on chapel walls or
psalters. Then gradually, all through Umbria and
her border lands, in a steady circle of glory, like
the stars on a summer night, the lights arose and
burned. At Gubbio, Camerino, Foligno, Gualdo,
Fabriano, and Urbino we trace their steady progress
through the work of men like Nelli, Piero della Fran-
cesca, Gentile da Fabriano, Niccolo Alunno, and many
others. And as these stars arose great comets travelled
through them — Giotto, Fra Angelico, Benozzo Goz-
zoli, Filippo Lippi, and others, till the whole sky was
full. Then from the centre, straight from the hill of
Citta della Pieve — there rose Pictro Perugino, and to his
school came one with the halo of pure art upon his fore-
head, — -Raphael Sanzio of Urbino.
The following notes on the Pinacoteca and its
pictures may be of use to anyone who requires a few
more details than a guide-book can supply. They
pretend to be nothing like a serious criticism, for the
history of art is long and the books about it full ; in most
of them the art of Umbria is freely treated. We have
1 Two fine portraits in the Palazzo Baldeschi are attributed
to Velasquez, but tliere is little proot' that tlie Sixinish painter
really came to paint them. Anotlier beautiful picture — tlie
property of Count Meniconi Braceschi, at Perugia — is attri-
buted to Filippo Lippi, but is more probably the work of Neri
di Bicci.
The Story of Perugia
gleaned our notes about the painters of Perugia from
such sources as Vasari (who, however, is often pre-
judiced), Crowe and Cavalcaselle, and several local
works. Any personal gossip has been drawn from the
ever delightful works of Mariotti, whose words, if they
be now and then a little antiquated, are as trustworthy
as those of a faithful student's only can be. We have
dealt chiefly with the work of the Umbrian painters, and
indeed, with the exception of Fra Angelico's panels and
those of some of the Sienese masters, there is little else
to study in this small and charming gallery.
The Umbrian School followed close upon that of
Siena, and the Gallery of Perugia has some fine bits
of Sienese work, notably some panels by Taddeo
Bartoli (1363- 1 422) in Sala IV. This room has
some other good panels of early masters— of masters
who probably influenced the Perugians, but whose
names are lost to us.^^
Room I.
Sala del Cimel'ii.
The first room in the gallery is devoted to the very
earliest art of Siena and Umbria,and is one of those rather
painful collections of pictures which we find in every
local Italian gallery — a room of the primitive painters —
which are, as the narrow path of art, beset with many
thorns, where only those who passionately love the goal
need try to push the briars back and tread the damp
and pebbles. But we never forget, though we may
even dislike, the pitiful pale figures of the crucified
1 The frieze round the top of the same room clashes hope-
lessly with the calm pre-Raphaelite figures beneath it. It was
painted by Tommaso d'Arcangelo, a pupil of Giulio Romano,
and represents some of the events in the life of Braccio
Fortebraccio.
236
T'hc P'uuH'otcca
Christ, and the staring wooden saints in tiiptychs, for in
them is shown the strain of technical ignorance, but of
ignorance which strives with passionate pain to get
beyond itself and soar towards the expression of
some deep emotion. This strain and impotent desire
is amply shown in the monstrous figure of our Saviour
by Magaritone d'Arezzo (see No. 26), which used to
hang inside the chapel of S. Bernardino. Such as
it is that figure had the seed of art in it, and of an
art which, perhaps, had a greater power of appeal to
the souls of men and women in pain than all the finished
figures of the later painters. No. 28 is an interesting
picture, inasmuch as the Bishop whom it rejjresents holds
tight to his breast a picture of the old town of Perugia.
No. 16 is one of the earliest paintings known in Perugia.
It is terribly damaged, and it is difficult to trace the
story of the Saint in the battered little panels. These
same panels were the first coffin of Beato Egidio (see p.
19S). Sometime after his death a splendid tomb was
made for the Saint, which can still be seen in the church
of the University, and when the humbler coffin was pulled
to pieces, some unknown local painter took the strange
fancy to paint on it the history of the man whose bones
it had first covered, together with an accurate portrait
of his new and lovelier tomb. There are many other
pictures in this room, among them (No. 1 1 ) an exquisite
fragment of some old predella with two small angels on
it ; and one or two remains of early Sicnese work.
BonfigU.
The room which follows that devoted to the early
schools, namely, the Cappella del Bonfigli, is to a student
of history one of the most interesting points in the whole
gallery, for here, through the frescoes of a most child-
like and delightful painter, we live again the life of old
237
The Story of Feriigia
Perugia ; and here too we stand, face to face, with the
authentic work, of a man wliosc celebrity formerly cen-
tred round the fact that he was the first master of Peru-
gino, but who, as the years go by, will, doubtless, ever
more and more stand on his own feet, and shine because
of some strange, subtle and ever-living charm, that of
the individual, which clings to all his work.
The Pinacoteca has many of Bonfigli's works, and
no one who once has realised the fashion in which this
early Unibrian master crowned his women and his angels
will ever be able to forget it. How thin and exquisite the
veils upon the pale, calm heads of his Madonnas; how
fair and neat the wreaths of roses on the yellow hair of
his young angels! Bonfigli was, indeed, a pleasant
painter, and it is strange to think that his home relations
were of a tempestuous order : *' Certainly he had a
wife," says Mariotti, "and he had her of such a sort
that she caused him nothing but anxiety ; moreover, he
was in constant strife with her." But Bonfigli was not
always calm in his painting. He could be humorous,
he could have a touch of Carpaccio in him, as will be seen
in his frescoes for the Magistrates' Chapel ; but he could
also be passionate and dramatic. To understand him
fully one must study him in his gonfaloti't, or banners.
Perugia has five of these — one of 8. Bernardino, now in
the Pinacoteca, another in the sacristy of S. Francesco
al Prato ; another in 8. Fiorenzo (see p. 232); the
fourth in S. Maria Nuova ; and the fifth in S. Lorenzo.^
All have suffered from exposure and from restoration,
' There is another picture of exactly tlie same tyjie in the
Church of the Carmine. It has hitherto I^een given an earlier
date than Bonfigli — 11 30 — and it is one of the so-called mira-
culous Madonnas. We have made careful search, both in the
documents of the church and in other books upon the pictures
of Perugia, but can get no certain information about it ; yet
we feel nearly convinced that it is the work of Bonfigli.
238
I'hc Pinacoteca
but tlicy arc unique and individual forms ot art. The
Christ in them is inexorable and revengeful, Death
strives with man, saints and the Madonna try to inter-
fere, and sad and supplicating groups of citizens kneel
by their city walls and pray tor grace.
Nothing is definitely known about the early life of
Bonfigli. There seems to be no record of his birth.
He was probably born about 1420, and died about
1496. The first authentic mention of his work is in
1454, when he undertook a commission from the
priors and their chaplain to paint the walls of the
Magistrates' Chapel in the Palazzo Pubblico. That
Bonfigli was well known and very highly appreciated
in his native city before that date is evident. Mariotti
tells us that he was called in by the citizens as one of
the judges to pronounce judgment on Agostino Duccio's
fagade at S. Bernardino. It is probable that he even
had a school of painting — that school to which Vasari
somewhat slightingly alludes in his life of Perugino.
Sala II.
Cappdla di Bonfigli
[formerly the chapel of the Magistrates' Guilil).
Mariotti gives a long and humorous account of the
contract between Bonfigli and the magistrates about
the ])ainting of their chapel. Undertaken in I454 the
work was still unfinished at the time of the painter's
death in 1496, and Mariotti is unable to discover any
sufficient reason for such undignified delay. " I do
Some of the ^onfaloni — those in S. Francesco al Prato and
S. Lorenzo — are covereti with a thin gauze veil. The one of
the Carmine was also thus covered originally, but the veil
caught fire and burnt to cinders. Not a flame even so much
as touched the faces of our Lady and her angels.
T'he Story of Perugia
not easily think ill of anyone," he writes, "and least
of all of painters, but certainly in those years we have
no record even of any influenza raging in the city of
Perugia." When the chapel was half painted, Fra
Filippo Lippi was called in to judge about its excellence.
He found the pictures good, and voted a sum of four
hundred florins in payment to Boniigli, who once more,
and with infinite slowness, went to work upon them.
Only the skeleton of this work remains. At the end of the
last century, Mariotti thus bewails it : " But the pictures
of Bonfigli — oh, my God — how have they been ravaged
by the little care bestowed upon them, how devastated
by the course of time." Half ruined by a form of
restoration which perhaps is worse than none, ill-lighted,
and without their former colour, the frescoes yet remain
a delightful and engaging study. They represent the
lives of the two bishops, St Louis of Toulouse, and
S. Ercolano, patron saints of Perugia. To the right
as you enter, and in a dark corner by the window is
the Consecration of S. Louis ; next to it the miracle
of the fish performed by that Saint. This picture is
admirably preserved. The landscape is one of those
half real and half fantastic follies of a wise man which
always charm one. Bonfigli knew that he must paint a
town by the seashore ; he painted the sea, but he put his
own fair Umbrian city straight down upon its shores.
There stands the church of S. Domenico with its
celebrated windows, and up behind it, tier on tier,
there rise the towers and the brown roofs of the city
that we read about, the Perugia of the middle ages,
against a dark blue sky. The miracle is a naive one.
A merchant lost his bag of gold during a storm at sea.
He prayed to S, Louis to reveal to him what had
become of it. S. Louis appeared in heaven and showed
that a certain large fish had swallowed the purse. The
fish was caught, cut open, and inside it was the merchant's
240
The Pinacoteca
bag of gold. We see the fisherman toiling up from his
boat with the heavy fish upon his shoulders, and then
we see the monks cutting open the fish, and the merchant
and his wife receiving their money. So realistically
is the scene presented, that we even see the blood of
the fish upon the bag.
The next picture has been terribly damaged, and it
is difficult to understand the subject ; but a learned
gentleman of Perugia, to whom we are indebted for
various most ingenious suggestions, fancies that it is
simply the representation of some miracle of healing
performed by the Saint in Rome ; certainly Bonfigli
has striven to combine in his background a mar-
vellous mixture of Roman and Etruscan architecture,
the arch of Constantine mingling with Porta Susanna
and the Colosseum !
The following fresco is perhaps tlie most delightful
of the series. It represents the burial of the Bishop
of Toulouse. Now S. Louis is known to have died in
his father's castle of Brignolles in Provence at the early
age of twenty-four, but all this was of very secondary
importance to the ingenuous Bonfigli. It was sufficient
for him to know that a dead Bishop had to be painted.
He selected the architecture that he loved best — his
own Perugian church of S. Pietro — he sliced it in half
so that all might look inside it, and on a bier in the
centre of the aisle he laid the corpse of a quite middle-
aged Bishop. With infinite care and faithful precision
he copied the lines of his church. The true basilica is
here, not touched at all by decoration. There was no
choir in those days ; a dark blue sky looks in at the
windows, the roof is bare with all its rafters showing.
But the central figure is out of all proportion. The feet
and the head of S. Louis of Toulouse almost touch the
columns in the aisle. His robe, with the golden fleur
de lis, is neatly folded round him, his mitre glistens in
<2 241
The Story of Perugia
the light ; his face is grey and calm, and full of
dignity and of repose. Bonfigli had a sense of humour
and could not refrain from a touch of caricature.
It is impossible to look at the group of monks
and prelates round S. Louis, and not to feel at
once convinced of this. A fat and pompous Bishop
in golden cope and mitre, is saying the mass for the
dead. His large red book is supported by the head
of a kneeling friar, and the very thumbs of this friar
express his disgust and discomfort. To the left of the
Bishop a group of roaring monks take up his words
and repeat them in dolorous voices. Only to look at
their faces one knows that their litany is absolutely out
of tune. At the head of the Saint another priest is
reading in a book, his acolytes swing incense, one
holds the Bishop's staff. The rest of the church is
filled with quiet groups of men and women ; and the
most charming figure of the whole is that of a young
man in a red gown with a shock of yellow curls, who
kneels, lost in prayer, at the knees of the dead Saint,
his back turned to us.
The next picture represents the siege of Perugia by
Totila. No doubt this siege — that most memorable
event in the annals of Perugia — was rather a chaos
to the mind of Bonfigli as it is to many people now-
adays ; but the following history, taken from old
chronicles, will explain the whole fantastic pageant.
It will be remembered that Totila besieged Perugia in
549, and that the little town held out valiantly, but
finally fell into the power of the Goths. During a
terrible siege the Bishop of Perugia, S. Ercolano,
attempted certain childlike and vain subterfuges of
war, which unhappily ended in failure and in his
own martyrdom. Ciatti, in his somewhat weariful
and dreamy style, records the events of the siege as
follows : —
242
mC ,: '^ T""--!-!
4r«ii
^'■■v.,-..;
FIRST TRANSLATION OF THE BODY OF S. ERCOLANO
( FRESCO IN THE PINACOTECA OF PERUGIA i
243
The P'lnacoteca
•' It is said that the saintly Bishop S. F.rcoiano, receiving
much heavenly aid and holy counsels, and perhaps led by
Ciod, turned his soul to an act of human prudence. It
happened that the city was reduced to extreme misery by
reason of the scarcity of victuals, so that the citizens de-
cided to surrender or to die fighting. S. Ercolano
counselled them to bring him any grain which should still
be found in the granaries, and they, knowing his great
sanctity, obeyed and brought to him, after most diligent
search, one small measure of corn. Then the Saint took the
sole surviving lamb " (Bonfigli in his frescoes has painted an
ox) " and, to tlie wonder and silent indignation of the people,
he gave it to eat of the grain ; it ate abundantly and the
Bishop then threw the lamli with great force down from the
ramparts, when, by reason of its great fulness and the height
of its fall, the innocent beast was at once killed. When the
captains of the enemy beheld this thing they were angry,
saying ; ' These Perugians have so much grain that they can
give it to their beasts to eat, and so much meat that they cast
it carelessly away, how can we, therefore, hope to subdue them
by famine?' But it chanced that a young acolyte spoke
from off the ramparts to some (Joths and unwittingly revealed
to them the distress and the mortality reigning in the city by
reason of the want of food : and the stratagem of S. Ercolano
becoming known in the camp, the infuriated Goths, hot with
anger, returned to the attack and with impetuous fury assailed
the deserted walls. Greeks and Perugians rushed to arms, but
what could they do, poor starvelings, against the Gothic host ? "
Thus fell Perugia. Our learned author goes on to
describe how S. Ercolano was conducted to the
ramparts and after his skin had been torn off in strips
from the neck downwards, he was beheaded and his
body thrown into the ditch. Some faithful adherents
gave it secret burial, and finding the body of the
foolish young acolyte near by, laid it in the same
grave. Later, Uliphus, governor of the city, allowed
the Perugians to give their beloved pastor ])roper burial.
To the astonishment of all beholders the Saint's head
was found joined to his body, which seemed like
that of a man asleep. This miracle converted many
of the Arian Goths to the Roman faith, and "with
245
^he Story of Perugia
rejoicings and hymns of praise the body of S.
Ercolano was borne through the streets to the
church of S. Lorenzo."
The next picture gives the burial of S. Ercolano.
It is only a fragment, and we can hardly piece the
scattered groups together. There is a lovely little
group of ladies to the left — a set of typical Bonfigli
women with exquisite white headgear. The curving
front of the Palazzo Pubblico upon the Corso is
painted with accurate care, the loggia of Fortebraccio
too, is clearly seen and understood. But the picture
is only a shadow ; the part we most wish to see, namely,
the north front of the Palazzo, is wholly obliterated,
and the restoration spoils it terribly.
In the next fresco the body of S. Ercolano is
being carried from S. Pietro to S. Lorenzo, and
Bonfigli has seized this excellent opportunity to paint
a fresh portrait of his native city. In the fore-
ground the basilica of S. Pietro with a colonnaded
front and unfinished campanile is faithfully depicted,
and behind the funeral procession (which by the
way is moving in quite the wrong direction) the
town towers up into the sky like a pack of yellow
cards, broken only by its towers and campaniles.^
Rooms VI. and VII.
Sala dl Boiifigli and Sala di Bernardino di Mariotto,
Before leaving the subject of Bonfigli it will be well
to look at some other pieces of his work which are
painted in quite a different manner. Amongst these is
a Madonna and Child (No. 13). It is a beautiful
^ The picture is a curious record of the times. Two excom-
municated women kneel in the right hand corner ; one of them
is huddled in a veil, but the other, fair and soulless as Greek
Helen, turns aside and smiles.
246
The Pinacoteca
specimen of the master's purely pietistic painting.^
Tradition says that Fra Filippo Lippi ordered this
picture. It has suffered terribly, for in old days it
was hung in the lavatory of S. Domcnico, and as the
friars washed their hands they must have splashed the
water up against the panels. No. i o, the Adoration of
the Magi, is also by Boniigli. The picture as a whole
is perhaps more interesting than beautiful, inasmuch
as it is one of the very few religious pictures of
the Umbrian School where the portraits of living
people have been introduced. Orsini tells us that the
Madonna is a portrait of Bonfigli's sister, the Child
a picture of his nephew, and the youngest of the
three kings that of his brother. The loveliest point
in the picture is the group of angels up in the roof.
Bonfigli must, we think, have seen the swallows flitting
at springtime in and out of some low breezy barn,
and put their movements into angels' forms. The
predella, too, is a perfect gem in itself, notably the
panel of the Baptism where the wilderness is painted
dark and brown, but the sunrise is full upon the figures
of three angels who stand with crowns of roses on their
heads and watch the scene among the rocks. There
is an Annunciation in the same room by Bonfigli ; and
it again is chiefly charming because of the treatment of
the angels. They come fluttering up behind a group of
cypress trees, all in the flush of dawn. But the fore-
ground figure is strange indeed. What did Bonfigli
mean when he painted S. I^uke and his ox, and planted
them there in the midst of the picture so as quite to
distract one's attention from the principal figures of the
piece? In the next room (Sala VII.) Bonfigli's
angels can be studied with ease. There are in all
eight panels of them, and it is interesting to see how
1 The four panels of saints anil angels round the Madonna
are attril)utcd to Caporali.
247
'The Story of Perugia
the early painter strove between realism and idealism
in the faces. He loved his smiling angels best ; what
care he took to crown them with pink roses ; what
baskets too of roses he gave to them to carry ! yet
to his angels of the Passion he gave no roses, only
the symbols of the Crucifixion, its anguish and its
thorns.
We have lingered long over the work of a man whose
figure is such an attractive one in the Umbrian school.
Before passing on to the work of his contemporaries we
must mention the name of another artist four of whose
pictures are hung in the room of the Bonfigli angels :
namely, Bernardino di Mariotto. Bernardino is an in-
teresting figure in the gallery, and one is struck at first
sight by the quality of his work, which differs from
everything round it. He seems like some strange
missing link in the history of the Umbrian and the
Roman school ; and so little is known about him
that up to a quite recent date his work was confused
with that, first of much earlier painters, and then of
Pinturicchio. His treatment of detail : the Virgin's
gown, the garlands of fruit and flowers, the angels'
wings and the saints' dresses, is beautiful though his
colour is cold and hard. His peculiar use of a very
stiff baldachin made people say that he was a master
of Raphael. As a matter of fact he lived at S.
Severino in the Marches and worked about the years
1502 to I 521.
In the same room there are two big pictures by
Bartolomeo Caporali, who was a pupil of Perugino.
His great flying angels in No. 12 are like the angels
of Bonfigli gone mad, there is something grand in the
rush of their wings, and whatever the faults of the
somewhat exaggerated composition, it forces one's
immediate attention.
248
CJONKALONE OF THE ANNUNCIATION ATTRIBUTED TO NICCOLO ALUNNO
249
The Pinacoteca
To return to the order of the earlier painters, we
come to one or two names which are probably more
familiar to most people than that of Bonfigli : these
are Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Boccati da Camerino and
Niccolo Alunno. There is a fme bit of Alunno's work,
in Sala VII, (No 14). It is about the only thing of
his which is now attributed to him in Perugia. Such
a host of angels singing and playing to God in the
heavens, and a charming garden scene round the young
Virgin ! She kneels very quietly at her desk. Neat
pots of flowers stand on the marble wall behind her
and three stiff cypress trees against the sky ; round a
corner of the garden wall two very engaging angels
stand gossiping together, their heads thrown back, their
mouths a little pouting. In the immediate foreground
two patron saints are kneeling to introduce a group of
lawyers who commissioned tlie painting of the banner.
Boccati da Camerino's work is rare. There is
a charming thing of his in Sala VI. (No. 13): a
Madonna and a fascinating choir of angels. His largest
picture (No. 16) is in the same room and represents
the same subject. The Madonna sits enthroned
under a heavy pergola of roses, and all around her
is a stiff little choir of angels : a most delight-
ful and original conception. The picture was
painted for the monks of S. Domenico, and so the
emblem of the saint, his dog, had to figure in it.
What Boccati was about we cannot judge, but he cer-
tainly painted an ermine instead of a dog, and the
little Christ receives the strange beast with delight.
The predella of the picture is full of stories almost
in the style of Carpaccio. Boccati had a rare and
charming fancy. In his scene of the procession to
Calvary, he shows how a rude soldier attempts to strike
the fainting figure of Christ ; and one of the horses of
251
I'he Story of Perugia
the guard, with ears bent back, stoops forward to bite
the hand of him who would distress the Saviour.
Rooms VIII. and IX.
Sola di Fioren-zo d'l Lorenzo,
Gabinetto di Fioren-zo di Lorenzo.
We now come to Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, to whose
name two rooms in the Pinacoteca have been dedicated.
Very little is known about his life. We can only
gather that he studied in the school of Bonfigli, and
that he competed with Bonfigli in the painting of
banners. He may have been a rather younger man,
but he was earlier than Perugino and his scholars, and
so he forms a sort of link between the masters and the
pupils of a great school.
Fiorenzo may be said to have begun the school which
now is called the school of Perugino. It was he who
distinctly and for ever broke away from that Greek or
Byzantine influence which we feel in much of Bonfigli's
work. In his own day he was eclipsed by the greater
lights which rose up round him, and it is only to us,
who try to trace the school, that he is such a really im-
portant and delightful figure. Throughout his work
one feels a great effort towards light — towards fresh
issues. His drawing and his colour are often very
beautiful, but there is a great difference in the style
of the various works ascribed to him. Compare
No. 53 (Sala VIII.) and its surrounding panels, with
Nos. 30, 6, and 5. (The three latter probably all
formed part of one large altar-piece.)
The Adoration, attributed to Fiorenzo, is a
crowded but a beautiful composition. The Virgin,
S. Joseph, and a group of shepherds kneel in the
foreground, and exquisite flowers, grape-hyacinths,
252
253
T'he Pinacoteca
even some fluffy heads of dandelion seed grow
at their feet. Behind them is the stable — an Um-
brian stable in an Umbrian landscape — filled with
a host of angels. In the dim distance the shepherds
feed their flocks upon the hills. The figures are mere
sketches of some Umbrian goat-herds whom Fiorenzo
must have met outside the Umbrian farms at dawn.
Nos. 10 and i6 (in Sala IX.) are beautiful speci-
mens of the master's later work. Note the hand and
the crimson sleeves of the Virgin.
But if Fiorenzo could apply himself with the reli-
gious ardour of his school to sacred subjects, to the
Bible of his art, he could also sometimes take a holi-
day and write a fantastic and entrancing scherzo on his
own account. It is his series of pictures on the life of
San Bernardino of Siena which at once attracts us in the
gallery. Here we find one of those wonderful visions
of the past — a record of men's manners, of their
costumes and architecture, as seen through the eyes of
some intelligent yet child-like artist.^ To describe the
miracles is not an easy matter. In seeking the subject
one is carried away by the charm of the models, just as
the painter was who painted them. A company of en-
trancing youths with long thin legs, their marvellous
crimson tunics trimmed with fur, their small caps barely
clinging to their shocks of golden curls, strut up and
down the panels, but barely conscious of the Saint
and all his patient care of them. No 3, represents
1 In Matarazzo's chronicles of the sixteenth century we find
an accurate account of the different costumes worn by the
nobles of Perugia (see p. 99). It has been suggested to us by
a learned gentleman of Perugia, tliat Fiorenzo was simply
copying the costumes of his period, and that in his group of
young men in the miracles of S. Bernardino he did but portray
the most important actors of the day, whose armorial bear-
ings were shown in their apparel, namely, the '• most magni-
ficent gentlemen, Oddi and Baglioni."
The Story of Perugia
the miracle of a girl who has fallen into a well, and
whom the Saint has saved from drowning ; we see a
lovely and impassive creature sitting upon the marble floor,
her yellow hair has not been wetted, the small red fillet
binds it gracefully ; her relations and her lovers pray
and pose all round her, but little ruffled by the memory
of the late catastrophe. Just the same is the accident
of the mason, treated in No. 7. His comrades stand
about the wounded man, exquisite and undisturbed.
" Ah," they seem to say, " thus and thus it happened,
thus, maybe, he fell " ; but all the time they are
thinking of their well-set tunics and of their long and
lovely legs ; and who can be surprised at this, seeing
that their toilette is carried to perfection ? No. 5 shows
the capture and escape of a prisoner. It has a pleasant
landscape in the background, a sort of park, with a lake
and trees about it. In No. 6 the Saint appears in a
cloud under a beautiful marble palace and heals the
blindness of a fellow friar. The doctors do seem
somewhat interested, but everything is too beautiful
and finished for much pity or, anyhow, for pain ; and
as for the hair of the young men in this panel, it is
more excellently curled than in any of the series. The
remaining miracles are by another hand. Some pupil
or imitator of Fiorenzo tried to finish them, but the
treatment is coarser, the charm of the first is gone.
Room V.
Sala deir Angel'ico.
Before passing on to the work of Perugino and his
school, which one must confess, with the exception of
Sala XL, is but a disappointing show of canvasses and
panels, one passes through the little room of Fra
Angelico.
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The Pinacoteca
In Taine's slight but exquisite sketch ot Perugia
and its pictures we read the following words about the
work of Fra Angelico at Perugia : " He was happier
here than in his pagan Florence, and it is he who first
attracts us (in the gallery). Looking at his work
there, one seems to be reading in the ' Imitatio Christi,'
for on the golden background the pure sweet faces
breathe a quiet stillness, like the immaculate roses in
the gardens of Paradise." Taine is right ; everyone
is at once attracted to the work of the Florentine
monk when they come to the gallery of Perugia. We
have searched for some record of the friar's visit to
Perugia, but have not been successful. It is certain
that the Florentine painter came to stay in Umbria,
leaving behind him as a legacy to later painters
the influence of his pious gentle art. He became a
monk in 1408 at Fiesole, but his convent got mixed
up in painful religious disputes, and the monks had
to fly and wander into other lands, hoping to return
when times should be more peaceful. Fra Angelico
came to Cortona, and there did some of his very earliest
work. Thence, very probably, he travelled to Foligno,
staying on his way to rest at Perugia, and leaving there,
in the church of 8. Domenico, that wonderful picture,
all the parts of which now hang together in the Pina-
coteca. They are jewels, these small panels — jewels
fresh as dewdrops on the first May wreaths of girls.
Angelico never lost this bloom of utter purity, and
here we find it at its very dawn. The Madonna and
Child are in the centre ; round them stand four angels,
their baskets full of roses. " Two angels in long
dresses," says Taine, ♦' bring their roses to the feet of
the small Christ with the dreaming eyes. They are so
young, and yet so earnest." Again, of the Annun-
ciation, he says : " The Virgin is candour and sweet-
ness itself; her character is almost German, and her
R 257
The Story of Perugia
two hands are clasped with deep religious fervour.
The angel with the curly hair who kneels before her
seems almost like some young and happy girl — a little
raw perhaps — and coming straight from the house
of her mother These indeed, are the deli-
cate touches that painters of a later date will never
find again. A sentiment is an infinite and incom-
municable thing ; no learning and no effort will ever
reproduce it absolutely. In real piety there is a certain
reserve ; a certain modesty is shown in the arrangement
of the draperies and in the choice of little details, such
as even the best masters, only a century later, will not
understand at all." It is difficult to choose any
particular point for description in the twelve narrow
panels of saints. Angelico carefully studied to show
the individual character of each. He gave to his
Magdalen a new and lovely attitude — a sort of ascetic
repose. Of her physical beauty he only left the yellow
hair ; it falls to her ankles gold as the maize in
autumn, but her body is wasted beneath it. St Cathe-
rine of Siena is said to be a really authentic portrait of
the Saint. The Bishop of Toulouse is unlike that of Bon-
figli, younger and gentler in expression. The whole set
make an ineffably sweet impression on our mind, and
it is difficult to turn to the other pictures in the room.
Of these the best and the most interesting is by Piero
della Francesca.
Piero was one of Perugino's first masters. He
was born early in the fifteenth century at Borgo
San Sepolcro. He had a passion for perspective,
and was one of the first men who made a real
study of this branch of art. We hear that he
wrote books on geometry, and grappled with Euclid
and the laws of measurement. He also studied the
proportion of light and shade, and all these points are
admirably proved by his picture at Perugia (No. 21).
258
The Pinacoteca
Vasari gives a full account of it in his life of Pieio.
He describes the lower part, then adds : " Above
them is a most beautiful Annunciation with an angel,
which seems, in truth, to have descended from heaven ;
and what is more, a range of columns in perspective,
which is indeed most beautiful." St Elizabeth of
Hungary is a fine point in the lower composition.
She wears a green gown, and in its skirt she carries
the loaves wliich, by grace of heaven, and to defend
her from the anger of her husband, were turned, as we
know, to roses.
Room X.
Sala del Perugino.
An irresistible sense of sadness creeps over us as we
pass through the room which bears the name of Pietro
Perugino. Looking at the collection one feels much
in the same frame of mind as one does in searching the
wearisome domestic letters of a genius. Only one or
two of the pictures attributed to Vannucci in the Pina-
coteca of Perugia have the touch of the spirit in them.
No. 25, which IS double-sided like most of the altar-
pieces of convents, where the one side faced the con-
gregation and the other the monks or nuns, is a beautiful
bit of Perugino's work, fine both in colour and in senti-
ment. No. 10, too, is a small gem from one of Pietro's
really beautiful altar-pieces.^ Nos. 20 and 4 are frag-
ments of one enormous altar-piece (see p. 19c), which
used to hang in the church of S. Agostino and which
like many others of Pietro's finest works was torn to
pieces, and carried a(fross the Alps to swell the galleries
1 The hole it filled may still be seen in No. 16, Room XIII.,
but the big picture is torn from its frame and its place filled up
with a good bit of Eusebio's work.
259
The Story of Perugia
of Napoleon. One hurries shuddering past pictures like
Nos. I, 5, and 26. It seems so impossible that what
the Germans call a " Schone Seele " should have
allowed such things to be.
Room XI.
Sala di Bernardino di Betto detto il Pinturtcchio.
In the little room which leads out of Room X. we
make an interesting study of Perugino's pictures, for it
contains some of his earliest and also some of his most
decadent work. Had the municipality of Perugia just
a touch of humour or malice when they hung No. 25
side by side with No. 1 6 ? Whatever they had in
their heads they have given to us a curious study.
Here are two works by the same man, the latter
probably a pot-boiler of his school but still burdened
with his name. Both represent precisely the same
subject, the same set of saints is in each of them ; but
the early work is full of thought, of reverence and
feeling ; the early Sebastian, calm and grave, has the
arrow in his very flesh, and the later Sebastian, simper-
ing and affected, toys with his arrow and turns with
painful affectation to the Saviour. There is a lovely
little set of sketches on the predella under No. 6 ;
the Nativity, a mere hurried impression, seems full of
the breeze of early spring in Umbria.
We have a splendid bit of Pinturicchio's work in
this room which bears his name, and also one of the
rare paintings of Lo Spagna ; one or two pictures
which bear at least the name of Raphael, and the
much disputed " Adoration " which has been ascribed
to more than one distinguished person.
Bernardino di Betto, usually known as Pinturicchio
260
The Pinacoteca
and sometimes as il Sordicchio because he was deaf, and
small and of a mean appearance, studied in the school
of Perugia, and indeed was one of its most distinguished
painters ; but having left that earliest studio he carried
his talents to other parts, and painted as we know for
popes and princes, painted above all things those two
wonderful series of frescoes in the Duomo at Siena and
in the Borgia rooms at the Vatican. He has been called
sometimes the Umbrian Gozzoli ; certainly he was
the historical painter of the great school which grew in
the times of Perugino. Vasari with a certain prejudice
and ill nature insists that Pinturicchio's success was
one ratiier of opportunity than of talent ; but it is much
more probable that the painter was beloved because he
was faithful to his promises and carried out his orders
with care and with precision. We know, too, that after
all the sums he got, and all his heavy labours, he died
of hunger and neglect on a winter's night at Siena, his
wife having deserted him and eloped with a new lover.
Pinturicchio had a grant of land given to him in the
neighbourhood of Perugia in 1 495, by Alexander VI.,
and he determined to return to his native city and live
there ; but some years later, when in money difficulties,
he was forced to sell it to a gentleman of Perugia.
The splendid altar-piece (No. 10), which" alone
remains to Perugia of this distinguished pupil of Peru-
gino, is ill lighted and rather difficult to judge from
top to bottom, but is interesting as well as beautiful ;
for the picture remains just as the painter painted it with
all its panels in their proper order, unlike the panels of
so many of Perugino's finest altar-pieces. The Pieta,
the angel of the Annunciation, both the figures of the
Virgin and the detail of their dresses, fruit and books,
are exquisitely finished.
There is in the same room an excellent specimen of
261
'The Story of Perugia
the work of another of Perugino's scholars — Lo Spagna
(No. 7). Giovanni di Pietro was one of the most dis-
tinguished of Vanucci's school, and Kugler indeed pro-
nounces him to be the most distinguished after Raphael.
It is probable that he studied with Fiorenzo di Lorenzo
before going to Vannucci's studio, but it is difficult to
discover any details about his private life. His whole
career is shrouded in some mystery. His name would
make one think he was Spanish by birth. We know
that he left Perugia and went to live at Spoleto.
Vasari declares that this was because the painters
of Perugia were jealous of him and made lite in
their midst impossible ; this fact is however severely
denied by our gossip Mariotti, who declares that Lo
Spagna was excessively well off in Spoleto, where he
not only received the rights of citizenship but also
secured a charming wife. Be all this as it may, of this
really good artist, who combmed in his work the influ-
ence of Raphael and of Perugino, only one piece is
left in the place where he learned his art.. The
Madonna and Saints (No. 7) is a fine specimen of his
work. The mother and the child are fresh and beauti-
ful in colour and expression, and all the details of the
dresses and the landscape infinitely careful. Note St
Jerome, his gloves, his book, his hat and splendid
gown. One other picture is ascribed to Giovanni in
the same room, but it is greatly inferior in treatment.
We now come to the Adoration of the Magi, which
after much dispute was some time ago ascribed to
Perugino's scholar Eusebio di San Giorgio, but which
is still the subject of endless discussions, as, owing to
further and more minute investigations it is at length
declared by excellent judges to be the work of
Raphael. One reason given for this is that tlie young
man to the right of the Virgin has on his trousers a
262
The Pinacoteca
strange design, the arms of RaphacJ. Poor Eusebio
must turn in his grave. His former biographers,
anxious to seize on any gem of painting which should
save the artist from a rather mediocre position in the
history of art, always stayed to shout exultant praises
when they came to this picture, and now the critic would
tear even this glory from his brows and crown another
man whose he.id is already heavy with their laurels. ^
No 20 — a Madonna and Child — is ascribed to
Raphael. The picture certainly has something of the
master in it and it may be the work of the mere boy,
when first he came from Uibino to paint with Peruuino,
and in the Umbrian city dreamed his great Madonna
of the future. Raphael Sanzio passes like a dream
through Perugia, leaving no certain relic of his mighty
fame save one faint faded fresco on the church wall of
S. Severo, and these poor relics in the gallery.^
Room XII.
Sola di Glannicola e di Berto di Giovanni.
From this point forwards the interest of the gallery
begins to wane. We have tracked the dawn and seen
the sunrise; now we feel the dull warmth of midday,
1 Eusebio was a favourite pupil of Perugino. There is some-
thing pathetic in his life Men seemed better friends to him
than fortune. Pinturicchio loved him and took him with him
to Siena to hel]5 him with his work there. He was a great
friend of IVlanni, too, and a passionate admirer of Raphael,
whose work he imitated. When very young he married a
beautiful girl of Perugia whom he loved deeply. By her he had
many children and his life became a struggle to support them,
so that he was often hampered and distracted in his work and
died early and in misery.
" That Perugia had great Raphaels not very long ago every-
one knows. '1 he excpiisite Madonna del Libro is now in S.
Petersburg, and the British nation paid a memorable sum for
the Ansidei Madonna which used to hang in S. Fiorenzo.
263
The Story of Perugia
and passing through the weary hours of the afternoon,
most fully and amply represented in the work of the two
Alfanis, we pass to night through the fevered rooms
of the Decadence. Sala XII. is devoted to the work,
of Perugino's scholars, but most of it is weak. Still
there is a touch of the old sweetness here and there
among the figures. Note No. i 5 by Giannicola Manni.
It has a charm though it is very imitative. The rest
of Giannicola's work in this room is rather dreary.
But there is charm, too, in the purely imitative, nay
copied work of Berto di Giovanni. Berto was another
of Perugino's scholars. He lived probably towards
the end of the fifteenth century and it is evident that
he felt a passionate admiration for his fellow student,
Raphael. All we can gather of facts about Berto
comes to us through his connection with Raphael.
In 1 5 16 he contracted to paint, in combination with
his hero, a picture for the nuns of Monteluce. Bits
of the predella are now in the Pinacoteca. In the flat
and almost womanish sketches of Berto one traces his
persistent admiration for the greater artist. It is as
though an intelligent child had torn the leaves from
its mother's sketch-book and filled in the lines with
faithful and laborious colouring. (See Nos. 19 to 26.)
But Berto's charm, such as it is, went all wrong when
he tried to paint big subjects. Nos. 1 6 and 1 4 are
little more than failures.
* * * * *
To anyone who admires the work of the two Al-
fani, Domenico and Orazio, a happy hunting-ground
exists in the last big rooms of the Pinacoteca. How
it came about that one of Perugino's really lovely
frescoes got hung in this part, we cannot tell, but it is
certain that the Nativity (No. 31, Room XIII.) is one
of the loveliest things that remain of Pietro in the town
of Perugia. It is very like our own Nativity in the
264
I he Pinacoteca
National Gallery, faint and f;iir in colour, calm and
true in composition, with a peculiar lilac colour of crushed
grapes throughout the dresses and the landscape.
It would be impossible to close any account of the
school of Perugino without a slight sketcli ot the two
Alfanis whose intense admiration for the genius of
painting became a fault, and who, through their very
earnestness preserved the corpse from which the life
long since had fled. The Alfanis, Domenico the
father, and Orazio the son, had money and long life.
These two happy gifts they employed in the paths of
art ; with these two gifts they at length degraded what
they really attempted to exalt. Domenico was such a
passionate admirer of Raphael that one of his his-
torians declared him to have died in the same year as
Sanzio. Mariotti denies this. " However passionate
a friend and inseparable a companion," he urges,
" Domenico had not for certain such a crazy folly as
to accompany him to the other world." Domenico
far outlived Raphael. In his long life he absorbed
the teaching of many schools, and utterly obliterated
his ovv'n personality in the work of other people. His
son Orazio did the same. They went into partnership,
started a large school or studio, and there created the
innumerable, rather middle-class pictures, which cover
the walls of the Pinacoteca. Orazio survived his
father about thirty years, and was the first president of
the Academy of Perugia founded in 1573'
* * * * *
One word to close these notes about the painters of
the Umbrian school.
Seek out the painters in the places where they
painted. Go to Spoleto for the works of Lo Spagna, to
Gubbio for the masterpiece of Nelli, to Spello for
Pinturicchio, to Foligno for the early men who have
not even names. Go in May to Montefalco, when
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The Story of Perugia
all the green of Umbrian angels' wings is in the lanes
which lead to these. Learn by heart the Umbrian
landscape if you wish to really love and understand
the spirit of Umbrian art. The Pinacoteca of Perugia
serves only as a backbone for the genuine study. ^
^ It will perhaps be objected by some readers that the above
pages contain too few facts and dates about the painttrs of
the Umbrian school and the manner in which they were
influenced by the Florentines. For these, we add the follow-
ing list of authorities whose works contain full store of infor-
mation on the subject :
Crowe & Cavdlcaselle — History of Painting in Italy, vol. iii.
Alinda Brunamonti — Pidro Pcru^ino e fAtte Umbra.
Angelo Lupatelli — Storia delta Pittura in Perugia.
266
CHAPTER XI
The Museum^ atid T^omb of the Voliimiii'i
Having traced the first Etruscan walls and seen the
tomb of the Volumnii, a note of sombre and half melan-
choly interest will inevitably have been struck upon our
mind whilst trying to realise the lives of those mysterious
people who created these things and left these dumb
indications — dumb, because the language is so dead —
upon the country where they lived and died. This
note is of course by no means confined to the mind of
the passing traveller. It is the people of the place
itself who feel it most, and in Perugia, thanks to their
efforts, we have, in the museum at the University, a
very complete, if only a small collection of the relics
of Etruscan civilization as found in the immediate
neighbourhood. In a small book written by Signor
Lupatelli upon the growth of the museum, we read
that the noble families of the place have always loved
to trace their earliest ancestors by carefully collecting
any sarcophagi or other relics which they found upon
tlieir lands. In this way the Museum has been
formed, and a crowd of tombs, laid open by the plough
or winter rains, have been preserved with all their
treasures in them.^
1 The Museum is kept in the upper story of the University
at Perugia, and a delightful street, or rather aqueduct, called
the Via Appia, leads down to it from the back of the
Canonica.
- At first these collections were kept in their owners' private
palaces, later on they sold or gave them to their native town.
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The Story of Perugia
The study of the Etruscans is, after all, the study of
the dead, and an Etruscan Museum has about it all the
mysterious atmosphere of the tomb. What barrier
greater, what ocean more profound, than that between
ourselves and this dead people ! Their tombs, their
busts, their playthings and inscriptions seem to chill the
very air around them. Ordinary people, not students
of archaeology, must face this fact quite boldly and
come prepared to plunge head foremost into a very
chilly atmosphere if they wish to learn about the ancient
Etruscans. The present writers are bound to confess,
that, on glad spring mornings, they have turned from
the sarcophagi and the bronzes and terra-cotta vases in
the cases to look with undisguised delight through the
windows of the museum and up beyond to the brown
roofs of the wicked old mediaeval city opposite. The
Duomo with all the blood upon its steps, the Piazza
with all its passionate and burning history, seemed to
them more real, more sympathetic, than the uneventful
countenances, the harmless funereal urns, of this quiet
race of men, who lived and died over one thousand
years before our era.
'• Les Tyrenes,"says M. Andre Lelevre, " durant leur longue
domination soiit restes dcs etrangers, c'est cc qui expliqtie pourquoi
hur langue d leurs dieux out d'nparu avec Icur puissance, et pourquoi
nous sommes reduits a fouiller leurs tombeaux pour connaitre
leur vie. C'est de leurs demeures funeraires que nous exhumons
aujourd'hui leurs industries, leurs arts, leurs festins, leurs
danses, leurs jeux, leurs pompeuses ceremonies triomphales, et
leurs nuptiales, et aussi leur couite philosophie faite de fatalisme
et d' insouciance."
Early in this century the objects thus collected were moved from
their original home in the Palazzo Pubblico, and placed in the
corridors and upper storey of the university. Thanks to the
indefatigable care and energy of such men as Vermiglioli and
Conestabile, who devoted their lives to the study, explanation,
and history of these relics, we now have a splendid answer to
many of our questions, both in the carefully arranged collection
of the University and in the books concerning them.
268
VIA DELLA PERA UNDER THE AQUEDUCT ON THE WAY TO THE UNIVERSITY
269
"The Museum
It is probable that when the Rasenae first arrived in
central Italy, they were still an almost barbarous
nation, and that their arts and civilization were de-
veloped later in their northern settlements, in Tuscany
and Umbria. They seem to have adopted little from
the races who preceded them in Italy, though some
say that they learned the art of statuary from these
still more mysterious people ; but, being, as we know,
themselves a sea-faring nation they may have taken
their first conceptions of art from the Carthaginians
and Phoenicians, and in this way they might easily have
come in contact with the art of Egypt and of Carthage.
But by far the strongest influence was that of Greece.
This they perhaps felt first in Greece itself, and later
through their contact with Greek settlers in Italy.
The Etruscans were a receptive people ; they easily
grasped a new idea, and carried it out with careful pre-
cision, though with rounded edges, so to speak. The
spirit of the inspiration of pure art is lacking in their
work. They were excellent craftsmen, and Rome is
said to have learned certain points in the uses of casting
metal and in masonry from Etruscan artisans. They
were also an agricultural people, who did much towards
improving the soil wherever they settled. The Etrus-
cans were a very religious, or at least a superstitious
race, full of faith in augury, constantly consulting natural
oracles, such as the flight of birds and variations of the
atmosphere, and, like the Greeks, they had their house-
hold gods or lares. The Medusa's head is for ever
recurring in their monuments and on their house-doors.
Having some strong belief in the immortality of the
human soul, they crowded their dead with gifts, putting
their most elaborate work upon the tombs, and giving
to the corpse all the necessaries for a long journey to a
distant land, or for a possible reawakening. They had
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The Story of Perugia
different modes of burial. Usually the body was burned,
but sometimes — and we have admirable instances of this
in the Perugian Museum — it was simply buried in a
stone sarcophagus. Women were respected and held
a high position in society. This fact is clearly shown
by their prominence upon the tombs, where they sit side
by side with their husbands, as they were probably in
the habit of doing at their feasts. The toilet was also
respected, and the dead took as many pots of balsam to
the grave as thi-y took tear-bottles. The richer bodies
have a wonderful array of dressing-table nicknacks at
their head and feet, and the loveliest and most careful
work in the whole museum is that upon the hand-
mirrors (see Case 12, Room vi.), which were also pro-
bably laid in the tomb of the beloved dead.
The chief interest in this museum of Perugia is the
wealth of its inscriptions. The passages are lined with
them, and a catalogue or dictionary has been made of
them. The Etruscans lived side by side with the
Romans and the Greeks, and often we find inscriptions
written in both languages upon one tomb ; yet, though
the two latter peoples were the greatest scholars of the
world, the Etruscan language is dead to us for all
practical purposes ; and the longest Etruscan inscription
which is known — -the pride of the Perugian Museum —
is little better than a blank wall to all who look to it
for purposes of study. ^
The Etruscans lived luxurious lives, but their race
ran long upon the soil of Italy. As far as it can be
traced, their rule, or at least their occupation, lasted for
about twelve centuries. By the beginning of the Chris-
tian era they were already dying out.
1 In our quotation from M. Lefevre's work (see p. 268) we
find what is at least a very plausible explanation of this dearth
of their language.
272
T'he Museum
M, Andre Lefevie gives the following final summing
up of the influence of the Etruscans upon the greater
nation which gradually took their place: —
" Bien que, mcmeaux temps de leur plus grande puissance
ils n'aient pu imposer ni leur langue ni leurs dieux a. des
peuples etablis depuis mille ans sur le sol Italien, leur part
ii'en a pas moins etc considerable dans la civilisation Latine.
Leur influence a ece moindre sur les liommes que sur les choses,
sur i' esprit cjue sur les formes exterieures, ceremonielles et
ritueiles, — qui. a leur tour, atfectent les institutions et les
moeurs. Ils out appris aux Romiiins a batir des maisons et
des temples, a onlonner les festins, les processions, les pompes
triomphales et les jeux sanglants du cirque. Les meubles, les
sieges, les statues, les licteurs, le costume, la buUe d'or des
enfants patriciens, sont aussi d' origine fitrusque. Enfin, ils ont
aioute aux superstitions deja si nombreuses des Latins et des
Sabins la science, si ce n' est pas prof'aner un tel mot, la science
augurale, elevce au rang d' institution politique, perpetuant
ainsi, au sein d' une civilisation avancee, les plus niaises pra-
tiques de la sauvagerie la plus infinie."
As it would have been impossible in the slight scope
of this small book to give any detailed account of the
different objects in the Perugian museum, we have
thought it wiser to offer the above sketch of the
Etruscans themselves, adding only some promiscuous
notes about the collections for those who care to read
them as they pass through the different rooms. The
new Catalogue by Sign or Donati, the profound works
of Count Conestabile and Signor Vermiglioli, and the
delightful chapter in Dennis' Etrur'ta contain all the
information that a genuine student will desire.
ROOM II.
Case A.
No. 5. A Medusa's head in terra-cotta ; exquisite autl of un-
usually careful workmanship. This head was probably one of
those i^laques or tablets which were put up by the Etruscans
over the lintel of tht-ir house-doors to keep away the evil spirits.
The Medusa is commonly used in this way, and we find her
8 273
T'he Story oj Perugia
constantly in tombs and other places. Her face is usually calm,
and often lovely, though in this instance it is calculated to
strike terror, as well as admiration, into the mind of any witch
or evil sjiirit. Beside it are two tablets of the same sort, but
much coarser in treatment and design, and apparently worked
under Egyptian influences.
No. 12. Some charming pieces of Etruscan glass ; small tear
and balsam bottles: also some larger bottles, square inform.
These latter were probably used for medicines. Tiieir chief
interest lies in the fact that they bear the stamp of their
Etruscan makers.
No. 6. A row of terra-cotta fateroc, such as the dead hold in
their hands on tombs.
No. 9. A plateful of little glass balls, which shine like hand-
fuls of the most lustrous emeralds and opals in the dim light
of the Museum, These were used as counters by the Etruscans
in their games of dice, and it is thought that they were put
into the graves of habitual gamblers, so that the soul of the
dead man, during its passage to eternity, should not be denied
the consolation of its favourite diversion.
No. 27. Some beautiful fragments of feet, heads, and arms.
It has been supposed that the Etruscans often made whole
statues of wood or of some such cheap material, only giving
to the extremities the careful work required by terra-cotta.
Hence these apparently disconnected relics.
Cases B. and C.
Most of the objects in this case came from Chiusi and are
made of the black ware called bucchero. Some are Etruscan,
some of an even earlier origin. All along the top of the case
are some quite simple cinerary urns of a different form to the
vases inside the cases, which latter were designed more for
decoration in rich men's houses.
No. 5. Two beautiful trays or toilet tables belonging to the
Etruscan ladies. Looking at these one seems to understand
the elaborate wigs on the heads of those ladies who smile upon
the tops of their sarcophagi. Several objects in Case D. ex-
plain them further.
274
T'he Museum
No. 4. A lovely line of graceful vases, good illustrations of
the imitative power of the Etruscans. Not only the forms,
l)ut even the sliining texture of the Grecian bronze, is here
copied in buccluro.
No. 8. These vases are tiie work of tliose people wlu> pre-
ceded the Etruscans in Umbria. The forms are simple, the
patterns purely geometrical.
Case D.
Nos. 2, 3. Some quite common earthenware urns for the
ashes of the poor who could neither afford tombs nor inscrip-
tions. On one or two of these a name is scratched in rough
black paint, probably with the finger, and as a last token to
tile (lead from someone who had loved him.
No. 7. Some earthenware bottles corres])onding to the
beautilul glass ones in Case A : those in earthenware were
used for the tombs of the poor.
ROOM III.
Sarcophagi.
This room has a selection of the most interesting Sarcophagi
in the museum. The corridors outside, and the staircase also,
are filled with other specimens of more or less interest.
There is always a certain monotony in a collection of Etruscan
tombs or sarcophagi, and the ordinary person wearies easily of
the recum!)ent figures which lie so stolidly in effigy upon the lids
of their own i)urial urns, with an ex|Mession of comfortai)le
contentment on their somewiiat unexciting and uneventful
countenances. They seem, one and all of them, like persons
who have fallen asleep on peaceful days with easy consciences,
— persons whose hope of heaven is as slight as their fear of
hell. They are, most of them, middle-aged, the pathos of old
age, the peace or the passion of youth, is lacking in their
faces. Their charm is to be sought in their extreme repose.
There are several forms of tombs in the Perugian collection,
that with the recumi)ent figures on the lid being jiroliably the
one used by the richer and more prosperous families. With
few exceptions the work on the sarcophagi is rather coarse
a singular and persistent monotony of subject is disj)layed.
The simpler forms have either a rose or a Medusa on their
275
The Story of Perugia
front panels, the more elaborate are ornamented with subjects
from the Greek mythology, which seem to clash at times with
the conventional figures on their lids. The story of Iphigenia
is a favourite theme for the sarcophagi of women.
On those of men, battles and boar-hunts figure largely, the
labours of Hercules too, and fights with the Amazons. It is
probable that these cases were kept in stock, and that when
one was needed, the order was simply given to add a face,
a portrait face of man or woman, to the figure, and sometimes
an inscription. Most of the figures hold the familiar paterae in
their hand, others clasp their long and heavy necklaces, some of
them carry a flower — a lotus, maybe, or a rose.
There was one quite different form of burial, when the
whole body was preserved in a stone sarcophagus. Sometimes
the corpse must have first undergone some kind of disintegration
in the earth, as, in one or two cases, we find the bones gathered
together in a small urn, into which the whole body could never
have been pushed. At other times it was stretched full length
in its long stone case. Infinitely pathetic is the figure of an
Etruscan lady in the corridor. There she lies just as rhey found
her, exposed to the most casu-^l observer, with all the requisites
for an exquisite toilet upon the resurrecrion morning: her hot-
water can, her strigil, her looking-glass, her pins, the money to
pay her passage across the river to Eternity — nay, even the
little metal weights she wore to keep her long straight skirts
in order — all laid out carefully beside her, and nothing of the
beauty left beyond her white and shining teeth.
Faint traces of colour linger on some of these sarcophagi.
Note No. 8. The hair of the Medusa is painted a delicate lilac
hue, and the acanthus leaves which encircle it are blue like the
sky in spring time.
No. 23. An exception to the usual design of Greek myth-
ology. The defence of a city — dare we say of Perugia — is
here depicted. The men are fighting beneath the walls ; and
in the towers above, a row of valiant ladies are preparing to
crush them with large and heavy stones.
No. 30. These much smaller sarcophagi are made of terra
cotta and come from Chiusi. In many of them the dead are
represented in a new way ; they have fallen asleep wrapped in
long thin veils which cover the entire figure.
276
The Museum
ROOM IV.
Case A.
No. 9. Some good specimens of Etruscan helmets, one of
them with flaps of iron to protect the ears of the warriors.
We learn clearly in tliis room that the Etruscans wore
elaborate armour — helmets, belts, greaves, and bronze and
iron spear-heads being plentifully represented.
Case B.
No. 31. Pempobolo or graffio — an instrument used for stirring
the bodies of the dead as they burned, and for raking in the
ashes afterwards.
No. 35. Cnttabu. This strange looking implement was pro-
bably used for a kind of game practised at Etruscan feasts. It
is supposed that at the end of a feast, when the guests grew
merry, a toast was proposed, and that a glass was put on the
tray at the top of the pole just under the little deity, and then
carried round the room. The broader plate below was put to
catch the wine as it fell with the swinging of this most un-
gainly instrument.
Case D.
Nos. 10 to 33, 40 to 60. A collection of small metal images,
Lari, or household gods, most of them very Greek in treat-
ment, .some of them even archaic.
Nos. 34 to 40. A collection of lead missiles for slings.
These are inscribed with words of the most marked abuse
designed for the enemy. On one of them is written : (in Latin
characters) " For thy right eye " — the sort of naive thing a
schoolboy might design.
ROOM V.
'• As beautiful pottery like that of Vulci and Tarquinii is
very rarely found at Perugia, it seems probable that it was not
manufactured on the spot," writes Dennis. And if one has
seen the various other local Etruscan Museums in Italy, one
will feel decidedly disappointed in the vase-room at Peiugia.
One or two interesting points may however be noted. It is
strange to mark the difference between the two separate classes
of vases, between the genuine Greek work, which the Etruscans
277
The Story of Perugia
liad the good taste to prize, and that oi their own imitations
of it. Note Nos. 3. 5. 14, all of which are probably Etruscan
copies from real Greek vases, 'i'hey are like the imitative
sketches of children, lacking in understanding and in feeling,
and pathetic in tlieir clumsy failure. Nos. 7, 8, 10, and 12, are
all specimens probably of real (ireek work.
No. 21. A fine terra-cotta vase — probably genuine Etruscan
work — with four heads of Bacchus at the base.
ROOM VI.
The gems of the museum may he said to have been gathered
together in this room, and the object which at once attracts
one on entering is the large sarcophagus of an Etruscan gentle-
man and his evil genius, or Fate, which stands by the east
window. Dennis has an admirable description of it: "An
Etruscan of middle age," he says, " is reclining in the usual
costume and attitude of the banquet, with a bossed phiala in
his left hand, and his right resting on his knee. At his feet
squats a hideous old woman, stunted and deformed, whose
wings show her to be a demon. She seizes one of his toes with
her right hand and grasps his right wrist with her left. (Some
authorities say she is feeling tlie pulse of the dying man.) She
turns her head to look at him, yet he appears quite unconscious
of her presence. She doubtless represents the Moira or Fate,
whose touch deprives him of life. The monument is from
Chiusi, and of the fetid limestone of that district. Both heads
are moveable, and the bodies hollow, jsroving that this, which
looks like the lid of a sarcophagus, is itself a cinerary urn."
No. 18. An Etruscan helmet of the finest work.
No. 14. Two exquisite sarcophagi differing in every way
from the one described above. So flowery is the work upon
them that one scarcely realises to what dark ages they belong.
The terra-cotta seems just baked, the paint is sticking to it.
rhe griffins and sea horses, the portraits on the lids, all are
most exquisitely treated.
No. 12. The wonderful mirrors in this case have iieen
admirably described by Dennis (see page 428). The one with
the story of Helen engraved on it (No. 11) is quite one of the
loveliest pieces of work ever discovered in the soil of Etruria.
No. 3. A sarcophagus with the most delightful procession
depicted upon its panels. Tliere has been a good deal of dis-
cussion about the subject represented. Some say it is a migra-
tion, or a colony going forth to fulfil the vow of sacred spring ;
278
T'hc Museum
others that it is a |)rocession going to a sacrifice. Dennis sug-
gests another interpretation. '• It seems to me," he says, '• much
more satisfactory to suppose that it is a return from a success-
ful foray. There are captives hound, and made to carry their
own property for the henefit of their victors ; tiieir women
behind, not l)ound. hut accompanying their lords, their faith-
ful dog following them into captivity, their beasts of burden
laden with their gods ; their weapons and agricultural imple-
ments carried by one of the guards and their cattle driven
on by the rest." The sacrifice is the most probable interpre-
tation, for there is something solemn and sinister ai)out the
composition. Not only criminals but also human victims are
being taken along liy the fascinating but inexorable guards.
The treatment of the figures is very archaic, and yet it is
realistic. The long-eared goats, the horses and the mules
step forward with an engaging regularity. 'J'iieir shepherds
or their leaders turn, as such people invariably do turn, to
gesticulate and to explain among themselves upon the way.
The two side panels represent banquet-scenes, banquets, we
may imagine, which were given to commemorate whatever
event the procession itself was leading to. Tile work on this
Sarcophagus has been ascril)ed to tiie fifth century before
Christ.
No. 8. Under a glass shade, a strange little figure in bronze
ai)out 14 inches high, representing Hygiea, the Goddess of
Health (daughter of ^sculapius) or, as some say, the Genius
of Long Life. Smaller figure under same glass represents
Telesphorus, the genius of convalescence, seated, entirely
enveloped in a cloak.
ROOM VII.
lias a rather miscellaneous collection of later Roman and Etrus-
can work, also some objects from Cyprus.
No. 36. A little tomb where the door is left half open, the
key hung up upon a peg. perhaps to show that the spirit is
free to wander in and out.
ROOMS VIII. AND IX.
contain the private collection of Count Guadabassi collected
by him throughout a life-time and from very different places,
ami left to the town at his death with the request that their
original arrangement should he preserved. Thus the impression
of the whole is somewhat distracting to a student. One of the
greatest treasures of the Museum is in
279
The Story of Perugia
ROOM VIII.
Case H.
A very beautiful Etruscan mirror with Bacchus, or a
Bacchante, riding on a panther upon the cover. Two good
mirrors in the same case, and a fine Etruscan gold ornament,
with figures delicately traced upon it.
ETRUSCAN MIRROR IN GUADABASSI COLLECTION
To the right of the door, a white marble osclllum or slab, with
the figure of Archimenes on one side, and on the other the
portrait of a juggler taming snakes. This was probably put
up outside the house or booth of a juggler, and served as his
sign.
Case L.
Some good bits of Etruscan jewellery. One necklace with
a large bit of glass like an opal, set in gold and precious stones ;
280
The Museum
also some very delicate Etruscan earrings, with golden nets of
filagree on a gold ground.
Case H.
Some specimens of Etruscan money. The pieces were valued
according to their weight, and form seemed quite a secondary
consideration.
C.\SE P.
A collection of strigds, or brass scrapers, to be used after
the bath. Some of these were evidently used as ornaments
fhung from an elegant bracelet or ring), which leads one to
imagine that the bath was a rarity with the Etruscans, and the
strigil an object of luxury and decoration rather than of
frequent use.
ROOM IX.
Case G.
A fine collection of gems. A little tomb, with pent-roof
and tiles in the shape of violet leaves (unnumbered).
The following rooms of the museum, from Room X., contain
various medieval and renaissance woiks. Tlie only point we
would mention here is the case whicli holds the bones of the
migh'y man ot Perugia: Braccio Fortebraccio di Monfone.
There they lie, bare and grim before us. Poor bones, in-
sulted by a Pope, buried and then unburied, and now laid out
for any man to look at ! There is a note of pathos in the sight,
which the inscription does not lessen.
HOSPES LEGE ET LUGE.
Perusiae natum Montonium me exulem excepit.
Mars patriam Umhriam et Capuam mihi subegit.
Roma paruit Italia theatrum spectator orbis iuit.
At Aquila cadentem risit quern patria iugens brevi hac
urna tegit.
Eheu! Mars extulit substulit.
Abi.
A portrait of Braccio hangs above his coffin — a strong pug-
nacious countenance, differing quite from his other portrait in
the Cot.fraternita di San Francesco. On the opposite wall
is a picture of Niccolo Piccinino.
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The Story of Perugia
To close these notes on the museum we would
mention another private museum in Perugia full of
extraordinary interest ; that of Professore Giuseppe
Bellucci, in the Via Cavour.
Prof. Bellucci has made a special study of the
people who preceded the Etruscans in Umbria, and,
after years of careful search and indefatigable energy,
has accumulated a grand collection of objects belong-
ing to the stone age, and to the earliest settlers on
the hills. Arrow heads, battleaxes from Trasimene,
pottery and ornaments oi infinite variety, are carefully
stored and arranged in the top rooms of one of the
most charming of the old Perugian palaces ; also a
surprising collection of amulets against witches and the
evil eye, of which Prof. Bellucci has made a special
study. This museum can be visited by anyone who is
interested in the subject, and its owner is always willing
to show it.^
The Tomb of the Volumnii.
About three miles from Perugia, down at the foot
of one of the last hills which fall into the valley of the
Tiber, a mysterious necropolis of Perusia Etrusca
was discovered many years ago on the property of Count
Baglioni. It was a big necropolis full of innumerable
urns of more or less artistic interest, and the land about
the hill seemed honeycombed with small vaults hold-
ing their respective sarcophagi and ashes.
Sometime later — so tradition tells us — -whilst a peasant
was driving his oxen over a field in this same place one
of the oxen fell forward. When the man came up to
see what had happened, he found that the creature had
1 Send a card through Madame Brufani, Grand Hotel, or
through the custodes at the University Museum.
282
Tomb of the Volumjiii
stumbled through the stones of a great arch which
covered a hitherto unsuspected subterranean passage.^
When the hole thus made was examined it was
found to be in truth a steep staircase cut in the tufa and
covered over by a travertine vaulting. It led steeply
down to a huge door of travertine, and when this was
opened, the wonderful tomb, belonging to the private,
family of the Volumnii, was disclosed. Unfortunately
the ox was not the first person to open up this extra-
ordinary place. The earth and dust of centuries had,
it is true, fallen in upon it, but in the Roman times it
had been already ransacked for its possible treasures.
Beautiful and extraordinary as the place is, haunted
by the silent grandeur and mystery of the dead, it is
not quite complete, and many of the urns are missing
in its first compartments. Still, as Dennis says, " it is
one of the most remarkable in Etruria. . . . To enter the
tomb," he continues was to him "like enchantment,
not reality, or rather it was the realization of the
pictures of subterranean palaces and spell-bound men,
which youthful fancy had drawn from the Arabian
Nights, but which had long been cast aside into the
lumber room of the memory, now to be suddenly
restored. . . . The impressions received in this tomb
first directed my attention to the antiquities of
Etruria," Dennis adds, and many people will echo
his words.
Leaving the dust and the sunlight, the green trees
and the sunny banks of the outside Umbrian world,
we plunge down a narrow staircase and through the
' Tlie discovery was a great |5oint for students, and eveiy-
hotly will he glad to hear that the unconscious discoverer did
not surter through it, hut lived to plough the surface of the
lanil. tile caverns of vviiich anticjuarians from distant countries
hurried at once to investigate.
283
T'he Story of Perugia
tall doorway of travertine into the darkness of the
Etruscan sepulchre, and find ourselves in a dim, low
vestibule with stone seats round it, small chambers
branching off to right and left, and one large
chamber at the end. Strange and fascinating heads
look down upon us from the ceiling, marvellous little
deities, suspended by many leaden chains, hang silent,
as though they dreamed, above our heads. Weird
serpents' heads pierce through the walls and seem to
hiss at us ; and in the dim light of the candles we
realize a whole new world of wonderful and deep set
imagery, combining with that solid sense of comfortable
respectability peculiar to the race of men who lie here.
The tomb of the Volumnii has a strong and a
convincing individuality. In this fact consists its
charm. The necropolis was built for one family.
The clear cut inscription on the door post at the
entrance points to this, the name repeated again and
again upon the tomb proves it yet more forcibly. ^
To get a first and full impression of the place it is
well to sit down on one of the low stone seats which
i For a full description of the Tomb of the Volumnii, see
Gio Battista Vermiglioli's work : // Sepolcro dci Volumn'i.
Vermiglioli has made the most elaborate investigations, and
transcribes the inscription on the door post thus :
Arnth : larth : Velimna :
Aruneal : Thvsiur :
Svthi : avil : thece :
which he translates after infinite labour, to mean roughly
Aruns Lars Volumnius (son of) Arunia or Aronia dedicated
(the monument, and ordered) the annual sacrifices.
Vermiglioli has also traced the origins of the Volumnian
family who, it seems, were well known in the Roman times,
and constantly mentioned by the Roman writers. One of the
Volumnii is known to have been the writer of tragedies
fthe-e were probably written in Latin). There was an
Etruscan divinity called Volumnus or Volumna. The family
was important thioughout Etruria. It may have started in
Perugia certainly its chief necropolis seems to have been here.
284
Tomb of the Voltimnii
run round the walls ol the vestibule. These benches
were probably used by members of the family in
the peculiar fashion of the Etruscans. We hear that
in order to bring themselves nearer to tiie dead and to
communicate with the Spirit of Death, they would
come to the sepulchres at night-fall and sleep beside the
urns of their dead friends — their brothers, wives, their
children or their lovers — and there receive visions from
the souls which always hovered near the place where
the body was buried. Members of the Volumnii
family who were courageous enough, or peaceful enough
in their own souls to do this thing, must have received
strong and convincing visions from surroundings so
unearthly and mysterious,
A great round disk, the sun probably, guards the
entrance door of the vestibule. It seems to rise up out
of the sea ; two dolphins plunge head foremost into the
waves beneath it ; and under these, above the left lintel
of the door, a great wing stretches, one knows not
whence or whither, into the darkness all around it.
On the opposite wall, and guarding the tomb, is
another great disk covered with scales, or as some
say laurel leaves, and a splendid head in its centre.
The face is grandly moulded and belongs to the best
period of Etruscan art, when the souls of the artists
were probably steeped in the art of Greece. The
expression is calm, pure, and full of strength. It
is probably meant to represent the God Numa, though
some imagine it to be Apollo himself. Below it are two
busts which are supposed to be portraits of Apollo in
his two qualities of shepherd and of poet ; and guarding
the disk, two great scimitars with birds perched over
them. (It is imagined that the Etruscans shared
the Greek belief about birds sympathising in the death
of mortals. The flight and ways of birds, certainly
formed a large part of their religion, but in this case
285
The Story of Perugia
nothing can be actually proved). Verniiglioli having
studied various other points in the necropolis, suggests
that the Volumnii were a race of warriors and that the
scimitars were a symbol of their warlike ways.
Passing through this second doorway one stands in the
actual presence of some members of the family of the
Volumnii. There they sit together on their beautiful
stuccoed urns : " each on a snow-white couch " says
Dennis, " with garlanded brow, torque-decorated neck,
and goblet in hand — a petrifaction of conviviality — in
solemn mockery of the pleasures to which for ages on
ages they have bidden adieu." i
They are surprisingly real, this family, and they sit
there now, just exactly as they were sitting two
thousand years or more ago.- The figures and the
sarcophagi are made of terra-cotta covered by a dead
white stucco which gives them a singularly modern
look. Each sarcophagus has the head of a Medusa
on it, but of a marvellously fair Medusa, a creature to
adore, a woman to attract, a creature incapable of
inspiring aught save admiration.^
The sarcophagus in the centre of the group appears
to have belonged to Aruns Volumnius the head of the
family. It is the most heavily decorated of the set.
Aruns lies on a well-draped couch. Two mysterious
figures — Furies, but attractive Furies — guard his urn.
They are a splendid piece of work, and have naturally
enough been compared with the work of Michelangelo ;
there is something muscular about them, and their pose
' The group of sarcophagi in this chamber has apparently
never been touched.
'-' The sarcophagi do not belong to the early period of Etruscan
art, but to the times of the Roman occupation 200 or 300 B.C.
■* The Medusa was used by the Etruscans as a sort of spell
to keep off evil influences and bad people from their dead. The
dead, it seems, never left their graves but hovered always round
the place where their ashes were preserved.
286
Tomb ofthc Volimiiiii
is tragic, like that wiiich the sculptor of the Renaissance
delighted to give to his figures. Unfortunately the
fresco, which was perfect when the tomb was opened,
has fallen to bits in the damp air which enters through
TOMB OF ARL'NS VOLUMNIUS
the open door. To Aruns' left his daughter sits on
her urn, to his right his son, and next to his son the
beautiful young wife Veilia, or Velia. One could
write a romance about Veilia. The beauty of her
profile haunts one like a dream. Was she an Etruscan
2S7
T'he Story of Perugia
or some woodland creature ? Surely the dull and
conventional gentleman to whom she was early married
bored her into a decline I Certain it is that she died
young, and that the sculptor who made this portrait of
her, loved and understood the beauty of her human
face, and drew it in as faithfully as he had drawn the
dull one of her husband and his family. All the other
portraits have the usual respectable Etruscan stamp
upon them. Veilia alone has a touch of the divine.
One beautiful little sarcophagus in the group differs
from all around it. It is exquisite in all its detail and
built in the form of a temple with doors and Corin-
thian columns, pent roof, and exquisite tracery upon
its walls. (The inscriptions upon it are written both
in Roman and Etruscan characters ; but although this
sounds like a delightful dictionary they do not appear
to coincide.) Four exquisite sphinxes and a little
frieze of lions' heads guard the roof; heavy gar-
lands of fruit and flowers hang from the skulls of
oxen on the panels ; and birds and butterflies — symbols
of the immortality of the human soul — are marvellously
carved about them.
The remaining cells have each some beautiful
and interesting thing in them, but the main historical
interest is passed after the chambers of the Volumnii
urns ; and the most beautiful things to note are the
heads of the Gorgons or Medusas carved in the tufa of
the ceilings. Some say that these heads are portraits
of the family. Their eyes and teeth are painted white.
They seem to stare at one with calm kind eyes which
have looked into the centuries and realised the futility
of human things.
To the present writers the Medusa of the Etruscan
288
T'oinb of the Volumnii
people is its greatest and its most attractive study. She
is always grand, beautiful and mysterious ; the material
and conventional aspects of the Etruscan race vanish
and fly before her steady gaze, and in the Volumnian
tomb she reigns supreme.
289
CHAPTER XII
In Umbria
L'Apennin est franchi, et les collines mod^r^es, les riches
plaines bien encadree.-< commencent a se deployer et a s'ordonner
comme sur I'autre versant. Ca et la une ville en tas sur une
montagne, sorte de molt- arrondi. est un ornement du paysage,
commr on en trouve dans les tableaux de Poussin et de Claude.
C'est I'Appenin, avec ses bandes de contre-forts ailonge-i dans
une peninsule etroite. qui donne a tout le paysage italien son
caractere : point de longs fleuves ni de grandes plaines : des
vallees limitees, de nobles formes, beaucoup de roc et beaucoup
de soleil, les aliments et les sensations correspondantes ;
combien de traits de I'individu et de I'iiistoire imprimes par ce
caractere !
H. TaiNE, Voyage en Italic.
We cannot study the history of a single town without
acquiring a certain knowledge of the towns around it,
for the character of one set of peo|)Ie was formed and
influenced by that of another, and the land on which
cities are built is often in itself an explanation of
their past. In no country perhaps are these facts more
strongly marked than in Umbria, where even the
smallest hamlet is perched upon a high hill-side as
though to provoke attention, and where the larger cities
glare at each other from commanding eminences,
seeming, even in this peaceful nineteenth century, to
challenge one another by the mere aspect of their
mighty walls.
We cannot stay long in Perugia without getting
its surrounding landscape stamped upon our minds.
That circle of small cities so distinctly seen : Assisi,
290
In Umbria
Spello, Foligno to the east, Montefaico, Trevi,
Bettona, and Torgiano to the soaih, and Cittk della
Pieve westwards, all of them perched upon their
separate hill-top around the bed of the now vanished
lake (see chapter i.), excite one's fcincy and one's
longing, at first perhaps unconsciously, and later with
an irresistible persistence. Finally we are driven to
pack our trunks and wander out amongst them.
From a practical point of view, travelling in Umbria,
even in its most remote villages, is made extremely
easy. The inhabitants are friendly and courteous, and
utterly unspoiled by tourists. The inns are clean, the
main roads excellent; prices reasonable, anJ carriages,
with few exceptions, good. From a romantic or
artistic point of view, nothing can excel the charm
of such travelling. We are weary of hearing the
stated fact that every town in Italy is worth the
visiting ; but, however hackneyed the remark, we must
make it once again in the case of the towns around
Perugia. Each has an individual charm, a long and
carefully recorded history. We exclude Assisi, for
that town is a study in itself, a thing above and apart.
Assisi may be called the Jerusalem of Italy ; its con-
nection with one of the greatest Saints of the Catholic
world has made its churches monuments of art and
history, a centre for pilgrims and for painters through-
out a period of nearly seven hundred years ; and quite
apart from its history as a town (the walls of Assisi
date back to 400 b.c. ) this presence or possession of
the saints has excited a whole literature of art and of
devotion.
But besides the towns we have mentioned above,
there are a host of other cities very near : Gubbio,
Arezzo, Citta di Castello, Terni, Spoleto, Narni,
Orvieto, Chiusi, Cortona and many others less or
291
The Story of Perugia
better known. It is the diversity and contrast of these
towns which charms one, but space forbids that we
should offer anything beyond a few small travelling
notes concerning one or two of them.
GuBBIO.
The road to Gubbio from Perugia leads over a
mountain pass as wild, and as forbidding in its aspect,
as that of any in the Alps. Leaving the broad and
wooded valley of the Tiber it winds in long fantastic
wind-swept curves across the spines of the lower
Apennines, then plunges somewhat suddenly down into
the smiling fields and oak woods of the valley under
Gubbio. The position of the town is most remarkable.
It looks out on a smiling peaceful valley, but is backed
by a terrific mountain gorge which would serve as an
iron breastplate in the time of siege. Gubbio is a
small brown-coloured town, compact and perfect in
its parts ; it has never changed since the middle
ages. A fine Roman theatre, a mysterious Roman
mausoleum, fallen asleep on the cornfields outside the
city walls, tell of her early prime, but the character of
the place, as we see it now, is purely mediaeval. The
people themselves have the spirit of their ancestors ;
the worship, which is almost like a fetish worship, of
their patron Saint Ubaldo is as passionate in its intensity
to-day as it was seven hundred years ago, when
Barbarossa threatened to destroy the town.^ There is
1 In 1 155 Frederick Barbarossa besieged Gubbio, but the
Bishop of the city — Ubaldo — pleaded in such passionate terms
for her deliverance, that the Emperor renounced the siege.
Since then the holy Bishop is worshipped with almost barbaric
rites in the city. On his feast-day (May 15) his image, and
those of the two other patron Saints of the town, are carried in
a weird and almost horrible procession from midday until night-
292
Giibbio
scarcely a single new building in Gubbio. The great
weaving-looms in the piazza are a relic of the city's
commerce in the Middle Ages, and the exquisite line
of the palace of her rulers, Palazzo dei Consoli, with
the slim bell tower soaring up against the barren out-
line of the gorge, lives in one's memory Jong after
many othirr points of Umbrian cities are forgotten.
Gubbio's bell tower and Gubbio's Madonna are
points which we remember with delight. Almost
every Umbrian city has its local painter. Nelli is the
painter of Gubbio and the gem of all his works has been
left on the actual wall for which it first was painted.
It was icy wintry weather, although the month was
May, when we arrived at Gubbio, but in the fields
all round it the flax shone grey and blue like a lagune.
Had Nelli seen such flax fields when he painted his
Madonna's and his angels' gowns ? The stuffs he
gave them were as blue, as pure, as all these flowers
put together. 1
fall through the streets. They are mounted on immense
candelabra — ceri—o{ extraordinary shape, and weighing each
several tons. The young men of the town, dressed in
white shirts and trousers and coloured caps, and staggering,
half mad with wine and weariness, bear them upon their
shoulders at a half trot. At nightfall they make a final rush
with these Umbrian juggernauts up the mountain side to the
chapel of the Saint, and there the ceri remain in peace for
the remainder of the year, till fetched for the same barbaric
performance the following May. hor a full and most in-
teresting account of this ceremony we must refer the reader
to Mr Bower's delightful book on the " Ceri of Gubbio."
1 Ottaviano Nelli, born sometime towards the end of the
fourteenth century, son of Martino Nelli and a native of
Gubbio. He was one of the very earliest masters of the Um-
brian school of painting, following close and copying without
ambition the work of the Sienese. The fresco in S. Maria
Nuova at Gubbio is considered his masterpiece. It strives
towards beautiful colouring and sentiment rather than correct
drawing.
The Story of Perugia
Spello.
Early one morning we left Perugia and passed along
the plain to Spello. We found it in a halo of May
sunlight. There was nothing grim or forbidding,
nothing Etruscan about the smiling little town ;
the sunlight and the air crept into the heart of its
streets and set-med to linger there. Yet these were
narrow and steep and made for war and not for
peace or comfort, just like the streets of Perugia.
Their character indeed is so purely mediaeval and
untouched, that the chains which guarded them
at nightfall are even left hanging in one place to
the walls.
Right away from the town amongst the olive trees
we came to the convent of S. Girolamo. There in
the back of the choir is the little fresco of the
Maniage of the Virgin by Pinturicchio — faint in
colour and fragile in outline, but charming in its
composition.
Pinturicchio is the painter of Spello ; there is much
of his work in the churches. He came there to
paint for Troilo, one of the Baglioni, lords of Spello.
Hence he was called to Siena to do his well-known
series of frescoes for the Piccolomini. A whole chapel
in S. Maria Maggiore is covered with his works, and
he has put his own portrait amongst them with a string
of beads, a brush and palette hanging from it. The
artist's face is thin and melancholy, but the frescoes round
it are large in line and treatment and some of the best
specimens of his religious work. There they stand
mouldering mysteriously in the dim light of the little
old church for which this master made them four
hundred years ago. We lingered long before them,
then passed back into the sunlit street and drove away
through the gate of the town with the Roman senators
294
Folig
no
above it and out across the hot dry plain to the city of
Foligno.i
FoLIGNO.-
Sunk, as it were, in a broad basin of plain, through
which the quiet waters of Clitumnus drain slowly to
the Tiber, is the city of Foligno — that city which
Perugia so detested, so offended in the past. The
town has all the character of the towns of the
plciin. Driving through its straight and even streets
we felt as though we were in Lombardy, in Padua or
Ferrara. There were Lombard lions in the porch and
Loinbard beasts around the arch of the Duomo. The
houses were all shut up, square, silent, cool, preparing,
as it seemed, for summer heat and dust, and infinite
hours of afternoon. The place was flat and drowsy,
but we liked it and studied m its churches with delight.
Niccolo Alunno is the painter of Foligno. Some of
his work is scattered through the churches, and more
is gathered together in the small Pinacoteca together
with that of other early Umbrian masters. Very gold
and brown the frescoes seemed, very sober and religious
in their sentiment. Here one could study the Umbrian
school, apart from the Peruginesque, and it struck
us that the art of the first Umbrian painters was a
natural, and (if one may say so in this age of critics)
an inspired one, which sprang straight up from the soil
about the feet of the painters, and was only influenced
1 Spello was at one time a Roman colony. The Roman
gate Porta Veneris is well preserved. A little to the left of
the town, outside its present wails, are the remains of its old
theatre. The town is also connected with the mythical history
of Orlando, and a long inscription on the walls records the
facts minutely.
- Albcrgo delta Posta — a really admirable inn.
295
The Story of Perugia
at certain purely decorative points by the teaching of
the Florentines. The angels were the Umbrian
children, well groomed, well fed, and wholly un-
affected. Neither Paganism nor Christianity had very
much to do with them. When Perugino's ripened
influence came in, they weakened as garden flowers
weaken, in their power of appeal through pure simpli-
city. The first faces of Umbrian saints and angels
were simple like the Umbrian dog-rose. Perugino
turned them into garden roses. Both in their way were
fair, but the former flowers seemed nearer the divine
than those which had been trained and cultivated.
It is not possible to mention here all the pictures of
Foligno. There are two fine Alunnos in S. Niccolo ;
and a rather surprising Mantegna with the colour of
brown wine — colour of passion and pain, which clashes
with the Perugino just beside it — on the chapel of
the Nunziatella. The Palazzo Communale is covered
with the work of Nelli, but one feels that the painter
who so loved what was gay and rich and beautiful (see
his picture at Gubbio) wanted a lot more gold and
ultramarine than his patron allowed him when painting
the ceiling of this chapel.
Before leaving Foligno we went into the church of S.
Matia infra Portas. It is so old, this little low basilica,
that it has sunk quite deep into the soil around it. In-
side are many faded frescoes, brown and gold, and full
of almost painful early sentiment. As we stood among
them in the dusk, a blackbird poured a flood of freshest
song in through the door from the light of the court-
yard. " How your bird sings ! " we said to the custode.
" Yes," said the man ; " he sings all day ; but whether
for love or rage I cannot tell." . . • And it struck us
that no Umbrian of a hill town, or no Perugian any-
way, would have made this profoundly melancholy
statement about a tame bird's song.
296
Montefalco
MONTEFALCO.
The road from Foligno to Montefalco leads all
along the flat at first, through the peaceful vale of
the Clitumnus. Sometimes we crossed the water and
saw the reeds and rushes growing, and felt the cool
fresh breath of the enchanted stream. Then passing
under a mediaeval watch-tower we left the flat land and
began the steep ascent to Montefalco.
The town stands on a hill in the very heart of Um-
bria, and hence it is called by the people the r'lngh'iera
d' Umbria. We saw it "on a day of many days," and
it struck us that this was. the site of the city of our dreams
— the best, the fairest we had ever met in travel. The
sun was low as we drove through the gates. Far
below us and around us stretched the Umbrian land-
scape, the bed of the old Umbrian lake : long green
waves of blue and green, seething in the heated air of
the May afternoon. ^
The town felt very quiet and deserted. The grass
grew everywhere through the stones of its piazza.
In silence the children played, in silence the women
sat at their doors, the place had fallen asleep.
But once the city knew prosperity, and many painters
climbed the steep roads from the plain below, and
came to Montefalco to leave some impress of their
art upon the walls of chapels and of churches.
Hither came Benozzo Gozzoli in 1449, and here he
painted many of liis early frescoes. What brought the
1 Melanzio, the delightful painter ot" Montefalco, had noted
this blue-green light ol spring, he had caught it in his very
soul, and put it back into his landscapes, into his Virgin's
gown, yes, and even into the shadows on the faces of his
saints. "Fourth-rate" a critic called him, but we, who have
no \vi>h or power to criticise, loved him for the harmony
which we found between his native landscape and his
pictures.
297
The Story of Perugia
splendid Florentine to the tiny town we wondered ? He
came in the very prime of his youth, and they say that
he did so, simply because he was connected with the
Dominicans of the place. Certainly he settled here for
sevt n years or so, did j^ood work, and spread the
influence of Florence throughout the minds of the rising
Umbrian masters. Benozzo's early work at Moniefaico
is fresh, raw, naive. It lacks the finish and the gilded
ornaments of the Riccardi chapel, but in exchange
it holds a certain simple and religious sentiment which
is lacking in his later frescoes. The best of his
paintings are in the church of S. Francesco,^ and there
are several other good pictures of the Umbrian painters
here — a fine Tioerio d'Assisi and some things by
Melanzio. In one of the latter, a portrait of the painter
by himself — a tall, slim youth with long light hair and
earnest face full of quiet thought and stn ngth. Melanzio
is the painter of Montefalco, and luckily his work is well
preserved in many of the churches. The little frieze of
angels playing with carnations above the left hand altar
as one enters the church of the Illuminata, is one of the
most fascinating bits of detail that we have ever seen.
Before leaving Montefalco we drov^ out to the con-
vent of S. Fortunate, which lies to the east of the town.
There were pictures there — of these we remember little;
but the lanes which led to the convent we never shall
forget. They were warm deep lanes and the hedges
above were full of dog-roses and honeysuckle, the light
inside was green and blue like the landscape down upon
the plain. The lanes of Montefalco were as beautiful
1 This airy old church has been converted into the Pinacoteca
of Montefalco. It is one of the few local picure galleries which
ever really pleased us. The pictures and frescoes taken from
their altars in the neighbouring churches have found a home and
not a prison on its wide walls ; their dignity and sentiment
have not been taken from them in the change of their position.
2q8
Tr
evt
a vision as we have ever seen. Like the frescoes of
Melanzio they had the colour of a tropic butterfly, and
like the flight of butterflies they hover in our memory.
FoLIGNO TO SpOLETO.
In the very height of the midday we left Foligno
and took the road to Spoleto. It is a fine broad road,
passing along the site of the old Flaminian Way, grand,
dusty, white, with a feeling that Rome is at the end of
it, and Umbria but a little land to be passed quickly by.
As we trundled along in our clumsy landau dragged by
a pair of miserable horses, we thought of all the popes,
the emperors and legions, who, going south or north-
wards, had passed in this direction. The dust flew up
and almost choked us ; it was the week of the wild roses,
and the hedges were all aglow with their delicious blos-
soms, their petals bent wide back as though to catch
the very essence of the sunlight on their golden stamens.
We left the main road a little below Trevi, and
driving through fields and oak woods, passed up the
hills by a steep short cut which leads to the town above.
This road cannot be recommended to travellers unless
they go on foot ; our poor little city horses struggled
painfully over the sand and pebbles of the numerous
streams it crosses. But what a stretch of country for
the artist ! Everywhere the poppies were in flower —
a shimmer of pure cadmiums and carmines under the
oaks and the olives. After about an hour's climb we
came out suddenly on the broad bastions of the road
which runs from Trevi to the convent of S. Martino.
Trevi.
The tiny town of Trevi is a familiar object to all who
pass along the line to Rome. It stands, as one expects
299
T'he Story of Perugia
all Umbrian towns to stand, a crown of buildings closely
packed upon a little hill-top. The city felt bare and
baked when we entered it, and we left it soon to wander
round its bastion-road ; a thing which was fairer far than
all the pictures in the churches.^ Long we sat in the
grasses, tracing out the landmarks in the heat mist far
below us : Montefalco in the foreground, Perugia
behind it, Assisi and Spello a little to the right, and,
sunk in the broad plain of the Clitumnus, just as
Raphael painted them four hundred years ago, the houses
and the towers of Foligno.
The Temple of Clitumnus.
■• Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus
Victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro,
Romanos ad templa Deum duxere triumphos."
Georg. ii. 146.
Barely three miles from Trevi, just off the dusty road,
in the burning heat of a brewing storm, we came to the
Temple of Clitumnus. This marvellously romantic
spot needs no description of ours, for the tiny temple
seems to hold the very essence of what is best in pagan
art and worship, and its praises have been sung by classic
poets throughout the course of centuries.-
1 There are one or two pictures by Lo Spagna in Trevi,
the best one in the church ot the Lagrime, to the south of the
town.
- There is considerable doubt felt nowadays as to whether the
exquisite little temple once dedicated to the river god Clitum-
nus which we now see standing above the river, is really the
same as that early one described by Pliny. The work on it is
certainly very late Roman, if, indeed, it be Roman at all; the
emblems are, many of them, purely those of Christian art. But
as the temple was turned into a Christian chapel (dedicated to
S. Salvadore), it may, perhaps, be that its detail was altered to
suit the altered creed. However these things be, the tiny
building remains one of the most charming and romantic points
in Umbria — one of the sweetest tributes that man's mind ever
paid to the spirits of Nature. Before leaving the spot one should
300
Temple of Clitumnus
With the following stanzas passing through one's
mind, one may linger very long and pleasantly down by
the water's edge, and dragging one's liands in the cool
stream, and looking towards the temple up above, dream
THE TEMPLE OF CLITUMNUS
golden dreams of river gods and hamadryads as well
as of " milk white steer."
walk on to the place below the road, where the river springs
straight from the foot of the hills — a limpid stream, rising
almost invisibly through the grass and trees which overshadow
its mysterious source.
301
T'he Story of Perugia
But thou, CIttumnus ! in thy sweetest wave
Of the most living ciystal that was e'er
The haunt of river nymph, to j^aze and lave
Hei limbs where nothing hid tht-m, thou dost rear
Thy grassy banks whereon the milk-white steer
Grazes; the purest god of gmtle waters!
And most serene ol aspect, and most clear ;
Surely that stream was unprofaned by slaughters —
A mirror and a bath foi Beauty's youngest daughters!
And on thy happy shore a Temple still,
Of small ami delicate propDition, keeps,
Upon a mild declivity of hill,
its memory of tht-c : beneath it sweeps
Thy current's calmness ; oft from out it leaps
The finny darrer with the glittering scales,
Who dwells and revels in thy glassy deeps :
While, chance, some scattered water-lily sails
Down where the shallower wave still tells its bubbling
tales.
' Pass not unblest the Genius of the placet
If through the air a zephyr more serene
Win to the brow, 'tis his: and if ye trace
Along his margin a more eloquent green.
If on the heart the freshness of the scene
Sprinkle its coolness, and from the dry dust
Of weary life a moment lave it clean
With Nature's baptism, — 'tis to him ye must
Pay orisons for this suspension of disgust."
See " Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." Canto IV.
stanza Ixvi.. etc.
Spoleto.
Late in the light of a thundery evening we drove into
the town of Spoleto. As our weary horses dragged us
through the city gates, and up and under the walls of the
silent town, a sort of terror and of gloom possessed our
spirits. Here was something new and big and strange.
What did it mean ? Gradually we became accus-
302
Spoleto
tomed to the spirit of the place, and seemed to realise
the reason of its grim impression.
For days we had been steeped in Umbrian landscape
as one expects to know it nowadays, in gentle fields, in
lanes, and hills and sunny pastures — in those .••ame things
which gave to the Umbrian saints and painters the
spirit of peace. Spoleto had none of these. Spoleto is
purely Umbrian, as far as geography goes, she was at
one time the head of Umbrian matters, but the town
was always independent, a thing apart, or rather, per-.
haps, influenced by the influence of larger rules and
kingdoms. Hers is a stirring history,^ and the sense of
her wars and of her dukes lives on within her stones, and
is stamped upon her houses and her church walls. There
was a smell of dukes and cardinals, of pomposity and
vastness, even in the rooms of our inn ^ ; and the very
1 Spoleto, like nearly every other important Umbrian city, was
at one time a Roman colony (512). Later she and Benevento
were the first of the Italian cities to form themselves into
duchie« under the Lombards; and the dukes of Spoleto form an
important point in Umbrian history, as at one time they ruled
over the whole of Umbria. (Later, as we have seen, Perugia
got the ascendency.) Spoleto was Ghibelline in spirit, made in-
cessant wars with neighbouring towns which favoured the Pope,
and quarrelled constantly with the popes themselves. The extra-
ordinary position of the town, serving, so to speak, as an inland
harbour off" the Fiaminian Way, exposed her to constant attacks
from passing hordes and armies, and one of the most dramatic
points in her early history is that of the repulse of Hannibal :
" Alone, in the midst of universal dismay, the youthful colony of
Spoleto lost not its courage," says a local historian, " and after
a period of less than twenty-four years from its foundation made
its name illustrious, by associating it with one of the most
memorable events of antiquity." I3y resisting the army of the
African, Spoleto, of course, was of great assistance to Rome, as
the repulse was the first solid ciieck in his advance.
" Albergo Luccini, a rambling old palace belonging in old
days to a Cardinal, and now to Signor Luccini. An interesting
inn, which should be better known and more frequented. Its
landlord has made a beautiful collection of the old furniture,
T'he Story of Perugia
landscape round seemed throttled by the passing of
imperial people. It was as though a great emperor had
taken a peasant girl and dressed her up in gorgeous
clothes and given her a splendid palace for a home.
The girl (the gentle spirit of Umbria) withered, but the
palace built for her remained, and the best thing about
it — its grand supply of freshest water from the hills
above, brought down in great Roman aqueducts — has
never been removed.
As we pondered these things we remembered the
brown roofs and the square of S. Lorenzo at Perugia,
and we thought them better than all the grandeur of
imperial powers stuffed into a narrow creek of the
Umbrian hills.
Yet Spoleto is a place which excites a strong and
lasting fascination. Its situation is magnificent. The
citadel of Theodoric soars above it : a mighty block of
masonry ; at its feet the Duomo and the town, and at
its back the towering crags, covered here and there
with a dense growth of ilex, box, and oak. Town
and mountain are divided by a deep gorge, but this is
spanned by the Roman aqueduct, 266 feet in height,
and the most remarkable point of the whole town. To
get a full impression of Spoleto one should cross the
aqueduct and walk or ride to Monte Luco, a convent
built immediately above the city, in the midst of the
ilex woods. Thence, on a broad bastion, outside the
cell where S. Francis came to pray, one's eye wanders
over a magnificent stretch of plain and hill and river,
backed by a land of barren mountain tops and gorges.
Very few treasures of art are left in the town itself,
pottery, etc. of the neighbourhood, and the vast rooms of his
house are filled with these fine things. We can imagine no
more fascinating abode for any person bitten with a love of
history and (alas for its landlord) solitude.
Narni
and these are as bruised, as scattered, and unsatisfactory
as those of any city whose history is one of fighting and
perpetual sieges rather than of artists or of fame. Lo
Spagna hvcd at Spoleto, and worked there largely ; but
the gentle style of his colouring, the peace and often
affectation of his figures seems out of place on
the altars of half bai baric or barocco churches.
Kverywheic there are bits of Roman building picked
up and stuck about on pavements and facades : a painful
mixture, lacking care and order. Several of the
churches have good Lombard fronts ; the Chiesa del
Crocitisso is built from the ruins of a Roman temple,
but the place is only a pain to see in its dilap'da ion.
The Duomo is a really impressive building, with a
splendid Lomb.ird front — a broad balcony supported by
columns, and eight rose windows above it. Tne roof
of the choir is pamted by Filippo Lippi.
Filij'po Ivippi died at Spoleto in 1489. He was
poisoned, some say, this Florentine monk, because of
his loves with an Umbrian lady. Lorenzo de' Medici
triid to get his body back that they might bury
it in 1- lorencf, but the Spoletans refused, pleading
th.it they possessed so few objects of interest of their
own that they must needs keep the bones of this great
painter tor an ornament. So Lorenzo caused his
tomb to be built in the cathedral of Spoleto. As we
turned from the long Latin inscription written above it
we lelt that Browning's lines would liave served the
purpose just as well, and much more shortly :
'' Floivtr 0" the clove,
Ail the Latin I construe is, ' omo ' / Inve / "
Narni.
Leaving Trevi and its cataracts to the left we passed
in the train to Narni. We came there for an hour,
we stayed a whole day and a night, fascinated by the
"^ 305
The Story of Perugia
marvellous view which met us from the windows of
the inn.^ Part of the city of Narni is built immediately
upon the steep crags which overhang the gorge of the
Nar. From this side the position of the city may be
practically called inaccessible, and over it our windows
looked. We had seen the Umbrian plains and valleys,
we had seen Spoleto ; Narni again was a fresh surprise,
it seemed to represent to us the Umbrian Alps. The
place has a tempestuous history. There is a certain
beaten look, about its walls which reminded us of
Perugia, and, indeed, the cities are alike in many ways.
Both were practically in the power of the Popes
whilst considering themselves as independent repub-
lics, both fostering perpetual feuds between the neigh-
bouring cities."- But whereas Perugia has kept an ample
record of her past, that of Narni is almost obliterated.
Through a piece of misguided policy she laid herself
open to a horrible siege in 1527 (see pamphlet by
Giuseppe Terrenzi). The Bourbons entered the town,
sacked the houses, butchered her inhabitants, destroyed
her considerable treasures of art, and finally, made an
end of nearly all her archives.
In Narni, however, we did not look for art. We came
there almost unexpectedly, and unexpectedly we stayed,
wandering through its streets, discovering with delight
the rare and lovely bits of Lombard tracery on house
and church door, and passing in and out between the
Roman gateways.^ At night we sat in the quiet rooms
1 Alhcrgo Jcir Aitgelo, a thoroughly delightful house, clean,
well-kept, miraculously cheap, and hospitable, with airy
rooms (no luxuries), and one of the most surprising views
in Umbria.
" The history of Narni is full of one long conflict with Trevi.
■■ The Duomo is almost perfect still, and datf^s from the
thirteenth century. A beautiful basilica, with unspoiled
columns, a fine pulpit, and one or two good pictures.
306
V
1 \
NARNI (with ANGELO inn IN FOREnROUNo)
307
Orvieto
of the Angelo inn, and listened to the nightingales
which sang with their habitual vehemence deep in the
ilex woods across the river Nar. They had sung, no
doubt, in just this fashion hundreds of years ago, when
the Bourbons broke into the town and half destroyed
her people.
Orvieto.
In the dull light of coming rain we turned our backs
on Narni and took the train for Orte. We left the
sun at the same time as we left the green and wooded
hills and valleys. The rain came down in sheets at
Orte ; and we found ourselves in the deadly land —
the land of grey volcanic strata, bare like a bone, in the
valley of the Paglia. Dreary enough was the outlook
when we came to Orvieto. The city seemed as
though it had been drenched in the ink of a wounded
sepia ; the streets were black and foul, the houses
low and closely packed ; walls without towers, dwindled
and decayed rather than bombarded, and people with
fever-stricken faces huddled in the square.
Heavy drenching rain of spring. Under the darkness
of the clouds, soaring high as a glorious vision above
the miserable houses — a peacock in a hen-coop, a
miracle of marbles and mosaics — the Duomo of
Orvieto ! . . . No one who has ever seen the building
can forget it, for it is like a great surprise ; it startles
and astounds one in the midst of the decay around it.
Here, if anywhere in Umbria, the power of the Pope or
of the Church was sealed on the rebellious souls of its
inhabitants ; here to commemorate a dubious miracle
men made a dream in stone. ^ To describe its splen-
1 The cathedral was begun at the end of the thirteenth
century. Nicholas IV. laid the first stone in 1290. It was
built to commemorate a miracle which happened to a priest at
T'he Story of Perugia
dours were in this small sketch a mere impertinence.
But if we wish to see what is perhaps the finest bit of
Gothic work in Italy, if we wish to learn the power
of Signorelli's painting, it is certain that we must come
hither and study at Orvieto.
As we turned our back on the cathedral we
wondered what it was about her people which had
allowed them to foster such a mighty piece of purest
art throughout a turbulent history. Certainly the
popes had power in the city.^ They made it a
mighty church, they made for it an almost mightier
well ! When Clement VII. fled from Rome in
1527 he took refuge in Orvieto, and, haunted by the
fear of drought in case of siege, conceived the extra-
ordinary idea of building a colossal well, for which
purpose he employed the same architect as Paul III.
employed to build his fortress at Perugia.
Signorelli painted a picture of the Inferno for
Orvieto, Sangallo built for it an Inferno in bricks !
Feathery mosses, sombre ferns have grown across the
inside walls of the great poz%o (which was built on a
scale to suit a train of ascending and descending
elephants) ; they seemed to seethe like sulphurous
smoke in the dark and fetid air and we hurried from
it gladly into the rain of the street. . . .
Chiusi.
From Orvieto we went to Chiusi. The rain went
Bolsena (near Orvieto), who, disbelieving in the sacraments,
beheld them turned to actual flesh and blood. The napkin
with the blood stains is kept in a marvellously beautiful shrine
in the Duomo — a thing of rare and exquisite workmanship in
silver and enamels.
1 The popes were always flying from Rome to Orvieto for
safety. Thirty-two of them are recorded to have stayed in the
town.
• 3IC
Citta della Pieve
with us too, and of the town itself we saw but Httle, only
all around us in the dense woods, in the silent soaking
air of night, the nightingales were singing their piercing
penetrating songs of love and May. The air was full
of the strong sweet voices and of the scent of grow-
ing leaves, of privet, and wet earth. Chiusi is a
centre of interest to students of Etruscan history,
and although the little town exports its treasures to
every museum in Europe its own is full of beauties
still. We lingered long among them, fascinated by
the goblin birds wliich are perched upon the vases and
the pent roof of the tombs, fascinated by the excellence
and the variety of the greater part of all the objects in
the cases. The rain poured pitilessly upon the streets of
Chiusi ; it swept in sheets across the lake and over the
towers of Montepulciano, and we abandoned all hopes of
going to the tombs themselves and drove away across
the marshes and up the wooded hills to Citta della
Pieve.^
Citta della Pieve.
. . . "j'etais tout de meme persuade que Citta
della Pieve reste la ville la plus merveilleuse de
I'Ombrie," says M. Broussole ; and we ourselves in
many ways agreed with him. The charm of the town
consists firstly, in its situation, and secondly, in its
association. It commands wide views northwards
over the lakes of Chiusi and of Trasimene, and
southwards towards Rome. The hill on which it
stands is densely wooded, there is perpetual peace in
its streets, it is the birth-place of Pietro Perugino
• The road from Chiusi to Citta della Pieve is marvellously
beautiful, winding up through one of those virgin forests of
oaks whicli still are scattered through various tracts of central
Italy.
31'
T'he Story of Perugia
and contains some faint fair bits of the master's later
work. All day we wandered through the town, and
when the evening came we foimd ourselves at service
in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi.
It was May, the month of Mary. The people from
the town came pouring in for benediction. They were
nearly all of them very poor people, the men haggard
with perpetual labour in the fields,^ quiet and eager
even when very old ; the girls fair, slim, colourless,
their shawls too well defining the slender slope of their
thin shoulders ; the children brown and fascinating, and
the older women lost in prayer. (We have noticed
that the veriest hags in Umbria seem to pray as though
they fully realised the sins of their forefathers, and felt
the present generation needed all their prayers. ) Peace
and poverty were the two things which were stamped
most clearly on the faces of the congregation. The
priests themselves looked poor and worn, shorn of
their fat homes and privileges. There were not many
candles on the altar and these they lighted slowly one
by one. Then they begun to sing a long low wailing
chaunt in praise of Mary.
It had thundered and rained since morning. The
day died out in an orange glow which filtered through
the hedges on the road outside and fell through the
door of the church, gilding, as though with the softness
of a vision, the groups of tired people. It rested with
a wonderful radiance on the faded fresco above the
chapel where we sat.-
1 It must be remembered that the only wealth of these hill-
set Umbrian cities, or rather the only source of life, comes
from the fields outside them. There is no commerce or
manufacturing of any sort in a town like Citta della Pieve.
- Descent from the Cross by Perugino. A door was at one
time driven through the fresco, thus exactly cutting away the
principal figure— that of our Saviour. The picture has been
Citta dell a Pieve
In all the country round, it would have been difficult
to find a scene more steeped in the spirit of pastoral
Umbria than this one : the half-ruined church, the
graceful tired people, the thin priests, and the faded
fresco of Perugino ; the whole saved from squalor
by the splendour of the sunlight on the land outside
the door.
We opened a book which we had carried with us on
our journey and read the following lines :
•• Oh ! qui nous delivrcra du mal de science ! N'est-ce point
folie d'avoir dtouffe a grand peine tous les meilleurs instincts
de notre etre, pour obeir a la mode du jour et nous faire une
ame critique! Adieu les beaux enthousiasmes ! On n'ose
plus aimer la verite d'aujourd'liui depuis qu'on ne sait jamais
qu'elle sera celle de demain ! II y, a des erreurs dont on ne
peut se consoler. Quelle pitie de s'etre prosterne tant de fois
avec toutes les tendresses de son ame croyante devant un
escalier vermoulu que des moines trompeurs exhibaient depuis
des siecles comme ayant abrite la sainte penitence d'un saint
Alexis qui n'a jamais existe! Ne donnons plus jamais notre
coeur a la verite ! Promenons sur les choses et les hommes
I'eternel sourire de notre indifference moqueuse. C'est la
qu' est le plaisir et le charme de la saine critique. Tout sera
parfait quand les liistoires commeiiceront et finiront par ce
gai refrain Chi lo su." '
Chi lo sa. — The words brought up before our eyes a
host of images : hedges and fields, woods and plains,
green with the green of the May-time : white roads
and poppy fields, the oak. woods under Trevi, the ilex
spoilt in other ways ; but it is full of Pietro's graceful senti-
ment, and the group of the Marys at the foot of the cross is
one of the most touching things that we remember of the Master.
1 See Pcler'tnagcis Ombriens, p. 265. M. Eroussole had been
staying at Citra della Pieve, and, carried away by the excessive
charm of the place, he revolted a little from the learned dis-
sertations of a local historian, and broke into the sentiments
which we quote above.
'The Story oj Perugia
groves of Spoleto, the long low lines of shining Trasi-
mene, the marshy shores of Chiusi ; and still more fair
And more romantic, the cool green stream of the
Clitumnus flowing beneath the pagan temple of a Roman
river god. . . . That was the vision we had learned to
love and know, with no attempt to criticise, and it was
all composed of natural things. Dimly in the past we
saw another vision : our study at Perugia. Piles and
piles of manuscripts were there ; books and maps, and
guides, pamphlets, chronicles and histories — the records
of men's doings, one and all.
What about all this history, these interminable records
of building and of quarrelling, of burying and strife ?
What in fact about all these Perugian P's : — Perse-
ciizione, Protezlone, Process'ione ; Popes, people, painters,
and Priori ? What had all these persons done to touch
or trammel permanently the eternal smile of Umbrian
nature through which we had been passing ? Surely
there were lovers who, amongst the savage bands of
men who skirmished down the hill across the plains in
order to insult or to offend their neighbours, stopped to
snatch a white rose from the hedges where they grew
in thousands ? And there were women, young and
pure and peaceful, ignorant of the Pope, indifferent to
the Baglioni, who waited for them in their homes —
women with the faces of Bonfigli's angels, Bonfigli's
roses, maybe, twisted in their hair ? . . .
With dim delight we realised that whatever
the doings of the past may have been in Umbria
as elsewhere, the microscopic scratches made by him
through centuries upon the calm smooth breast of
Nature have now all turned to a delicate adornment.
The war and the strife, the hurrying and skurrying to
power have vanished utterly. Man's work is there :
wonderful little cities of men made one with Nature
3'4
C it til dell a Pi eve
now; frescoes fading into death around the quiet
altars of forgotten churches, fortresses and wells and
city walls, bridges and the tombs of vanished nations ;
new buildings rising here and there upon the old, new
people praying or parading, where the old had fought
and prayed. But above them all the balm of sun and
rain, of rivers, lakes and water-courses doing their work.
As the twilight fell we left the church. Early the
following morning we turned our faces northward on
Perugia, but took a last long look at Perugino's altar-
piece in the church of the Disciplinati. Faint golds,
faint greens, a quiet landscape, with low hills falling
peacefully on a low stretch of valley. No harsh
shadows, no high lights, the shepherds crossing down
the paths behind their browsing sheep. The Virgin,
a type of purest girlhood with just enough of the
woman in the way she holds the Child to show it
is her own ; young men, for kings, with angel faces,
and the smile of saints ; no touch of passion, no
glimmer of pain . . . that was the sense of the picture.
As we looked at it the people from the town came
in to see it too, the baker and the smith, the driver
and the local painter. " You see," said the smith,
" it is a very beautiful thing this picture of ours ; and
when we hear it is uncovered we come to see it too.
We particularly like that white dog in the background,
and the shepherds are exactly like the life. We often
come to look at it — how should we do otherwise?"
The smith was tall and slim and very gentle. His
face was like that of the youthful king who holds the
chalice in Pietro's fresco, it merely lacked the affecta-
tion, and his perfectly simple comments seemed to us
more genuine and impressive than many books of critics.
We listened to them gladly, but as we turned our faces
T'he Story of Perugia
homewards, we remembered certain other subtle and
deHghtful phrases written by AHnda Brunanionti upon a
work, of Perugino. With these calm words we close
a book which opened with the clash of swords and the
conflicts of the Umbrian people :
" Sorrow does not disturb serenity ; pain is at en-
mity with joy but not with peace. This Christian law
is incarnated within our art. Peace and not joy is in
her idylls ; peace in the landscapes which are so utterly
our own, and so serenely beautiful. How often — even
whilst my vision wandered into the infinitude of sky
behind our blue green hills, and further again beyond
the outposts of the Apennines, and further still away
into the depths of the azure-laden air — have I not
said unto myself; ' This vision surely is of an insuper-
able loveliness ! How therefore could our artists fail
to be above all things ideal when Nature of herself
had trained them in schools of such an exquisite
perfection ? ' "
316
INDEX
Abbot, of S. Pietro (Guidalotti),
38 ; treacherously assassinates B.
Michelotti, 39 ; flies from Perugia,
40.
Adone Doni, picture by, iig; 181.
AcJiLULK, Kin? of the Lombards,
recaptures Perugia, 15.
Alua.no, bishop of (Cardinal Angel-
ico), Urban VI. 's Vicar General in
Perugia, 30. 184.
Ai.BOKNOZ, Cardinal, attempts to
recover States of the Church. 30.
Alexander VI., Pope, enmity
with I'aglioni, (note) 55; 263.
Ai.KAN'i, Domenicoand Orazio, 234 ;
264 ; 265.
Alunno, Niccolo, 235 ; 251 ; 295.
Angelico, Fra Beato, 235 ; his
pictures at Perugia. Z56, 257. 258.
Aquila, siege of. by B. Forte-
braccio, 48 ; 49 ; 50 ; 207 ; 209.
Akezzo, 18 ; wars with Perugia, 21,
22, III, 112; 291.
Akmanni, Cri>ti:ino, contributes
towards building of S. Domenico,
164.
Assist, taken by Totila, 13 ; 18 ;
wars with Perugia, 19 ; 30 ; 37 .
41 ; 43 ; 60 ; 85 ; 98 ; 118 ; 182 ;
290 ; 300.
Audience Chamber of Magistrates,
Renaissance woodwork in, 220.
Augustus, Emperor, takes Perugia,
9 ; 12 ; 91 ; 171.
B
Baccio d'Agnolo, igo.
Baglioni, 33 murder of Pandolfo.
37 ; Spello giv^n to Malatesta, 51 ;
blood feud- with the degli Oddi,
55, 112; Matarazzo, historian of
the, 58 ; described by J. A.
Symonds, 59, 60 ; beauty of the,
61; treachery of Gritonetto, 62;
marriage of Lavinia Colonna with
Astorre, 6;; massacre of the, 64,
65 ; fl ght of Atalanta, Zenobia
and Gianpaolo, 65 ; death of
Grifonetto, 66, 161, 162; Gian-
paolo, despot of Perugia, 67 ;
character of Gianpaolo, 68 ; death
of Gianpaolo, 6 j; murder ol Gen-
tile and Gttieotto, 69; death of
Orazi'', 69; betrayal of Florence
by Malatesta, 70; de cendants of
the, 70 ; Ridolfo, fires the People's
Palace, assassinates Pope's
Legate, and is driven out of
Perugia. 71 ; Peruvians recal
Ridolfo. 74: Ridolfo, makes peace
with Paul II L, 75 ; destruction of
palaces of, 75 ; dying words of
Malatesta, 76 ; tomb of Bishop
Giovanni Andrea, 146; Benedetto,
helps in destruction nf Paul lll.'s
foitress, 151 ; Chapel in S. Pietro
of the, 172; (noie) 255; tomb
of the Volumiiii discovered on
property of Count, 282.
Barbiano, Albeiigo di, 41.
Baroccio. Fedcrigo, frrsco by, in
Palazzo Puublico, 119 ; picture in
S. Lorenzo by, 136 ; his love of
Perugia, 137.
BAkToLr, Taddeo, 235 ; 236.
Bartoli, historian, quoted, 19, 26 ;
28.
Bastia, (note) 70 ; 71.
Battle of the Stones, description
of, 45
Beccherini, nickname of the com-
mon folk in Perugia, 27: 105 ; 186.
Bellisarii s. General, 13.
Beli.ucci, Pruf , plain of Umbria
described by, 3 ; private museum
ol, 282.
3^7
Index
Benedict XI., Pope, tomb of, 164,
166, 167 ; visited by his mother,
165 ; death of, 165.
Benozzo Gozzoli, 235 ; work at
Montefalco, 297 ; 298.
Bernardino, S. of Siena, 55 ; 109 ;
representation of, in stained glass
window in S. Lorenzo, 138 ; ac-
count of 206, 207 ; portrait of,
207 ; favourite bell of, 210; miracles
of, painted by Fiorenzodi Lorenzo,
^55-
Berto di Giovanni, 264.
Bettona, (note) 34 ; (note) 70 ;
116 ; 291.
Bevignate. Fra, plans Perugian
Fountain, (note) 125.
Boccati da Camerino, his
pictures, 251.
Bologna, 41 ; 42 ; 68 ; 221.
BoNAZZi, Luigi, modern historian
of Perugia, quoted. 2; 11; 27;
describes lives of exiled nobles,
34; 37; 80; (note) gi ; describes
growthoi Perugia, 92.93; describes
feasts of Perugia, 130 ; 146 ; 149;
152 ; mentions miracles of Abbot
of S. Pietro, 168 ; describes a day
of "Political bacchanalia" in
Perugia, 180; on the Flagellants,
211.
BoNFiGi.i, Benedetto, (note) 96 ; 105 ;
115 ; Pieta in S. Pietro by, 171 ;
in S. Fiorenzo, 182, 232, the
Carmine, S. Maria Nuova, 182,
Gon/alone by, in Pinacoteca,
(note) 213, S. Francesco al Prato,
(note) 214; probable master of
Perugino, 219 ; Capella del, in
Pinacoteca, 237 ; account of, 238,
239 ; frescoes in Pinacoteca by,
(note) 161, 240, 241, 242 ; picture
of f'erugia by, 246 ; pictures in
Pinacoteca by, 246, 247 ; 248; 251 ;
252.
Boniface IX., Pope, fortifies mon-
astery of S. Pietro, 35, 170;
arbitrator between Perugians and
B. Michelotti, 35 ; jealous of B.
Michelotti. 37, 39; Perugians
submit to, 41 ; (note) 73.
BoNO.Mi, Messer, plans Perugian
aqueduct, 129.
Bower, Mr, (note) 293.
Broussole, M., 171, quoted, 311,
313-
318
Browning, Robert, quoted, 305.
Brufani, Hotel, 152.
Brunamonte, Alinda, Perugian
poetess, (note) 210 ; 266; quoted,
316.
Buffalmacco, Buonamico, prac-
tical joke on Perugians by, 160,
161.
Byron, Lord, quoted, 302.
Caius Cestius (Macedonicus), sets
fire to Perugia. 10, 91, 194.
Caldora, General, 49.
Calisciana, 52.
Cam bio, The, frescoes in, 216 ;
Perugino's portrait in, 21S; 224;
225 ; description of frescoes in,
226-229 ;
Camerino, 38; 235.
Campano, Gianantonio, his descrip-
tion of B. Fortebraccio, 45 ; his
account of ' Battle of Stones," 46.
C.\NONiCA, The, occasional residence
of Popes, 25; 26 ; 28 ; de^cription
of, 146 ; vision of Gregory IX. in,
149.^
Cantu, Cesare, (note) 20.
CapdRALE, Bartolomeo, pictures by,
248.
C.\RPACCio, Vittore, 251.
Casalina, 40.
Cassinese, M., 173.
Castiglion df.l Lago, submits to
Perugia, i3.
Cathedral, The, 17 ; 47 ; washed
with wine and recon.secrated, 67 ;
110; used as a fortress, 112; 135 ;
204.
Catherine, S., of Siena, portrait of,
258.
Charles IV., Emperor, 29 ; 104.
Charles, of Anjou, 125; 144.
Charlemagne, Emperor, 25.
ChiAGIO, river, 3.
Chiusi, (note) 85 ; wedding-ring of
the Virgin stolen from. 139, 218;
276 ; 291 ; description of, 310, 311 ;
314- , .
Church of S. Agostino, 189; choir
of designed by Perugino, 190 ; pic-
ture by scholar of Perugino in,
193; 216; 224.
Index
Chukch of S. Angelo, account of,
194 ; early fresco in, iq6.
S. Bernardino, built in
honour of S. Bernardino, 206;
description of fapade of, 208 ; 210;
213; 23S ; 239.
of the Carmine, 182; (note)
^38.
of S. Costanzo. 49 ; 168 ; 176 ;
rebuilt by Leo XIII., 177; byzan-
tlne doorway of, 177.
S. Domenico, tower of, 91 ;
97 ; 163 ; account of, 164 ; tomb
of Benedict IX. by (1. Pisano
in, 164-167 ; work of A. Ducci
in, 167 ; Gothic window in, 167 ;
208 ; represented in BonfigU's
fresco, 240
S. Ercolano, 93; 125; 154;
account of, 156 ; Grifonetto Bag-
lioni killed close by, 161 ; 162.
S Francesco al Prato, 50;
97 ; (note) 208 ; legend of bell of.
210 ; 213 ; Con/alone in Sacristy
of, 214 ; 238.
S. Fiorenzo, 120; 1S2 ; 212;
Gon/alone in, 232; 238; (note 2)
263.
S. Lorenzo (Cathedral of
Perugia), 39; 44; former church ot,
93 ; 96 ; built partly by Lombard
workmen, 97; 123; 133; founda-
tion stone laid of, 135 ; descrip-
tion of, 13s; Chapel ot S. Bernar-
dino with F. Baroccio"s picture in,
136; window by A. Fiammingo
in, 137; choir and stalls in, 138;
Chapel of the Virgin's ring, 138,
139 ; ' Miraculous ' picture in, 141 ;
Chapel of baptistery in, 142 ;
picture by L. Signorclli in, 142:
picture by Perugino in, 143 ; urn
with ashes of thtee Popes in, 143 :
fragments of tomb by G. Pisano
in, 145 ; tomb of Bishop Giov.
Andrea Baglioni in, 146 ; 216 ;
238 ; body of S. Ercolano carried
to. 246.
Madonna della Luce, altar-
piece in. 204 ; legend of, 206.
Maeita delle Volte, (note)
"5-
S Maria Nuova, gon/alone
in, 182 ; 2 8.
S. M.<ria del Popolo, 138.
S. Maria dei Servi, 97.
Church, S.Martino, 214: altar-piece
by Giannicola Manni in, 215;
(note) 228.
the Chiesa Nuova, 201.
S. Pietro, 44: tower of, 91,
170 ; becomes a ' Nation-Monu-
ment,' (note) 163 ; 167 ; Abbot
Pietro Vincioli builds, 168, i6g ;
first Cathedral of Perugia, 168 ;
Pieta by Perugino in, by Bonfigli
in, 171 ; pictures by Eusebio di
S. (iiorgio, Guido Reni and
Vasari in, 171 ; pictures by two
Alfani, Salimbcne and Sasso-
ferrato in, 172; sacristy in, 172;
Mino da Fiesole's altar-piece
in, 172 ; description and account
of choir, in, 173, 174 ; fresco
attributed to Giannicola Manni
in, 174 ; anecdote connected with,
175; 216; 233; represented in
Bonfigli's fresco, 241, 242.
S. Severo, built by Camal-
dolese monks, 182; fresco by
Perugino and Raphael in, 182,
183 ; 263.
CiATTi, Chronicler, his legend of
Noah, 6, of origin of Griflfin in
Arms of Perugia, 7 ; 13 ; describes
Perueians, 95 ; his legend of the
Virgin's wedding ring, 140, 141 ;
his legend of Innocent I II. 's ascent
into heaven, 143 ; quoted, 176,
177 ; 242 ; his legend of S. Erco-
lano, 245.
CiTT.\ DI Castello, iS ; 30; 291.
CiTTA DELLA PlEVE. rebellion of,
19, 20; 85; 2i8 ; 291; birth-place
of Perugino, 311; description of,
311, (note i) 312 ; (note) 313.
CiuNiLLo, poet of Aquila, (note) 49.
Clempnt IV., Pope, 23.
Clement VII., Pope, 70; 310.
Clement X.. Pope, 76.
Clitumnus, river, 300 ; 302.
Clitomnus, The, temple, descrip-
tion of, 300 ; 302.
CoLOMDA, Blessed, 55.
Colonna, Cardinal, 27.
CoMtTOLl Bishop, rebuilds part ot
S. Domenico, 164 ; 156.
Conclave, The, Perugians claim
invention of, 26
CoNESTAiiiLE, Count, on Etruscan
Antiquiiiea, 99 ; 194 ; (note) 26S ;
273-
3^9
Index
ConfraternitA di S. Andrea, its
protrction of criminals, 212, 21^.
CoNsi ANTINE. General, iv
Convent uf S. Guiliana, 100.
of Monte Luce, 46 ; 106 ;
Paul III.'s visit to nuns of, 107;
108.
of Monte Luco, 8 ; 304.
CoppoLl, Giacomo di Buonconti
de', gives houses on Monteripido
to Franciscans, 198.
CosTANZO, S., 24 ; patron of Peru-
gia, (note) 117; 126; 168; legend
01 176; martyrdom of, 177.
CoRSo Cavour, historical interest
of, 162 ; 163.
Vanucci, 99; gaiety of, 103;
105: 106; 114; 116; 152; 201:
202 ; 229 ; 246.
CORTONA, 218; 291.
Creighton, Dr, Bishop of London,
quoted, 211.
Crowk and Cavacaselle, 236 ; 266.
Cyprian, assassinated by Totilas
orders, 13.
Damiano, Fra, of Bergamo, makes
intaraia door in choir of S. Pietro,
174.
Dandolo, Matteo, Doge of Venice,
70.
Dante Alighieri, quoted, 22,
144, 183.
Dan ri, Vincenzio, makes statue of
Juhus III., i8[.
Dennis. G-, hi> description of Arch
of Augustus, 187. 788; 273; 277;
quoted, 278, 279, 283, 286
Derui a. (notej 34 36 ; 85 ; pottery
works at, p'obably founded by A.
Diicci, 'note) 208.
Dominic, S. (Domenico), canonized
at Perugin, 28; 164; meets S
Francis at Perugia, 197.
DonA' I, Signor, catalogue of Etrus-
can Mu.seum by, 273.
DoNATO, Corso, visits Benedict XL
at Perugia. 165.
Ducci. Agostino (della Robbia)
(note) 14 -: work at S. Domenico,
167; fa9ade of S. Bernardino by,
208.
E
Egidio, Fra Beato. death of, iqB ;
visited by S. Louis, K. of France,
199 ; tomb of, 214, 237.
Elizabeth, S., Q. of Hungary,
canonized at Perugia, 28 ; 259.
Ercolano, S., bishop of Perugia,
13 ; 24 ; (note) 117 ; 126 ; 154 ;
translation of body of, 156 ;
double procession of. 159; proverb
about, 159; BufTalmacco's practi-
cal joke on picture of, 160 ; 242;
legend of, 245 ; 246.
Etruscans, 1 he, 4; minkish le-
gends (if, 6 ; Herugia one of their
chief cities, 8 ; victory of Fabius
over, Q ; merged in ihe Romans
II ; wall> 01 86, 88, 188 ; 94 ;
account of, 268, 271, 27/ ; theii in-
flu nee on the Romans, 275 ; their
custom oi visiting iomb> at night,
285 their use of the Medusa,
(n.te 3) 286.
EusEKio DI S. Giorgio, picture in
S. Pietro by, 171; 234: (note)
259 ; 262 ; account of, (note 1)
263.
Fabius Maximus, defeats the
Etruscans, g.
Fabketti, chronicles of, 43; 97;
lit; 120 ; 123 ;
Fanti, General Manfredi, takes
Perugia in iSco So ;
Farne'E (Pope Paul IIL), 73.
Farnkse, PierLuigi, 73.
Fergusson, J., describes S Angelo,
194.
Feronia, Goddess. 106.
Fl.^MMiNGO, Arrigo, window in .S.
Lorenzo by, 137.
FioRRNZo I I Lorenzo, fresco in
Palazzi Pubblico by. 119; 251;
account of, 252, 255; 262.
Flagellants, The, songs of, 159;
religiousraovcment of, 211; legend
of, 212.
Flaminian way, site of, 299.
Flo-ence, accepts Perugia's help,
22 ; 29 ; 30 ; 47 ; Malatesta Bag-
lioni betrays, 70; 160; 231; 257.
320
Index
KoLiGNo, i8 ; skirmishes with Per-
ugia, 20; 85; 235; 291; descrip-
tion of, 295 296 ; 2^7 ; 299 ; 300.
I'ONTIGNANO Perugiiio clies at, 223,
burial at, (note) 224.
FoKTEBKACCio, Braccio, 31 ; 40 ;
joins Italian company of S.
George, 41 ; rivalry with Atten-
dolo Sforza, 42 ; ambition of, 42 ;
attempts to take Perugia, 43 ;
battle of Sant' Egideo, 43 ; despot
of Perugia, 44 ; personality of,
45; Martin V.'s jealousy of, 47 ;
hiege of Aquila by, 48 ; death of,
49 ; hints of Sforza's treachery in
Ciunillo's poem towards, (note)
49 ; consternation in Perugia at
death of, 50 ; Niccolo Piccinino
follower of, 51 ; (note) 73 ; (note)
100 ; Porta S. Angelo built by,
197; 214; (note) 236; loggia of,
in Bonfigli's fresco, 246.
, Niccolo, brings B. Forte-
braccio's bones to Perugia, 49.
KoRTKESS, The, of Paul III., found-
ation of, 75 ; 79 ; 80 ; 99 ; history
of, 151, 152; description of, by A.
Trollope, 152, 153 ; 154.
Fountain, The, 109 ; 111 ; descrip-
tion of, 125, 126 ; laws for preser-
vation of, 130.
Kkancis, S., of Assisi, imprisoned
in Perugia, 19; canonized in
Perugia, 2S ; 98 ; appears to
Gregory IX., 149 ; Honorius III.
visits, 197 ; meets S. Dominic in
Perugia, 197 ; igg ; 206 ; 233 ;
, 304-
Fkederic, Emperor, Barbaiossa,
(note) 292.
Frederic II,, Kmperor, 20.
Freeman, Professor, quoted, 109.
Frollieri, Girolamo, (note) 8 ; ac-
count of Gianpaolo's character,
67, 68 ; 76.
G
(Iai.i.kkv, National, The English,
picture by Paolo Uccello in, (note)
44 ; 267.
Gatks of Perugia, Etruscan, SS ;
99.
Gentile da Fabkiano, 235.
Giacomo, Messer, di Servadio, one
of the architects of Palazzo Pub-
blico, 116.
Giotto, 235.
Giovaneli.o di Ben\enuto, plans
Palazzo Pubblico, 1 16.
Goi.uoni, Carlo, describes the
Virgin's ring, (note) 140; as a
child acts in Palazzo Gallenga,
(note) 187.
GoNFAi.oNi, The, by Bonfigli, in
S. Maria Nuova, 182, 238 ; in
■S. Fiorenzo, 182, 232 ; in Pina-
coteca, (note) 213, 238 ; in S.
Francesco al Prato, 214, 238 ; in
S. Lorenzo, 238 ; in the Carmine,
(note) 238 ; account of, 231.
Graziani, chronicler, 50.
Greece, influence on Etruscan art
of, 271.
Grec;orovius, Ferdinand, quoted,
21 ; (note) 146.
Gregory IX., Pope, visits Perugia,
27 ; canonizes .S. Francis of Assisi,
S. Domenic and S. Elizabeth of
Hungary, 20 ; his vision of S.
Francis, 149.
Gregory XI., Pope, excommuni-
cates Perugians, 31 ; 212,
Griffin, origin of, on Perugia's
arms, 7, S.
Guadabassi, Count, Etruscan col-
lection of, 279.
GuALDo, 22 ; 183 ; 235.
Glbuio, 18; 38; (note) 85; (note
2) 93; 235 ; 265; 291 ; description
of, 292.
Gucci, see Ducci.
GuiDALOTTi, Abbot, of S. Pietru,
his plot against B. Michelotti, 38,
39 ; his tiight from Perugia, 40 ;
he destroys ca!/«/(i«/7<? of S. Pietro,
170.
H
Hawkwoou, sir John, (note) 35 ;
119; T2o; called in by Abbot of
Mommaggiore, 185 ; 186.
HoNDKius III., pope, election of,
26 ; attempts to enforce Papal
authority in Perugia, 27 ; 197.
321
Index
1
Innocent III., Pope, 25; first
padrone of Perugia, 26 ; 29 ; 51 ;
legend of his ascent into heaven,
143 ; 144 ; 145 ; 146.
Innocent VIII., Pope, 113.
Jameson, Mrs, 207.
Janus, 6.
Jesuits, The, chief power in
Perugia falls to, 76.
John XXI., Pope, 24.
John XXIII, Pope, 42.
Julius II., Pope, visits Gianpaolo
Baglioni, 68; 6g.
Julius III, Pope, 79; statue of,
178 ; policy towards Perugians
of, 180 ; 181 ; 183.
Juno, image of, 10.
Ladislaus, King, of Naples, con-
nection with Perugia, 42.
Lasche, 21 ; 24 ; 95 ; 160.
LEPfevRE, M. Andre, quoted, 268;
(note) 272 ; 273.
Leo, Emperor, decree against image
worship, 15.
Leo X., Pope, plots against Gian-
paolo Baglioni, 69.
' Lippi, Fra Filippo, 163 ; 235 ; 240 ;
dies at Spoleto, 305.
Lombards, The, occupation of Peru-
gia by, 14; employed in build-
ing Palazzo Pubblico at Perugia,
97-
Louis, IX., S., Kuig of France,
visits Fra Egidio at Perugia,
(note) 117; 199; 200.
Louis, S., Bishop of Toulouse, door
of Palazzo Pubblico at Perugia
dedicated to, 116; patron saint of
Perugia and of Palazzo dei Priori,
(note) 117; 126; 200; fresco of,
by Bonfigli, 240, 241, 242.
LuPATELLi, A., guide-book of Peru-
gian art, 98 ; (note) 230.
322
M
Machiavelli, N., comments on
action of the Baglioni, 69.
Malatesta, Carlo, fighting for the
Perugians, is taken prisoner by
Braccio Fortebraccio, 43.
Malatesta, Galeazzo, 43; (note) 44.
Manni, Giannicola, 142 ; 174 ; pic-
ture in S. Martino by, 215; paints
chapel in the Cambio, 228 ; (note)
263 ; pictures in Pinacoteca by,
264.
Mantegna, Andrea, picture at
Foligno, 296.
Marengo, battle of, 79.
jMargaritone p'Arezzo, 237.
Mariotti, Annibale, 21 ; (note) 84 ;
86 ; (note i) 93 ; topography of
Perugia, 99 ; 107 ; 1 18 ; (note)
126 ; 144 ; describes visit of Bene-
dict XL's mother to Perugia, 165 ;
quoted, t8o ; 190 ; Honorius III.
and S. Francis of Assisi, 197 ; 208;
notes on Perugino, 224 ; 229 ; 236 ;
character of Bonfigli's wife, 238 ;
239 ; deplores bad condition of
Bonfigli's pictures, 240 ; 262 ;
quoted, 265.
Mariotto, Bernardino di, pictures
by, 248.
Martin IV., Pope, excommunicates
Perugians, 21 ; i<i3 ; diesof surfeit
of eels in Perugia, 144 ; tomb de-
stroyed of, 145.
Martin V., Pope, sends for Forte-
braccio to Florence, 47, 48 ; his
wars with Fortebraccio, refuses
him Christian burial, 49; enters
Perugia as Lord. 51 ; (note) 73.
M assa, birth-place of S. Bernardino,
206.
Matakazzo, Francesco, describes
miserable condition of Perugia,
56 ; scholar of Perugia, 58 ;
chronicles of, 59 ; his description
of Astorre Baglioni (translated by
J. A. .Symonds), 60; his admira-
tion of the Baglioni, 6i ; 63 ; 64 ;
(notes 3 and 4), 65 ; describes
Grifonetto Baglioni's death (trans-
lated by J. A. S.), 66, 67 ; 225 ;
(note) 255.
Matteo da Siena, 235.
Maturanzio, see Matarazzo.
Mauritius, Duke, treachery of, 15.
Index:
Mei.anzio, Francesco, work at
Montefalco, (note) 297 ; 298 ; 299.
MiCHELOTTi, B., 31 ; 35; account
of> 36 > 37 ; 38 ; murder of, 39; 51.
N
Napoi-EON, Emperor (Bonaparte),
occupies Perugia, 79 ; robs Peru-
gia of her ma-terpieces, (note) 91 ;
104 ; 118 ; 167 ; 216 ; (note 2) 222.
Narni, 8; 293; description of, 305 ;
306. _
Nar, river. 308 ; 311.
Nelli, Ottaviano, 267; Masterpiece
at Gubbio, 295 ; 298.
Nicholas IV., Pope, (note) 309.
Noah, legend of, 6.
NOCERA, 22 ; 1.S3.
OcTAVius C/ESAR, (Augustus), be-
sieges Perugia, 10.
Oddi, the degli, 31 ; 33 ; (note) 34 ;
54 ; 55; expelled from Perugia by
the Baglioni, 56 ; 59; 255.
Oratory of S. Bernardino, see
Church.
Orsini, Bertolda, marries B.
iNIichelotti, 38.
Orsini, Signor, guide-book of
Perugia by, 98 ; 247.
Orvieto, (note) 85 ; 224 ; 291 ; de-
.scription of, 309, 310.
Otto I., Emperor, confirms dona-
tion of Perugia to the Papacy, 25.
Otto III., Emperor, 168.
Oxford, (note) 100 ; 104.
P.M.ACE of Justice, 22.
Palazzo Baldeschi, 23, (note) 235.
B.iglioni, Palace of Grifo-
netto, 61.
I5raceschi, 163; (note) 235.
(or Palace of) Capitano del
Popolo, 19 ; (note) 100.
Gallenga, (note) 187.
Palazzo Guidalotti, 39.
Oddi, degli, (note) 34 ; 201.
Pubblico (also called dei
Priori and tie! Podestd), 17 ; 44 ;
67; 72 ; bell-tower of, (note i)
93 ; 97 ; 98 ; 109 ; in: description
of, 113, 114; first architects em-
ployed on, 1 16; outer staircase and
principal door of, 117, 118; Sala
del Malconsigtio in, 119; prisons
of, 120, barbarous butchery in,
123 ; prisoners liberated ^^ pro
ainore Dti" from, 124; repre-
sentation of, in Bonfigli's fresco,
246 ; (note) 268.
Paul III.. Pope, builds the Rocca
Paolina (or fortress) on the site
of the Baglioni houses, 70, 75 ;
71 ; 72 ; excommunicates the Peru-
gians, 73 ; 75 ; conquers Perugia,
75) 76 79 '1 fortress de^troyed of,
80; (note) 91 ; visits convent of
Monte Luce, 107; no; descrip-
tion of fortress of, 151, 152; A.
Trollope's account of, 152, 153,
154 ; destroys top of campanile of
S. Domenico, 164 ; 178 ; 179; 180 ;
(note) 222 ; 310.
Pepin, King of France, cedes
Perugia to the Holy See, 25.
Peruc;ia, 2 ; Prof. Bellucci on, 3 ;
a city of the Etruscan league, 4 ;
legendary history of, 6 ; origin of
grifi"m in city arms, 7 ; 8 ; con-
quered by Octavius, 9 ; Caius
Cestius sets fire to, Octavius re-
builds, 10 ; taken by Belisarius,
12 ; ruled alternately by Lom-
bards and Goths, 14, 15 ; saved
by intercession of S. Zacharius,
16 ; early history of, 17 ; dominion
extended over Umbria, 18; con-
tests with Assisi, Citta della Pieve
and Foligno, 19, 20 ; victory of
Arezzo over, 21 ; defeats Siena,
22 ; 23 ; 24 ; given to Holy See
by Pepin, by Charlemagne and
by Otto I., 25; Innocent III.
dies and Honorius III. is elected
in, 26 ; internecine broils, 27 ;
Gregory IX. canonizes S. Francis,
S. Dominic and S. Elizabeth in,
28 ; becomes one of the Tre
Communi, 29 ; rebels against
Papal authority, 30 ; acknow-
. ledges dominion of U^rban VI.,
Index
31 ; 32 ; struggle between nobles
and people, 33 ; (note) 34 ;
Michelotti enters, 36 ; 37 ; Gian
(ialeazzo, Duke of Milan, Lord
of, 44 ; Braccio Fortebraccio cap-
tures, 42 ; is acclaimed Lord of,
41; ' Hattle of the Stones' in,
45 ; 47 ; 48 ; Braccio Fortebraccio's
bones brought to, 49, ■50 ; Martin
V. enters, 51 ; 52 ; (note) 55 ; 56 ;
Matarazzo born in, 58 ; 59 ; 60 ;
61 ; 62 ; reception of Lavinia
Orsini in, 63 ; 64 ; mournful
aspect of, 67 ; 68 ; 69 ; Malatesta
Baglioni dies in, 70; Paul IH.
enters, 71, 72 ; lays interdicts on,
73 > 75 • Jesuits ruin, 76 ; annexed
to French Empire, 79 ; 80 ; 81 ;
82 ; 83; topographical position of.
84 ; view from, 85 ; unstable soil
of, 86 ; Etruscan walls of, 88 ;
91 ; towers of, 93 ; doorways in,
95; 96; 97; guide-books to, 98;
gates of, 99 ; loo ; 103 ; University
of, 104; 105: walks round, 106;
109 ; 112 ; 113; 116 ; 119 ; lumieri
at, 123; prisons in, 124; 126;
fountain in, 129, 130, 135 ; Chapel
of S. Bernardino in, 136 ; Baroccio
paints in, 137 ; 138 ; wedding-
ring of Virgin Mary, in S. Lorenzo
in, 139. 140, 141 ; 142 ; death of
Martin IV. in, 144 ; Canonica in,
146; 149; fortress of Paul in. at,
151, 152, 153, 154 ; S. Ercolano,
Saint of, 156, 159; 161; 162;
(note) 163 ; 164 ; Benedict XI. dies
at, 165, 166 : 167 ; 168 ; 171 : 175 ;
miracles of S. Costanzo in, 176,
177; 181; Church of Camaldolese
monks in, 182 ; Dante on, 183;
Abbot Mommaggiore builds for-
tresses in, 184, is driven out of,
186 ; Arch of Augustus in (de-
scribed by Dennis), 187; 189;
190; 193; meeting of S. Francis
and S. Dominic in, 197 ; 199 ;
(note) 201 ; Ducci's work at,
208, 210; rise of Flagellants in,
211, 212; 214; S. Martino in,
215 ; Perugino's work at, 216,
217; 2i3; Perugino comes to,
2ig ; Manni's work at, 228 ; pic-
ture gallery in, 230 ; gonfaloni
(banners) in, 231, 232 ; pictures in
gallery of, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237;
Bonfigli's work in, 238, 240, 241,
242, 245, 251 ; (note) 255 ; Fra
Angelico visits, 257 ; 260 ; Peru-
gino's pictures in gallery at, 2sp,
264 ; Pinturicchio's pictures in
gallery at, 260, 261 ; Lo Spagna's
picture in gallery at, 262;
Raphael's pictures in, 265 ;
Academy of, founded, 265 ; 266 ;
Museum of, 261, 281 ; tomb of the
Volumnii near, 282 ; 290 ; 291 ;
road to Gubbio from, 292 ; 254 ;
295 ; 300; 304; 306: 315-
Perugino, Pietro, (Vanucci) 60 ;
85 ; (note 2) 96 ; 115 ; Sposalizio
by, 138. 190, 193 ; 142 ; picture
in S. Lorenzo by, (note) 143 ;
Pieta in S. Pietro by, 171;
"Assumption" by, 172; 173;
fresco in S. Severo by, 182, 183 ;
designs choir of S. Agostino, 190 ;
198 ; house of, 202, 203, 204 ; 214 ;
216 ; Vasari's accusations against,
217 ; his portrait in the Cambio,
218 ; his influence on Raphael,
218 ; birth of, 219 ; Bonfigli
probably first master of, 219 ;
goes to Florence, 220 ; pupil of
Verrocchio, 220 ; meets Leonardo
da Vinci, 220 ; paints in Sistine
Chapel. 221 ; returns to Perugia,
222 ; lawsuit with Michelangelo.
223 ; his death, 223, (note) 224 ;
paints in the Cambio. 225-228 ;
229 ; 239 ; 2.>;2 ; 256 ; 258 ; his
work in the Pinacoteca, 259, 260,
261; 262 ; (note) 263 ; " Nativity"
by, 264 ; 296 ; his birth-place,
311 ; picture at Citta della Pieve
by, (note 2) 312 ; 313 ; 315 ; 316.
Piazza degli Aratri, fight in,
113-
d Armi, cattle fair held in
the, 100 ; 152.
Emanuele, 152.
di S, Ercolano, 160.
Danti, (note) 17S.
della < jiustizia, 206 ; origin
of name, 213 ; 214.
Grimani, 187 ; 189.
di .S. Lorenzo, 99 ; historical
interest of, 109, no ; Fountain in,
125.
Morl.acchi, 146.
di Paglia, 178.
del Pallone, 152.
I?tdex
Piazza del Papa, 17S; iSi.
Sopramuro, 100 ; 152.
PicciNiNo, Niccolo, 31 ; follower of
iJ. Fortebraccio, 51 ; account of,
52 ; 28..
PiETRO, S., Vincioli, 16S ; miracles
of, 169; builds Church of S.
Pictro, 169.
PiNTURiccHio (D. di Betto), 248;
account of, 260, 261 ; 265 ; fresco
at Spello by, 294.
PiSANO, Giovanni, 125 ; 126 ; 145 ;
designs S Domenico, 164 ; tomb
of Benedict XI. by, 166.
^— ^— Niccola, 9S ; 103 ; 125 ; 126.
Pius IX., Pope, 79.
Plenario, Frate, plans the aqueduct
of Perugia, 129.
PoLVESE, island of, submits to
Perugia, 18.
Porta, Augusta, or Arch of Au-
gustus, 88 ; description of, by
G. Dennis, 187; 188; i8p; 214.
Eburnca, Baglioni houses
near, 63 ; 83 ; 113.
Mandola, 88.
Marxia, 88, one of the old
Etruscan gates, used by San
Gallo as a decoration to the
fortress, 154, 155.
Romana, 167.
Sole, 13s ; 182 ; 183 ; inci-
dent connected with, 184 ; 186 ;
187.
S., Agata, (note) 14.
S., Angelo, 99; 106; 185;
196 ; 197.
S., Antonio, 106 ; 184 ; 186.
San Carlo. Baglioni houses
near, 63
S., Ercolano, 106; 161.
S., Pietro, 99; 135; 161;
177 ; (note i) 208
Susanna, 88 ; 99 ; 106 ; 201 ;
Veneris, Roman gate at
Spello, (note) 297.
Prf.fettura, The, 80; 152.
Raniere, Fra, vision of, 211, 212.
Raphael, (Sanzio), Immortalizes
.■\storre Baglioni in two pictures,
60; 138; paints "Entombment"
for Atalanla B.iglioni. 161; 173;
fresco in S. Severo. 182, 183, 214;
231; 234; 2 15, =48; pictures
asciibed to, 262, 263 ; 2*14 ; 300.
Raspanti, nickname of rich burgh-
ers in Ptrugia, 27 ; 35 ; rally
ruuiid B. Michelotti, 36 ; assassi-
nate Pandolfoand Pcllini Baglioni,
37 ; 41 ; 42 ; 184 ; 186.
Ratchis, King, besieges Perugia,
15, 16.
Ravenna, Exarch of, 15.
Reni, Guido, picture in S. Pictro
by, 171-
Ring, The Wedding, of the Virgin,
legend about, 139, 140 ; 141 ; 204.
Ror.ERT, King, of N.aples, (note)
117.
Rorbia, dclla, 176.
Rio, a. F., 231.
Rome, 8 ; 9: 10; 11; 12; 13; 17;
submits to B. Fortebraccio, 44.
Rorcet Ti, Cesarino, designs fagade
of Madonna della Luce, 204.
Rossi, .\damo, 118 ; (note) 229.
.ScoTTi, Count, guide-book
of Perugia liy, 93.
Rumohr, Ch. von, (note) ^27.
SALiMnENE, Ventura, 172.
Sant' Egideo, battle of, 43.
.Santi, Giovanni, quoted, 220.
Sassoferrato, 172.
ScHMin. Colonel, enters Perugia, 80.
Sextus IV., Pope, (note) 9^.
Sforza, Attendolo. rival of B. Forte-
braccio, 42 ; (note) 49.
Sforza, Francesco, (note) 42 ; (note)
49; rival of N. Piccinino, 51 ; 52.
Siena, 18 ; 29 ; 186 ; 207 , 236.
SlENESE, defeated by Perugians, 22,
SiEPi, guide-book of Perugia, 182;
204 ; 208 ; (note) 215.
Sinibaldo Ibi, 234.
SisMo.NDi, S. L. de, 42; 43.
Spagna, Lo, 234 ; 265 ; 267 ; (note)
300 ; 305.
Spello, 51 ; 71 ; 85 ; 94 ; 265 ; 291 ;
description of, 294 ; 300.
Spoleto, 16; iS'; 79; 85; 177;
262 ; 265 ; 291 ; 299 ; description
of, 302-305.
325
Index
Stefano da Bergamo, choir in S.
Pietro by, 173.
Stillman, Mr, (note) 229.
SvMONDs, J. A., 33; history of
Baglioni by, 59-70.
Taddeo Bartoli, 235; 236.
Taine, H., quoted, 82; 230; 257,
290.
Temple, of Clitumnus, description
of 300, 201 ; Byron's stanzas on,
302.
Terni, 291.
Theoderic, Emperor, citadel at
Spoleto of, 304.
Thomas, S. Aquinas, 104 ; 144.
Tiber, river, 3 ; 25 ; 28 ; 43 ; 169 ;
292 ; 295.
TtBERio d'Assisi, 176 ; 234.
Titian, 137; 231.
ToDi, iS ; 85.
Tommaso d'Arcangei.o, (note) 236.
Torgiano, 3 ; (note) 70 ; 291.
Torre di S. Manno, site of Etrus-
can tomb, 213.
degli Scirri, (note i) 93 ; last
of Perugia's towers, 204.
ToRRiTA, battle of, 22.
Totila, besieges Perugia, 12 ; takes
Perugia, 13 ; 159 ; Bonfigli's fresco
of siege by, 242.
Towers of Perugia, marked feature
in olden days, 93.
Trasimene, lake, hatchet heads of
jade found near, 3; 18 ; (note) 21 ;
24- . .
Trevi, 85 ; 291 ; description of,
299, 300 ; 313. _
Trollope, Adolphus, description of
Paul Ill.'s fortress by, 152, 153.
U
Ubaldo, S., 159; patron of Gubbio,
292.
University, of Perugia, supposed
origin of the, (note) 12; 103;
account of the, 104 ; Etruscan
museum in the, (note) 267 ; (note)
268.
Urban IV., Pope, 143 ; 144 ; 184.
Urban V., Pope, 30.
Urban VI., Pope, legend of white
dove, 31.
326
Urban VIII., Pope, 104.
Urbino, 38 ; 235.
Varano, Nicolina da, wife of B.
Fortebraccio, 48.
Vasari, Giorgio, 125; quoted, 160:
pictures in §. Pietro by, 171 ; 172 ;
203 ; accusations against Perugino
by, 217; 223; quoted, 219; 224;
Vasari on L'Ingegno, (note) 227 ;
236 ; 259 ; 261 ; 262.
Velasquez, pictures ascribed to. at
Perugia, (note) 235.
Venice, 231.
Vermiglioli, Giov. Battista, writes
on Etruscan antiquities, 99 ; (note)
126 ; 273 ; (note) 284.
Verrocchio, Andrea, 220.
Via Bartolo, staircase in, 89;
Bontempi, 182.
della Cuparella. 106.
del Commercio, 202.
della Conca, 214.
della Gabbia, 120 ;
123 ;
(note) 124.
Longara, 193.
della Pera, 269.
Piscinello, 201.
dei Priori, (note) 14 ; (note)
34 ; 201 : 204.
di San Francesco, 214.
delle Stalle, 39.
Vecchia, (note) 92 ; 215.
del Verzaro, (note) 115.
Villani, G., quoted 112 ; describes
death of Benedict XL, 165.
ViscoNTi, Gian Galeazzo, 37 ; lord
of Perugia, 41.
Viterbo, 30;
VoLUMNii.Tomb of the, description
of, 282-289.
Vulcan, Temple of, 10.
W
WiTiGis, King, i;
Zacchakias, Pope, S., 15; saves
Perugia, 16.
ZuccHERi, The, 137.
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