Key to Umbria: Gualdo Tadino
 


Walk around Gualdo Tadino


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The walk begins at Porta San Benedetto, which is one of the two surviving gates from the four in the medieval walls.  It was named for the now-demolished Abbazia di San Benedetto Vecchio in the plain below.  An inscription on the lintel to the left (as you look from inside) reads:

Porta di San Benedetto, regnando Federico Imperatore,

nel mese quarto dell' anno del Signore MDCCXLII

recording the construction of the gate (and the rest of the city walls) by the Emperor Frederick II in April 1242. 



Walk through the gate and follow Corso Piave ahead, which is the central spine of the city.  The church of Sant’ Agostino stood in Piazza Mazzini, on the left (later replaced by the Post Office).

Continue to Piazza XX Settembre and the churches of San Donato on the right and (slightly further along) Santa Maria dei Raccomandati.




Continue along what has become Corso Italia, passing the façade of San Francesco on the left .....








... into what was Piazza Grande.  This was originally a larger civic space, but the papal legate, Baldovino Ciocchi del Monte (1553-1556) erected the buildings that run along the left (from San Francesco to the San Benedetto (below), the facade of which is to the right in this photograph) in order to reduce the scope for insurrection.  

  1. ✴The part of Piazza Grande that you are in is now called Piazza dei Martiri della Libertà, in honour of the city’s martyrs during the Second World War.

  2. ✴The rest of the old piazza (reached by the arch on the left) is is now called Piazza Sopramuro.

This area was devastated in the earthquake of 1751, which led to the rebuilding of the civic buildings of Gualdo Tadino:

  1. ✴Palazzo Comunale is on the right side of Piazza dei Martiri della Libertà. 





  1. ✴The original Torre Civica and the rebuilt Palazzo del Podestà are on behind the buildings on the left, in  Piazza Sopramuro.







Return to Piazza Martiri della Libertà and the church of San Benedetto.





Take a short detour by turningright on leaving San Benedetto, along Via Roberto Calai.  Fork right along Via Cesare Battisti to the school run by the Istituto Bambin Gesù: this was the site of the Monastero di Santa Lucia e Maddalena. 

Return again to the Piazza Martiri della Libertà continue along Corso Italia, which runs along the right wall of San Benedetto.   The Fontana del Cardinal del Monte (described in the page on San Benedetto) was built against this wall in 1573.  Continue to Piazza Garibaldi on the left, behind the San Benedetto.    Excavations here in 2009 (during roadworks) uncovered what are probably remains (13th century) of the adjoining abbey.

Continue up the stepped Via della Rocca, crossing Piazza Dante Alighieri, to Rocca Flea, which houses the Museo Civico and the Pinacoteca Comunale. 




Return along Via della Rocca and turn left along Via della Pace.  Turn left again down the steps that lead to Via Franco Storelli and turn sharply left along it.  Fork right along Via Borgovalle.  Via San Nicolò on the left is named for the now-demolished Monastero di San Nicolò dei Silvestrini. 

Continue along Via Borgovalle to Porta San Donato, which was the second gate in the walls built by Frederick II.  The Commune granted the tower above it to the monks of San Nicolò in the 1790s so that they could extend their monastery. 





Take a short detour by walking through the gate and turning right along Via Santa Margherita to the church of Santa Margherita, on the left.






Return to Porta San Donato and turn left along Via Bonfigli to the church of Santa Maria del Purgo on the right. 






Continue through Porta San Martino (at the junction with Via Imbriani) to the ex-church of Santa Chiara.





Turn left (as you look back at Porta San Martino) along Via delle Mura to Porta San Benedetto, where the walk ends.


Return to Walk and Excursions.