Cerreto di Spoleto is an Italian village and ''
comune
A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...
'' of the
province of Perugia in
Umbria
Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...
. It is a dispersed rural community with 1,158 inhabitants spread over 8 ''
frazioni
A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...
''.
Villages
Ponte di Cerreto is a village of about 200 inhabitants about a mile south of Cerreto. Though now insignificant,
Ponte was once an important defensive outpost overlooking the first bridge over the
Nera River. The counts of Celano built a fortress at this site, which has not survived. Today, the village is best known for the 12th-century
Romanesque abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...
church of Santa Maria: the façade includes a very good rose window, and the interior is notable for preserving the
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
's sketch of that window, engraved on one of the walls of the nave. Among the
fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es is an almost equally rare depiction of the
Trinity
The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...
as a three-headed man.
Rocchetta (Rocchetta di Cerreto when distinguishing it from
others) lies at above sea-level on a ridge above and to the east of the
Tissino River. Its principal sights are three churches, two of them medieval and the third of the 16th‑18th centuries, of which the best is San Nicola, with a frescoed interior.
Additional frazioni
*
Colle Soglio
*
Macchia, Cerreto di Spoleto
*
Nortosce
Notable people
The
Renaissance humanist and poet
Iovianus Pontanus (Giovanni Gioviano Pontano) was born here in 1426—although after his father had been murdered in a civic brawl his mother escaped with the boy to Perugia.
See also
*
Giovanni Pontano
References
External links
Official website* Thayer's Gazetteer of Umbria
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Romanesque architecture in Umbria
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