The City
Orte
Founded by the Etruscans of Volsinii (Orvieto) in the 6th century BC.
Rome, having won the decisive battle with the Etruscans here in the two battles of Lake Vadimone (309 and 283 B.C.), elevated it to a municipium in the early 1st century B.C. The territory is dotted with villas, which benefit from the transit to Orte of the Via Amerina and the important river port of Seripola, which was reinforced in the Augustan age.
The affirmation of Christianity, with the elevation to bishopric in the early 7th century, and the addition of fortifications by the Byzantines, are some of the signs of Orte's growth in the Tiber area in the early Middle Ages. After having been disputed for a long time by the Lombards, in order to secure control of the main roads connecting Rome and Ravenna, it experienced further development in the mid-9th century, with the foundation of a second cathedral (later Santa Maria Assunta) and the strengthening of the walls.
Occupied by the Arabs and reconquered in 914, it intensified its control over the river in the 10th and 11th centuries, contending for supremacy with Amelia, Narni and the Abbey of Farfa. This was the beginning of the city's most prosperous period, which increased its surface area with the development of suburban villages and incorporated the bridge over the river around 1150.
Points of Interest
Piazza della Libertà
Formerly ‘Platea Sancte Marie’, it became Piazza Vittorio Emanuele after the unification of Italy.
Today known as Piazza di Santa Maria, it has always been the heart of the city and a meeting place for religious and civic life.
Archaeological remains testify to the presence of the forum in Roman times.
The seven streets coming from the seven city districts flow into it: the 15th-century chains, which had a legal function, can be seen at their points of access.
📍 Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, City Hall, Clock Palace, Nerei-Roberti Palace, Hypogean Fountain
Cathedral of
Santa Maria Assunta
Founded in the 11th century, its current appearance, with its bright Baroque forms, is the result of the last renovation in 1721 to a design by architects Castrachini and Bizzachero. Work on the façade began in 1898 and was completed in 1901. Other works had transformed and enlarged it in the first half of the 14th century and the second half of the 16th century.
The 18th-century organ built from parts of an earlier 16th-century instrument is valuable.
The wooden choir, the monumental altar (18th century, in which the Relics of the Holy Martyrs Comparators are preserved), and the altarpiece by Giuseppe Bottani from 1752 depicting the ‘Madonna in Glory with the Eight Holy Martyrs’ are also noteworthy.
The palace overlooking the main town square is attested as early as 1295.
A few years earlier, the original town hall, in Piazza Sant'Agostino, gave way to the residence of the Augustinian friars.
On the façade are three coats of arms: on the right is that of Pope Clement VII Medici (1528), on the left that of Paul III Farnese (1535) and in the centre, on the old entrance portal, the ancient coat of arms of the City of Orte.
The staircase, which allowed entry from this side, was demolished in 1846.
City Hall
Clock Palace
Built in the early 17th century next to the area occupied by the church of San Giovanni in Fonte (former baptistery).
It began life as the Palazzo del Podestà.
It was at this time that the square began to take on the appearance it has today.
To the left of the square began the porticoes populated by the workshops of artisans and notaries, the beating ‘heart’ of municipal economic life.
Supported by sturdy columns and Romanesque capitals, the porticoes extended along the entire Via Plana, today's Via Gramsci.
The palace, already present in 1305, has preserved its elegant architectural lines.
Nerei-Roberti
Palace
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Hypogean Fountain
The fountain, despite the numerous alterations and heavy restoration work it underwent in the 17th century, still partly retains its original appearance; two marble columns supporting a cross vault frame its front, consisting of a small arch on pilasters inside which the water flows.
Conceived as a cistern, probably in the Augustan age in correspondence with a much broader phenomenon of monumentalisation of the built-up area, it represented the terminal of the primitive aqueduct that for a long time represented the city's only source of public water supply and storage. The marks on the slabs of the basins can be attributed to the jugs of the women who for centuries queued up to draw water.
The city statutes provided for severe penalties for anyone who soiled it. A custodian, appointed by the Priors, was required to clean it and keep the keys to the door, which no one was allowed to open but him.
La Rocca
Little or nothing is known of the origins of the Rocca, which was undoubtedly rebuilt at the behest of Cardinal Egidio Albornoz in 1366.
In the 15th century, the Rocca was in the hands of the tyrant Antonio Colonna, who led the Ortani to finally demolish it in 1431, during a revolt.
Few fragments remain of the Albornoz castle, most of which can be found in the foundations of the buildings that occupy the site.
📍 Alberti Palace
Alberti Palace
With its severe and elegant lines, it was built between 1598 and 1602 by the Orte branch of the Alberti family.
Rising on the ruins of the Albornoz Fortress, it is one of the five palaces that the Alberti family left in Orte.
On the main floor, an elegant hall features 17th-18th century fresco cycles.
Vascellaro
The name ‘Vascellaro’ derives from the dialectal mispronunciation of the term ‘vasellame’, as the district was home to numerous potters' workshops in Roman and medieval times.
Today it overlooks the southern valley of Orte.
📍 Porta del Vascellaro, Former church of San Gregorio
Porta del Vascellaro
The gate is named after the neighbouring district, but is also known as Porta del Maiotto.
The papal coat of arms, symbol of the city's possession of the Papal State, stands above the arch.
Romanesque building consecrated to St Gregory, after whom the district is named.
It preserves an early 16th century apse fresco, probably by the painter Giovanni Antonio da Roma, depicting the Virgin and Child, St. Gregory, St. Sebastian, Job and the patron.
Fragments of decorations from the Longobard period can be found on the exterior walls of the church and in some neighbouring buildings.
former Church of
San Gregorio
Piazza Belvedere
Panoramic view of the valley to the south, the San Bernardino hill and the Sanctuary of the Holy Trinity.
📍 House of Judas, Former Church of San Sebastiano
House of Judas,
Radically renovated in recent years, the building has preserved the typical architecture of the medieval portico, in this case consisting of three cylindrical travertine columns supporting an architrave, surmounted by lowered arches.
In the Middle Ages it belonged to a traitor of the community, responsible for the return of Ghibelline outlaws to the city, hence its name.
Romanesque building consecrated to St Sebastian, after whom the district is named.
In local sources, it is described as ‘very ancient’ and first appears in documents in 1293.
Rectangular in shape, it was organised according to a single nave and had a single altar.
The building, remodelled with the removal of the apse, which originally faced west, and the exterior painting, is located almost in the centre of the square.
Today it is converted into a private residence.
Former Church of San Sebastiano
Church of San Biagio
Of Romanesque origin (1253), it underwent extensive alterations in 1757.
It belonged to the Roman Hospital of Santo Spirito in Saxia, whose symbol, the Lorraine cross, is preserved above the entrance portal.
Until 1613, this order ran a Preceptory located in adjacent premises.
📍 Museum of the Confraternity
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Piazza Colonna
A square characterised by a column in its centre, it is built around the church complex of San Silvestro.
📍 Former Church of San Silvestro, Museum of Sacred Art
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Former Church of San Silvestro
The single-nave church dates back to the mid-11th century.
The bell tower, of the Roman-Latin type, dates back to the mid-12th century.
The church houses the Museum of Sacred Art, where the original bell is preserved.
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Piazza del Popolo
Formerly ‘Piazza Sant'Agostino’, it houses the church dedicated to the saint of the same name.
📍Church of Sant'Agostino, Former Convalescent Hospital, Museum of the Confraternity
Church of
Sant’Agostino
This church is the result of the amalgamation of three sacred buildings that arose at different times: the church of Santa Croce, the oratory of Sant'Egidio and the church of Sant'Agostino.
The presence of Augustinian friars within the city is documented from 1303.
The church complex we see today was certainly already in operation in 1335: Santa Croce is the oldest portion, with the adjoining Convalescent Hospital.
The bell tower was originally the turret of the entrance gate of the town hall (it still bears the town's coat of arms).
Next to the complex stands the cloister of the former convent.
Inside the church, one can admire traces of Renaissance frescoes, a precious wooden crucifix from the 15th century and the altarpiece of the Madonna of the Rosary from the 16th century by the painter Giorgio da Orte.
Situated in a corner of Piazza del Popolo, the small palace with its loggia was donated in 1667 by Simon Alonso (as recalled by the plaque on the façade) to the Confraternity of the Trinity to establish the Hospital of the Convalescents there.
The latter was to house the poor discharged from the Hospital of Santa Croce for the time needed for further treatment.
Former Convalescent Hospital
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Porta Santo Cesareo
The construction of this gate began in 1449, as part of the city's fortification works after the Ortanians destroyed the Rocca, which had become a place of tyranny, on the death of Martin V in 1431.
A first gate, demolished just after 1870, was surmounted by the coats of arms of Eugene IV and Nicholas V and completed the structure that can be seen today.
It is so called because it was built near a church, dedicated to this saint, that existed in 1337 but had already disappeared by the end of the 16th century.
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Church of San Francesco
In ancient times, the Romanesque-style church was dedicated to Saint Angelo.
The current building, built in 1695, has a single nave and Baroque forms evident in the large curtain that opens onto the high altar.
The paintings preserved inside are valuable, among which the altarpiece depicting the ‘Madonna of Mercy’ is noteworthy.
Next to the church is the convent to which the Franciscans moved permanently in the 1480s.
In the elegant and spacious cloister, the well is visible.
📍Museum of the Confraternity
Porta Franca
Situated almost underneath the fortress, it consists of two consecutive gateways. Having fallen into disuse following the destruction of the fortress, it was nevertheless still in use in the 1570s.
Today, the inner gate is visible, surmounted by a quadrangular shielded tower.
Probably a way along the edge of the cliff led to the viewpoint in Via Solferino.
