Foligno

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Foligno
coat of arms
Foligno (Italy)
Foligno
Country Italy
region Umbria
province Perugia  (PG)
Coordinates 42 ° 57 '  N , 12 ° 42'  E Coordinates: 42 ° 57 '19 "  N , 12 ° 42' 8"  E
height 234  m slm
surface 263.7 km²
Residents 56,939 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 216 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 06034; 06030; 06037
prefix 0742
ISTAT number 054018
Popular name Folignati or Fulignati
Patron saint Martyr St. Felicianus
Website Foligno

Foligno is the second largest city in the province of Perugia in the Italian region of Umbria with 56,939 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019).

Location and dates

Foligno is located on the ancient Roman Via Flaminia and on the banks of the Topino river , which has its origins in the Apennines near Sorgenti del Topino (Nocera Umbra) and flows into the Tiber south of Perugia . The place is located at 234  m slm. It is one of the most important trading places in the southern Valle Umbria and a central traffic junction in the road and rail network. Foligno has one airport, Aeroporto Foligno-Spoleto .

history

Foligno goes back to an Umbrian settlement that dates back to 295 BC. Was conquered by the Romans . As a Roman settlement, Foligno was called Fulginium . Fulginium achieved its economic importance due to its location at an important intersection of the Via Flaminia.

After Italy entered the war in June 1940, the fascist regime set up an internment camp (campo di concentramento) in Colfiorito, a district of Foligno on a plateau above the city . It was located on the site of a former shooting range and was intended to accommodate political opponents and members of the Slovenian minority in the Italian border provinces. In Colfiorito, about 800 m above sea level, the cold dominated everyday camp life; there was no way to warm up in winter, and inmates were inadequately dressed. Many internees have been transferred to prison after they went on hunger strike to protest food shortages. Because of the prolonged cold, some inmates developed tuberculosis . In January 1941 the 114 internees were distributed to other camps. The camp was later reactivated to accommodate Yugoslavs .

During the Second World War , Foligno was an important military base with an airport, barracks, military school and companies in the aviation industry. Foligno was then called "Citta Aeronautica". Today, the Centro Nazionale di Selezione e Reclutamento Foligno, founded on October 1, 1996, is located in Foligno .

Foligno was also badly damaged by the earthquake on September 26, 1997, which hit large parts of Umbria . While Assisi, 17 kilometers away , was restored at great expense, the consequences of the earthquake were visible for many years in Foligno as well as in the surrounding area.

Culture and sights

Duomo San Feliciano
Santa Maria Infraportas
Church of San Paolo Apostolo by the architect Fuksas

The place is known for its art treasures. The churches of Santa Maria Infraportas and San Francesco have valuable frescoes , and Raphael's “ Madonna of Foligno ”, which has been in the Vatican Museums since 1816 , is famous; A copy can be seen today in the cathedral of Foligno.

San Feliciano Cathedral

The small town is best known for its San Feliciano Cathedral , which was completed in 1113. It is located in the central square of the city, the Piazza della Repubblica , but it is not immediately recognizable as a large church: a palace was built on the area between the transept and the main facade, which is in the alignment of the two facades and like part of the church works. In terms of art history, it is not the main facade that is of interest, but the south facade facing the square. This transept was added at the end of the 12th century.

The central rose window , with its double columns in the outer and the twisted columns in the inner wreath, is one of the most beautiful rose windows in Umbria, which has no shortage of rose windows. The south portal from 1201 is framed by five circumferential three-dimensional, flat-stepped decorative arches.

Santa Maria Infraportas

A few hundred meters to the southwest is the even older, small church of Santa Maria Infraportas from the 11th and 12th centuries. The level of today's road surface is almost a meter higher. It still has frescoes from the time it was built.

San Paolo Apostolo: Church dedicated to the memory of the victims of the earthquake

On April 24, 2009, a new church building by the architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas was inaugurated in Foligno. It should remember the victims of the earthquake. In interaction with the material of the new building and its exposed concrete, the external shape is more reminiscent of the brutalism of the 1950s and 1960s. Inside the church there is a wide interior space that seems to float in the church and covers the altar. The incident daylight in the roof of the outer skin promotes the plasticity of this floating cube and places it in the center of attention.

Centro Italiano Arte Contemporanea

The center for contemporary art “Centro Italiano Arte Contemporanea” (CIAC), which opened in 2009, has over 2000 square meters of exhibition space and presents artists such as Alberto Burri , Piero Manzoni and Jannis Kounellis in its opening exhibition . The windowless, with Corten steel clad CIAC stands in the middle of the historic center in Via del Campanile 13.

Abbazia di Sassovivo

Abbazia di Sassovivo

Very close to Foligno, on a mountain, is the abbey of Sassovivo, founded around 1000, to which a beautiful little mountain road leads up. This monastery is still inhabited by monks, but you can visit the cloister, through which the complex has achieved a certain fame.

This cloister was built by Pietro De Maria in 1229. It is comparable to some Roman cloisters. The stone carvings for the individual parts of the 128 small columns and 58 arches were also carried out in Rome. Pietro De Maria was assisted by several stonemasons, including Nicola Vassaletto, master of the cloisters of San Paolo fuori le mura and San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome.

Twin cities

sons and daughters of the town

Altar retable by Nicolò Alunno from 1492 in the Chiesa di San Nicolò in Foligno

literature

Web links

Commons : Foligno  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • umbriatourism.it: Foligno , pictures and interesting facts (German)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ↑ Carlo Spartaco Capogreco: I Campi del duce. L'internamento civile nell'Italia fascista (1940-1943). Einaudi, Torino 2004, pp. 195-196.
  3. ↑ In January 2014, the original returned to its old place in the Sant'Anna monastery for a week, see Foligno è in paradiso. Dopo due secoli ritrova la sua Madonna .