THE ROMAN BATHS
The Roman baths, forming part of the town’s Museum Circuit, are perfectly preserved examples of a public complex dating back to the second century AD, part of the Roman municipium of Mevania, built along the western branch of the Via Flaminia, which in the urban stretch runs along today’s Corso Amendola-Corso Matteotti. The thermal baths were first identified as early as the 17th century, when the large mosaic with sea creatures was also first documented. The thermal baths were located in the vicinity of the ‘cardo maximus’, the primary north–south road – which today runs through Porta Cannara, Piazza Garibaldi, Via Crescimbeni and Via Santa Margherita – connecting the town to the nearby cities of Spoleto and Perugia.
The main room, which can be considered the ‘frigidarium’, namely the cold room, one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath, is composed of marble-covered walls with niches, has a stunning mosaic floor consisting of black and white tesserae depicting mythological figures and marine world creatures, such as tritons and hippocampi, octopuses, dolphins and lobsters.
More recently, the ruins of rooms adjacent to the mosaic have been brought to light. Two chambers feature ‘suspensurae’ (piers of square bricks) and are most likely to be the ‘tepidarium’ (the great central hall around which all the other halls were grouped) and the ‘caldarium’ (a room with a hot plunge bath).
THE FRANCESCO TORTI THEATRE
Situated in Bevagna’s main square, Piazza F. Silvestri, the Francesco Torti Theatre forms part of the town’s museum circuit. Designed by the architect Antonio Martini and built in 1886 in the old Palazzo dei Consoli (the town hall until the earthquake of 1832), it was named after Francesco Torti, a literary critic from Bevagna. Many of the townspeople had strongly supported the construction of the theatre in 1871 by forming a promotion committee: the theatre was opened on the evening of 28 August 1886. With its 251 seats, it is one of the smallest theatres in the Umbria region, but is beautifully decorated and features some interesting 19th-century paintings. It has a horseshoe layout, three tiers of boxes and a gallery, while the parapets rest on cast-iron columns. The ceiling was painted by Mariano Piervittori and depicts the Muses performing a dance.
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Worthy of note was the original curtain made by Domenico Bruschi depicting Propertius showing Torti his homeland.
After being restored by the architect Bruno Salvatici and completed in 1994, the old curtain was replaced with a new one made by the local artist Luigi Frappi, showing the river Clitunno at dawn.
The coat of arms of Bevagna is placed above the proscenium. Depicting two keys and a Greek cross featuring the initials O.S.F., ‘Ob Servatam Fidem’, i.e. ‘For keeping and maintaining faith’, Pope Innocent VI donated it to the town of Bevagna in 1360 to express his gratitude for its loyalty to the Church.
THE CLOISTER OF SAN DOMENICO
The Cloister of San Domenico is located in the beautiful town centre of Bevagna. The entire convent complex and the church are built on the site of the old Oratorio di San Giorgio (St. George’s Oratory). Along with ancient Roman constructions – unknown at the time, but now believed to be the ruins of the emporium near the river port on the Clitunno – they were donated to Giacomo Bianconi by the Municipality of Bevagna in 1291, as a token of appreciation for having played a major role in the rebirth of the town in the wake of the siege of Frederick II.
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The building was modified sometime around the 17th century following the construction of the Cloister of Santi Domenico and Giacomo, which coincided with the beatification process of Giacomo Bianconi. Construction began in 1629 and ended in 1632, as evidenced by the inscription of these dates on two bricks that were placed between the portico and the loggia. It was not until eight years later, in 1640-1641, that the painting work was begun: it was commissioned to the painter Giovanni Battista Pacetti from Città di Castello, known as ‘Lo Sguazzino’, who depicted the key events in the life of the Blessed Giacomo in 26 lunettes. The Municipality of Bevagna, several wealthy local families and the guilds of the Arts of the Blessed Giacomo – comprising herders, tailors, cobblers, hemp growers, processors and sellers, rope and cord makers, packsaddle makers, masons, stone cutters and brick makers – made financial contributions for the frescoes and their coats of arms were placed in the lunettes.
The well from which, according to tradition, the Blessed Giacomo drew water and turned it into wine is still preserved on the right-hand side of the cloister at the far end, behind a grille.
Mid-14th century frescoes can still be admired in the chapter house.
THE PORT BUILDING
In Roman times, Bevagna had its own river port connecting it directly to Rome via the river Tiber – basically, a motorway that was ahead of its time – into which the Clitunno-Topino river system flows.
The rooms located beneath the former Dominican convent could be considered part of a large complex used for commercial purposes, overlooking the river port on one side and the Via Flaminia on the other, in the stretch that runs through the town of Bevagna.
These are the ruins of a building complex erected with an ancient Roman construction technique, the ‘opus mixtum’, consisting of a mix of ‘opus reticulatum’ (concrete facing) and ‘opus latericium’ (course-laid brickwork), which comprised various rooms, some of which still have original barrel-vaulted ceilings.
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The structure of this building extends into the adjoining vegetable garden and into the cellars of some houses in Via del Girone.
These findings are evidence of the extensive trading that took place at the port in the Augustan age, where products such as wheat, oil, and wine in particular, which was extremely prized in the capital of the Roman empire, were handled.
In fact, Bevagna was nestled in the heart of the Umbrian Valley, and its river port – near the Via Flaminia, which was built by the Roman consul Gaius Flaminius in 220 BC – served as an intermodal exchange hub between the various transport systems.
THE ‘ACCOLTA’
In this fluvial area, in the vicinity of the 15th-century fortified tower of the Molini gate, the river Clitunno forms a water reservoir – hence the name ‘Accolta’ (i.e. to receive) – by creating a weir so that the water falls freely to power the mill, which is no longer there.
Along this stretch of water is a long public wash house where women used to go to wash clothes up until not that many years ago.
The ‘Accolta’ can be seen from the bridge above it, built in 1872, which was blown up by retreating German troops during the Second World War. Today’s bridge is a reconstruction of the original bridge. The small customs houses, which can be seen at the end of the bridge, were also built in 1872 and were used by the town’s ‘portinari’ (doorkeepers) up until 1913.
