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58-642: In Italy, the Grechetto grape is found in DOCs of the central region-most notably Umbria 's Orvieto and Tuscany Foiano region as well as the DOCs Valdichiana Toscana , DOCs of Torgiano and Colli Martani . The grape has been developing more of a presence in the area as winemakers are finding more potential in the grape than in the other main Umbria white grape varieties - Drupeggio and Trebbiano . In Lazio ,

116-550: A study abroad program with the University of Arizona founded by archaeologist David Soren . Orvieto is twinned with: Medieval commune Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense (both physical defense and of traditional freedoms) among the citizens of a town or city. These took many forms and varied widely in organization and makeup. Communes are first recorded in

174-602: A synonym with a similar name, the grape is of no relation to the Greco bianco grape of the Calabria region. Orvieto Orvieto ( Italian: [orˈvjɛːto] ) is a city and comune in the Province of Terni , southwestern Umbria , Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff . The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are completed by defensive walls built of

232-505: A temple known by the Latin name Augurale . Originally known as the Rocca di San Martino, construction on this massive fortress started either in 1359 or 1353 near the town's cemetery. Its aim was to provide the church a secure site in the city and allow the cardinal and his captains to consolidate recent military victories. In its original square plan the fortress was flanked by a small building near

290-510: A tradition. He was rewarded by the Orvietans by being elected Podestà and Capitano del Popolo, the first pope to hold civic offices in the city. His successor Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303) continued the papal tie to Orvieto. Although often criticized by historians for nepotism and greed, the Orvietans were recipients of the pope's generosity, and honored Boniface by electing him city Capitano and Podestà in 1297 and Capitano again in 1298. He built

348-467: A volcanic rock, the city was virtually impregnable. After the collapse of the Roman Empire its defensible site gained new importance: the episcopal seat was transferred from Bolsena , and the city was held by Goths and by Lombards before its self-governing commune was established in the tenth century, in which consuls governed under a feudal oath of fealty to the bishop. Orvieto's relationship to

406-739: Is common, community, state), substantive noun from communis (common). Ultimately, the Proto-Indo-European root is *mey- (to change, exchange). When autonomy was won through violent uprising and overthrow, the commune was often called conspiratio (a conspiracy) ( Italian : cospirazione ). During the 10th century in several parts of Western Europe , peasants began to gravitate towards walled population centers, as advances in agriculture (the three-field system ) resulted in greater productivity and intense competition. In central and northern Italy , and in Provence and Septimania , most of

464-599: The Chapel of San Brizio is frescoed by Fra Angelico and with Luca Signorelli 's masterpiece, his Last Judgment (1449–51). The Corporal of Bolsena , on view in the Duomo , dates from a eucharistic miracle in Bolsena in 1263, when a consecrated host began to bleed onto a corporal, the small cloth upon which the host and chalice rest during the canon of the Mass. From the 11th century onward,

522-583: The Holy Roman Empire , the emperors always had to face struggles with other powerful players: the land princes on the one hand, but also the cities and communes on the other hand. The emperors thus invariably fought political (not always military) battles to strengthen their position and that of the imperial monarchy. In the Golden Bull of 1356 , emperor Charles IV outlawed any conjurationes, confederationes , and conspirationes , meaning in particular

580-555: The Papal States (various dates are quoted). It remained a papal possession until 1860, when it was annexed to unified Italy . On 15 November 1290, Pope Nicholas IV laid the cornerstone for the present building and dedicated it to the Assumption of the Virgin, a feast for which the city had a long history of special devotion. The design has often been attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio , but

638-495: The Peace and Truce of God movement, for example. Some communes disrupted the order of medieval society in that the methods the commune used, eye for an eye , violence begets violence, were generally not acceptable to Church or King. There was an idea among some that communes threatened the medieval social order. Only the noble lords were allowed by custom to fight, and ostensibly the merchant townspeople were workers, not warriors. As such,

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696-538: The Rhineland . Other towns were simply market villages, local centers of exchange. Such townspeople needed physical protection from lawless nobles and bandits, part of the motivation for gathering behind communal walls, but also strove to establish their liberties , the freedom to conduct and regulate their own affairs and security from arbitrary taxation and harassment from the bishop, abbot, or count in whose jurisdiction these obscure and ignoble social outsiders lay. This

754-645: The Walser also is related. Pyrenean villages such as Vicdessos , in common with many other montane communities, enjoyed far greater liberties than those enjoyed in the north of France. The Counts of Foix granted these villages charters recognising their right to governance and both civil and criminal justice administered by their own consuls, and exemption from fees on the use of forests, waters, mines, pastures, mountains, meadows and tolls on trading with other villages. They even successfully won their case against payment of taxes to King Philip IV of France . The Vallée d'Aspe

812-596: The leagues of towns but also the rural communal leagues that had sprung up. Most leagues of towns were subsequently dissolved, sometimes forcibly, and where refounded, their political influence was much reduced. Nevertheless, some of these communes (as Frankfurt , Nuremberg , Hamburg ) were able to survive in Germany for centuries and became almost independent city-state vassals to the Holy Roman Emperors (see Free imperial city ). Anarchist Peter Kropotkin argued that

870-629: The Byzantine Empire in the Fourth Crusade ). Cities such as Florence, Parma , Ferrara , Verona , Padua , Lucca , Siena , Mantua and others were able to create stable states at the expenses of their neighbors, some of which lasted until modern times. In southern Italy , which then formed the Kingdom of Sicily , autonomous communes were rarer, Republic of Sassari in Sardinia being one example. In

928-510: The Coriglia excavation site, just outside town. The underground city boasts more than 1200 tunnels, galleries, wells, stairs, quarries, cellars, unexpected passageways, cisterns, superimposed rooms with numerous small square niches for pigeon roosts, detailing its creation over the centuries. Many of the homes of noble families were equipped with a means of escape from the elevated city during times of siege through secret escape tunnels carved from

986-677: The Italian ones. Only a few of these medieval rural communes ever attained imperial immediacy , where they would have been subject only to the king or emperor; most still remained subjects of some more or less distant liege . During the 11th century in northern Italy a new political and social structure emerged. In most places where communes arose (e.g. France , Britain and Flanders ), they were absorbed by monarchical states. But in northern and central Italy, some medieval communes developed into independent and powerful city-states . The breakaway from their feudal overlords by these communes occurred in

1044-464: The Orvieto Cannicella necropolis bears the inscription mi aviles katacinas , "I am of Avile Katacina"; the tomb's occupant thus bore an Etruscan-Latin first name, Aulus , and a family name that is believed to be of Celtic origin (derived from "Catacos"). This interesting artifact might show the complexity of ethnic relations in ancient Italy, and how such relations could be peaceful. Also in

1102-625: The Studium Curiae of Orvieto. Pope Nicholas V (1447–55) gave support to the city. In a letter of 1449, the pope gave money for the restoration of the episcopal palace that originally had been a project of Nicholas IV. He also allowed Fra Angelico to begin painting in the Cappella Nuova of the cathedral. During the sack of Rome in 1527 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V , Pope Clement VII took refuge at Orvieto. Fearing that in

1160-845: The Swiss Eidgenossenschaft , there were similar rural alpine communes in County of Tyrol , but these were destroyed by the House of Habsburg . Other such rural communes developed in the Graubünden , in the French Alps ( Republic of the Escartons or Briançonnais), in the Pyrenees , in northern France ( Roumare ), in northern Germany ( Frisia and Dithmarschen ), and also in Sweden and Norway. The colonization of

1218-484: The Younger . The central well shaft was surrounded by ramps in a double helix , similar to Saladin's Well. These ramps were each designed for one-way traffic, so that mules laden with water-jars might pass down and then up unobstructed. An inscription on the well boasts that QUOD NATURA MUNIMENTO INVIDERAT INDUSTRIA ADIECIT ("what nature stinted for provision, application has supplied"). The city of Orvieto has long kept

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1276-465: The area is the Golini Tomb , which was constructed in the fourth century BCE. Its wall paintings depict a funeral banquet, giving some insight into the real-life gatherings held after the deaths of aristocratic Etruscans. The pictures include scenes of servants preparing for the feast in various ways. Orvieto was annexed by Rome in the third century BC. Because of its site on a high, steep bluff of tuff,

1334-760: The area. The Grechetto vine is low yielding and able to produce concentrated flavors. The grape is primarily used as a blending grape where it adds richness and structure to the wines. It is most often blended with Chardonnay, Trebbiano, Malvasia and Verdello. In Umbria, Grechetto can add herbal and nutty flavors to the wine. Grechetto is also known under the synonyms Greca del Piemonte, Grecherello, Grechetto bianco, Grechetto di Todi, Grechetto Nostrale, Greco, Greco bianco di Perugia, Greco Gentile, Greco Spoletino, Montanarino Bianco, Montanaro, Occhietto, Pignoletto, Pistillo, Pizzinculo, Pocinculo, Pulce, Pulcincolo, Pulcinculo bianco, Pulcinculu, Pulcinella, Stroppa Volpe, Strozza Volpe, Strozzavolpe, and Uva di San Marino. Despite having

1392-411: The building and design a façade. He enlarged the choir and planned a transept with two chapels (c. 1308–1330), spaces that were not finished until long after his death. The cathedral has five bells, tuned in E flat, which date back to the renaissance. The façade ( illustration above ) is particularly striking and includes some remarkable sculpture by Lorenzo Maitani (14th century). Inside the cathedral,

1450-532: The cities into self-governing corporations. In most cases the development of communes was connected with that of the cities. However, there were rural communes, notably in France and England, that formed to protect the common interests of villagers. At their heart, communes were sworn allegiances of mutual defense. When a commune formed, all participating members gathered and swore an oath in a public ceremony, promising to defend each other in times of trouble, and to maintain

1508-578: The city by Pope Gregory IX in 1236. After teaching in Orvieto, Aquinas was called to Rome in 1265 to serve as papal theologian to the newly elected Pope Clement IV , and as Regent master of the Santa Sabina studium provinciale , the forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum . The territory of Orvieto was under papal control long before it was officially added to

1566-537: The city would be sufficiently supplied with water in the event of a siege, he gave orders for the digging of the now famous artesian well Pozzo di San Patrizio (1528–1537). For added security, the pope ordered that a second well be dug to supply the fortress alone. The Orvieto funicular provides a link from Orvieto to the historic city centre. Since December 2016, Orvieto station has been served by Austrian railways ÖBB overnight sleeper services to Munich and Vienna. Alongside Saint Anselm College, Orvieto also hosts

1624-413: The city, which was at the apogée of its wealth but found itself often at odds with the papacy, even under interdict . Pope Urban IV stayed at Orvieto from 1262 to 1264. The city became one of the major cultural centers of its time when Thomas Aquinas taught at the studium there. A small university (now part of the University of Perugia ), had its origins in a studium generale that was granted to

1682-463: The communal movement mainly manifested itself in parishes, craftsmen's and merchants' guilds and monasteries. State officialdom expanded in England and France from the 12th century onwards, while the Holy Roman Empire was ruled by communal coalitions of cities, knights, farmer republics, prince-bishops and the large domains of the imperial lords. In eastern Europe, the splintering of Kievan Rus' allowed

1740-418: The end of the 13th century. Its municipal institutions already recognized in a papal bull of 1157, from 1201 Orvieto governed itself through a podestà , who was as often as not the bishop, however, acting in concert with a military governor, the "captain of the people". The city was divided into four rione or districts: Serancia, San Giovenale, Postierla, and Santa pace. In the 13th century bitter feuds divided

1798-518: The event of siege by Charles's troops the city's water might prove insufficient, he commissioned a spectacular 62 meter deep well , the Pozzo di San Patrizio or "Well of St. Patrick". This Italian name, inspired by medieval legends that St. Patrick's Purgatory in Ireland gave access down to Purgatory , was used to indicate something very deep. The construction was by the architect-engineer Antonio da Sangallo

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1856-529: The formation of veche communes like the Novgorod Republic (1136-1478) and the Pskov Republic (1348-1510). One in four urban communities in France were under the administration of mayors and échevins (Northern France) or consuls and jurats (Southern France) by 1300, and this number increased rapidly in the next 2 centuries due to the financial demands of city wall-building. Many were granted

1914-536: The grape is found in the Cervaro region where the Antinori family has actively promoted its Cervaro blend of Grechetto and Chardonnay. The thick skin of Grechetto grapes allows the grape to be harvested late with high sugar levels. This works well in the production of dessert wines . There are at least two sub-varieties of Grechetto-Grechetto di Todi and Grechetto Spoletino with the former being more widely planted in

1972-576: The independent legislative assemblies in the Valley of Cauterets , or the Vallée d'Azun. These communities, called beziau , signed treaties with other villages generally meant to govern access to pastures. Some Southern-European medieval communes were influenced by the Italian precedent, but many northern ones (and even the Swiss communes north of Gotthard Pass) may well have developed concurrently and independently from

2030-539: The late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread phenomenon. They had greater development in central-northern Italy , where they became city-states based on partial democracy . At the same time in Germany they became free cities , independent from local nobility. The English and French word "commune" ( Italian : comune ) appears in Latin records in various forms. They come from Medieval Latin communia , plural form of commune (that which

2088-721: The late 12th century and 13th century, during the Investiture Controversy between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor . Milan led the Lombard cities against the Holy Roman Emperors and defeated them, gaining independence ( battles of Legnano , 1176, and Parma , 1248). Meanwhile, the republics of Venice , Pisa and Genoa were able to conquer their naval empires on the Mediterranean sea (in 1204 Venice conquered three-eights of

2146-432: The main entrance and surrounded by a moat, crossed by a drawbridge. However, the Rocca was almost completely razed to the ground in 1395 and successive attempts to rebuild it were unsuccessful. The fortress was finally rebuilt during the mid-15th century, using original plans and an additional circular line of fortifications. After the sack of Rome at the end of 1527 Pope Clement VII took refuge in Orvieto. To ensure that

2204-485: The nobility and the clergy sometimes accepted communes, but other times did not. One of the most famous cases of a commune being suppressed and the resulting defiant urban revolt occurred in the French town of Laon in 1112. The development of medieval rural communes arose more from a need to collaborate to manage the commons than out of defensive needs. In times of a weak central government, communes typically formed to ensure

2262-543: The old Roman cities had survived—even if grass grew in their streets—largely as administrative centers for a diocese or for the local representative of a distant kingly or imperial power. In the Low Countries , some new towns were founded upon long-distance trade, where the staple was the woolen cloth-making industry. The sites for these ab ovo towns, more often than not, were the fortified burghs of counts, bishops or territorial abbots. Such towns were also founded in

2320-473: The other two. The urban communes were a break in this order. The Church and King both had mixed reactions to communes. On the one hand, they agreed safety and protection from lawless nobles was in everyone's best interest. The commune's intention was to keep the peace through the threat of revenge, and the Church was sympathetic to the end result of peace. However, the Church had its own ways to enforce peace, such as

2378-496: The papacy has been a close one; in the tenth century Pope Benedict VII visited the city of Orvieto with his nephew, Filippo Alberici, who later settled there and became Consul of the city-state in 1016. By the thirteenth century, three papal palaces had been built. Orvieto, sitting on its impregnable rock controlling the road between Florence and Rome where it crossed the Chiana, was a large town: its population numbered about 30,000 at

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2436-516: The papal city. Urban IV with the Bolla Transiturus established and promulgated in 1264 from Orvieto to the Christian universe the solemnity of Corpus Domini which the entire Catholic world celebrates. Supporting pillars of the institution of the universal Christian Eucharistic solemnity were Saints Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, who together with Hugues de St-Cher were readers in

2494-401: The peace within the city proper. The commune movement started in the 10th century, with a few earlier ones like Forlì (possibly 889), and gained strength in the 11th century in northern Italy , which had the most urbanized population of Europe at the time. It then spread in the early 12th century to France , Germany , Spain and elsewhere. The English state was already very centralized, so

2552-412: The pettiest levels, but once a townsman left the city walls, he (for women scarcely travelled) was at the mercy of often violent and lawless nobles in the countryside. Because much of medieval Europe lacked central authority to provide protection, each city had to provide its own protection for citizens - both inside the city walls, and outside. Thus towns formed communes which were a legal basis for turning

2610-453: The popes maintained political presence in the papal territory which occupied central Italy. Together with his court, the pope moved from palace to palace in the manner of his European secular counterparts. Several central Italian cities hosted the pope and his retinue during the years of wandering, housing them in the bishop's palace. Outside Rome, only Orvieto and Viterbo (and eventually Avignon ) had papal palaces. Pope Adrian IV (1154–59)

2668-415: The prevailing modern opinion is that the master mason was an obscure monk named Fra' Bevignate from Perugia. The church is striped in white travertine and greenish-black basalt in narrow bands, similar in many ways to the cathedral of Siena and other central Italian cathedrals of that era. In the following decade, cathedral authorities called Sienese architect and sculptor Lorenzo Maitani to stabilize

2726-476: The rights to assembly, and executive power was often concentrated in one elected official, the mayor or first consul, with an advisory body of conseils . Election was often restricted to the wealthy local merchant elite. In medieval Spain, urban communities were self-governing through their concejo abierto or open council of property-owners. The larger towns delegated authority to regidores (town councillors) and alcaldes (law officers), who managed

2784-527: The safety on the roads through their territory to enable commerce ( Landfrieden ). One of the more successful of these medieval communities was the one in the alpine valleys north of the Gotthard Pass . This later resulted in the formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy . The Swiss had numerous written acts of alliance: for each new canton that joined the confederacy, a new contract was written. Besides

2842-471: The same stone. The ancient city ( urbs vetus in Latin, whence "Orvieto"), populated since Etruscan times, has usually been associated with Etruscan Velzna , but some modern scholars differ. Orvieto was certainly a major centre of Etruscan civilization ; the archaeological museum (Museo Claudio Faina e Museo Civico) houses some of the Etruscan artifacts that have been recovered in the immediate area. A tomb in

2900-425: The secret of its labyrinth of caves and tunnels that lie beneath the surface. Dug deep into the tuff , a volcanic rock, these secret hidden tunnels are now open to view only through guided tours. Their spectacular nature has also yielded many historical and archeological finds. Saint Anselm College has set up a program where each summer, students travel to Italy to work at the college's archaeology site located at

2958-531: The soft rock. The tunnels would lead from the city palazzo to emerge at a safe exit point some distance away from city walls. In Piazza Cahen stands the Fortezza dell'Albornoz. It was built by order of the Spanish Cardinal Albornoz under orders from Pope Innocent VI and designed by condottiero and military engineer Ugolino di Montemarte. The Albornoz fortress stands on an area that was once occupied by

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3016-582: The third and final papal palace, the Palazzo Soliano . He also donated statues of himself at the main city gates, which earned him some criticism from his many enemies. Benedict XI (1288–1305) was the last pope to live in Italy before the Avignon papacy. During the years from Nicholas IV until Benedict XI Orvieto hosted the pope more frequently than Rome, and discussions continued as to whether or not Rome should remain

3074-610: The town and the surrounding lands as one communidad . After the Middle Ages, selection of officials was changed from election to sortition, in order to resolve factional conflict. In Cantabria, seafaring towns led by Burgos formed the Hermandad de las Marismas (Marsh brotherhood), an organisation similar to the Hanseatic league . In the 1470s the Santa Hermandad or Holy Brotherhood

3132-419: Was a long process of struggling to obtain charters that guaranteed such basics as the right to hold a market. Such charters were often purchased at exorbitant rates, or granted, not by the local power, but by a king or by the emperor , who came to hope to enlist the towns as allies in order to centralize power. The walled city provided protection from direct assault at the price of corporate interference on

3190-585: Was another medieval Pyrenean republic, based in Accous and under the suzerainty of the Viscounts of Bearn. The rights of the republic was confirmed by King Louis XIII when he united Bearn to France. These communities thrived in natural isolation and lack of seigneurial interest in interference, particularly in the Western Pyrenees such as the Vallée d'Aspe (governed by their own jurats ), Vallée d'Ossau , as well as

3248-612: Was crowned in the Dominican church in Viterbo and who spent most of his papacy in Orvieto, also left important legacies in the city. In 1263, he began a papal palace, perhaps the first outside Rome, and consecrated the new Dominican church in Orvieto . The Pope Nicholas IV (1288–92) chose Orvieto over his hometown of Rome as seat of the Curia in 1291–92, establishing the meeting of the Curia in Orvieto as

3306-418: Was formed, in which all municipalities sent representatives to a junta general which would coordinate law enforcement to protect trade. According to Adalberon , society was composed of the three orders : those who fight (the nobles), those who pray (the clergy), and those who work (the peasants). In theory, this was a balance between spiritual and secular peers, with the third order providing labour for

3364-558: Was the first pope to spend significant time in Orvieto. His successor, Pope Innocent III (1198–1216), was a militant opponent of the Cathar heresy, which had infiltrated the city, and took measures to eradicate that heresy. In 1227, Pope Gregory IX confirmed the Dominican studium generale in Orvieto, a school of theology, and one of the first in Europe. Pope Urban IV (1261–64), a Frenchman who

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