Destination Gems – TIS 2 – July 4, 2010
TODI
- Todi is a town in the central region of Umbria in the province of Perugia and is located at an elevation of 410 mt (1,345 ft) above sea level. It has a population of about 17,000 people.
- Tuderte people: tall, dark and handsome with very dark hair and eyes as, it seems, the Umbrian tribe people of ancient times used to have.
- Truly beautiful
- Foundation goes back to the Umbrians in about 800 BC then the Etruscans took over and then the Romans
- In the 13th century – the medieval beautiful walls of about 2.5 miles were built then and, for the most part, still stand today.
- In the 14th century it became a free Comune (city-state) and pretty soon was part of the “kingdom” known as “Stati della Chiesa”, those Italian regions in the center of Italy belonging to the Papacy.
- Todi took part in the Italian wars of independence in the 19th century and even gave shelter to the Italian carismatic military leader Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Todi and the region of Umbria became then part of the newly formed Italian kingdom in the late 19th century.
- Nowadays it is a rich and beautiful hill town which enjoys a good amount of prosperity
- One of the most important natives of this blessed town was Jacopo Benedetti better known as Jacopone da Todi (1236-1306). This interesting person was a notary public who married the beautiful Vanna, daughter of the Count of Coldimezzo. Vanna died during the collapse of the floor on which she was standing during a party. Jacopo was immensely distressed by the death of his beautiful and young wife and for 10 years he wandered around in a state of mental confusion until finally he became a Franciscan friar. He was not however too meek a friar! On the contrary he embarked on a personal crusade against vice and corruption using at times violent methods and words. He often took up arms for one cause or another and also landed in jail. He finally had some peace when he took shelter in the Convent of Collazzone where he eventually died on the night of 25th December 1306. The decision to become a friar had been motivated by the discovery of a cilicio (a “hair-cloth” or a tool for self-torment for religious purposes) on the body of his dead wife. A discovery which proved the great religious faith of the young woman. Jacopone is known for some of the best and earliest “Italian” literature texts (the Laudi or “Praises” of God – echoing the similar “chanticles” of Saint Francis of Assisi) which were produced in the language, Italian in fact, actually spoken by the people in the streets and not in Latin, the language used by the “intelligentsia” of those days. Jacopone, preceded even Dante Alighieri as one of the first “literati” who dared to use Italian as the language of poetry.
- In Todi, to this day, still stand some of the best preserved medieval buildings in all of Italy. The most interesting part of the town is Piazza del Popolo at the top of the hill where you can go and admire the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta built in the 11th century and destroyed by a fire in 1190 and immediately rebuilt.
- In the piazza you can also admire two beautiful medieval palaces: the Palazzo del Capitano (the Captain’s Palace) and the Palazzo dei Priori (the Magistrates’ Palace). The first used to be the building where the military leader of the city would reside and the latter was the seat of the Todi government during medieval and later times. Two other palaces are in this piazza: the Palazzo Vescovile (Bishop’s Palace) to the left of the cathedral and the residence of the local bishop; the Palazzo del Popolo (the People’s Palace) which was also for a time the seat of the government and is one of the oldest “communal” palaces in Italy: it was built in 1213.
- to get a true feeling of this old town you can take some of the walks designed by local enthusiastic citizens, of which we have the detailed itineraries at the Bella Italia Center.
- An interesting ancient structure is also the Fontana Scarnabecco (fountain and water hole) which originally (1250 AD) was built with 7 beautiful slim columns in Romanesque style as a place for horses to drink and later was also used by the local ”washerwomen” who congregated there to wash dirty clothes but also to meet and gossip in the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th centuries but… even in the early 20th century. I love walking all over the most ancient parts of Todi and there, often, I feel just like I do in Pompeii, that I magically returned back in time, hundreds of years. That feeling is unique and somehow soothes my soul and body.
- A very interesting church is the church of San Fortunato. This is a Gothic style building built by the Franciscans in 1292. This church is one of my favorites in that it is one the most simple religious buildings in Italy and, in my humble opinion, what a religious place of prayer should be all about.
Best restaurants:
One of the best restaurants in the area is the “Umbria”. Perhaps not the best in absolute as far as food is concerned but certainly the one with the best views of the Umbrian countryside below.
A restaurant I also like and with less expensive prices (remember I am a frugal Genoese) is called “Le Scalette” (the little stairs) because you walk down a few steps to enter this place. It is located on the other side of the hill with views almost as beautiful as those from the Umbria restaurant.
Another great restaurant located near Piazza del Popolo is the “Ristorante Jacopone”.
Finally another excellent restaurant is the one located inside the Hotel Fonte Cesia. This hotel was recently built using ancient walls and modern techniques by a native of Todi who emigrated to Germany many decades before and made good there. Indeed very good! When he left Todi he had zero money but knew how to cook and how to make good pizza. He started a pizza shop in Germany that soon multiplied and eventually this man became a multi-millionaire. In his late 50s he then sold his interest in his businesses in Germany and returned to his native Todi with quite a few millions of dollars in his pockets and decided to build a beautiful hotel, in fact the “Fonte Cesia”.
