Umbria and Bethlehem

Country: Italy
Date of Agreement:10 October 1997
Name of President: Maria Rita Larnzetti
Tel: 00390755722479
Fax: 00390755721234
Address: Region of Umbria - Perugia, Palazzo Donini

Umbria, is an administrative region in central Italy. Perugia is the capital. The terrain is generally hilly, with the Apennines passing through the eastern part of the region. The principal rivers are the Tiber and Nera. Umbria is a productive agricultural region; grain, grapes, and olives are leading crops, and livestock raising is important. A hydroelectric project at Terni on the Nera supplies power for much of the region's industry. Manufactures include chemicals, textiles, and metal products. The name of the region is taken from the Umbrians, a people who settled here about 600 BC.

Umbria is one of the Italian locations, along with Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples most loved and visited by people all over the world. The incomparable natural and artistic beauty, the historical treasures scattered all around, the numerous international cultural events, the folklore and the traditions that preserve highly meaningful and poetic images of the genuinely hard working and friendly inhabitants, give everyone the opportunity to see the human values of peace, serenity, personal reflection and human interaction. History, faith, art and nature have given the Region local titles that appear everywhere: "The Heart of Italy", "Green Umbria", "Land of Peace", Mystical Umbria", "Land of Artists and Warriors", "A Region Fit for People".

The Heart of Italy

Umbria is truly the heart of Italy both because of its geographical position and because of characteristics that epitomise the whole nation. The Region, with just over 831 thousand inhabitants, extends over an area of only 8,546 square km, and 92 communities form a dense urban fabric. The territory, mostly hilly and mountainous, offers a large variety of geographical and picturesque characteristics with successive mountain chains, plateaus and plains, continuously increasing in altitude and extending across the Region from West to East. The population is well distributed throughout the region; there are no metropolitan centres-even Perugia, the regional capital, contains only 160 thousand inhabitants-and there are no abandoned or uninhabited areas. The short distances between the cities, thanks to the small size of the territory, facilitate connections and contacts. The centre of activity of the Region is a cluster of independent cities that were already solidly established in antiquity. Bound to the land, all of Umbria is in a sense one city, thanks to the number of small town centres that all have similar features and are united by the same historical and artistic elements.

The abundance of water and forests gives the Region its characteristic greenness. In fact, Umbria can boast that trees cover 30.5 percent of its land. The wooded mantle is enriched by particular plants (holm-oak, pine, cypress, bitter oak, chestnut, fir) that give it a green appearance all year around.

In Umbria there is only one river basin, the Tiber, which runs with many twists and turns from the North to the South. Hills and mountains contain the Umbrian plains levelled out the bottom of an extinct lake and furrowed by numerous streams, tributaries and sub-tributaries of the Tiber: the Chiascio, the Clitunno, the Topino, the Velino, the Nera, the Paglia. The water has become a fundamental element of the life and the economy of the Region: one need only think about the numerous bodies and sources of water to understand why-Lake Trasimeno, the Marmore Waterfall, the Clitunno Spring, the great watery plains of Colfiorito, the Corbara Well, Lake Piediluco, and the numerous natural springs (Sangemini, Fabia, Flaminia, Nocera Umbra, Motette, Tullia, Amerino, San Faustino, Santoraggio, Fontecchio).

The name "Umbria" derives from the Latin words "Imber" (lodge) and "Umbra" (shadow) and reflects the sprit of the Umbrian people who prefer places shaded by forest and rich in water. The Umbrians have been attached to this region from ancient times and are themselves integrated with many other inhabitants of Central Italy (the Etruscans and the Romans), developing a balanced human growth.

Umbria is a Region dotted with cities, all of which boast of Saints: St. Valentino of Terni, St. Giovenale of Narni, St. Rita of Cascia, St. Benedict and St. Scolastica of Norica, the Blessed Angelo of Gualdo, St. Ubaldo of Gubbio, St. Florido and St. Veronica Giuliani of the City of Castello, St. Costanzo and St. Lorenzo of Perugia, St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi, and St. Fortunato of Todi. These are just a few of the most renowned. Given this reality, some have affirmed that Umbria is the land of the Saints. In general, this is a difficult assertion to make; however there are two cases that justify this characterisation: St. Benedict of Norica and St. Francis of Assisi.

Benedict of Norica (480-547) was the founder of Western Monasticism, the leader of a movement that in the fourth to ninth centuries influenced all of the European Continent with the essence of his way of life "ora et labora": continuous attention to God and generous dedication to concerns of the world. In the period of a few centuries the territory of Umbria saw a surge in the number of Benedictine Monastic settlements, the presence of which had an effect upon the culture. St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) in the thirteenth century became a point of reference for an evangelical life of simplicity and poverty. His message of love of God, people and all creatures spread everywhere and in this way was a positive influence not only in the history and religious life of Umbria, but also for social and artistic life in Italy and Europe.

Romanesque churches, gothic cathedrals, basilicas, ancient palaces, Umbrian, Etruscan, and Roman ruins, and scattered monuments in almost every community are today still a testimony to the great artistic richness of this Region which, particularly from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries, produced immortal masterpieces.

On a wave of great religious fervour and influenced above all by Franciscanism, artists from all over Italy came to Umbria to work and hence created an artistic school with their extraordinary works of art.

Leaders of the artistic movement, some famous and other less so, came here with whole studios, to paint frescos in the churches and palaces. Initially Roman, Florentine (e.g. Cimabue, Giotto) and Sienese (e.g. Lorenzetti, Martini) artists made unique works and frescos cycles, assisted by local artists who, because of their skill, themselves reached the pinnacle of Italian Renaissance painting. Then, in the second half of the 1400s, Umbrian painting was born and represented by the illustrious Perugino and then by Pinturicchio, Brother Bevignate of Perugia, Gattapone of Amelia, Niccolo Alunno, Tiberio of Assisi, Dono Doni and Pomarancio, all of whom formed a large circle of artists who, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, produced important works of art in all of the Region.

Land of Warriors

The characteristics of the Umbrian people, meek, silent, peaceful, do not seem to correspond with the existence of violent figures who believed only in power and money. Thus the Region has seen the flourishing of the "Master of Ventura", who lived sometime between the end of the 1300s and the beginning of the 1500s. In a climate of perpetual rivalry and conflicts of interests between the cities, lords and local powers made war the mirror of their virtue, spreading blood and terror and putting themselves at the service of whoever would quench their thirst for fame and wealth. The most famous of these were Braccio of Montone, Erasmo of Narni-also known as Gattamelata, Niccolo Piccinino, Jacopo Piccinino, Bartolomeo of Alviano and Todi, Boldrino Passeri of Panicale. The existence of these figures did not leave a profound impact on the character of Umbria. In fact peace is a distinct characteristic of the Region. In our own time, in 1961, the philosopher Aldo Capitini, recalling Franciscan teachings, created the "Peace March from Perugia to Assisi" to awaken world public awareness to this great cause that is peace.

Today Umbria presents itself as a Region fit for people, that is, a territory in which the present and the past coexist harmoniously and peacefully. The even distribution of its centres of living, a mild and diverse environment which is to a large extent unpolluted, the cultural liveliness, and the generous and hospitable friendliness of the inhabitants help Umbria to easily fit the definition of a Region Fit for People.

The Umbrian economy is based on the strength of four specific sections: manufacturing (steel, engineering, chemical, foodstuffs), handicrafts (textile, clothing, wood, ceramics), agricultural (grapes, olives, wheat, tobacco), and tourism (cultural, conventions, environmental, agro-tourism). The economy also brings a quality of balance, order and composure to the land: past, present and future mix harmoniously without causing rifts.Some years ago, an authoritative work of research by the University of Kentucky in the USA proposed that Umbria is among one of the best places in the world where one can find the highest quality of life. The Umbrian population knows how to harmonize the best parts of ancient civilizations with original and positive elements of progress.