Temple of Clitumnus

A real puzzle for scholars and enthusiasts alike, it does not match any of the ancient buildings mentioned by the Latin poets. Considered one of the most interesting early medieval monuments in Umbria, it is included in the list of the seven jewels of Longobard architecture in Italy, UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011. “One building, many stories”, one could say, an extraordinary elegance despite the different construction stages and the broad array of reused materials from the ancient sacred buildings linked to the cult of the god Clitumnus and other deities. It is a small jewel laden with mystery. Arriving at its feet, we see it lying on its high podium, embraced by a small spur of rock, collected and accomplished in an extraordinarily minute and harmonious dimension. The building is on two levels: the first, at ground level, hides and protects a rock from which, according to some scholars, it is likely to imagine that a spring water spring gushed out and from which the sacellum, still remembered in the 16th century during pastoral visits as “Ecclesia S.ti Salvatoris de piscina”, took its name. In the second, the presence of a continuous entablature, which embraces the entire monument, reveals the intention to formally and ideally stitch the new parts to the original structure. Inside there is a suffused and evocative atmosphere: ancient images recall an arcane mysticism. Over time, many hypotheses have been put forward regarding the origin and dating, only recently limited to the Longobard era, between the beginning of the 7th and 8th centuries.