What is Lugnano in Teverina known for?

Romanesque parish church of 1230 in Tiber travertine, with cosmatesque pavement and a paired-column portico across the façade. Augustan Roman villa with a late-fifth-century infant cemetery of 47 burials, the largest of its kind in Roman Italy. World olive collection of 1,200 trees from 23 countries, planted in 2014 on the slopes below the centro storico.

Where is Lugnano in Teverina?

Lugnano in Teverina is a comune in the province of Terni, Umbria region of Italy, about 37 kilometers from Terni.

Umbria · Terni

Lugnano in Teverina

A ridge townabove the lower Tiber valley, with a 1230 Romanesque collegiata and a late-Roman infant cemetery on the hill below.

37 km / 23 mi

Nearest hub (Terni)

1,428

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Lugnano in Teverina sitson a ridge above the Tiber, sixty kilometers south of Perugia and twenty-five west of Terni. The town traces its origins to the seventh century, when inhabitants fleeing barbarian invasions sought refuge on the spur after the destruction of nearby Luchiano. The Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, dated 1230 on the inscription of its façade, is built in travertine from quarries by the Tiber, a Romanesque parish church layered over a Lombard-era predecessor, with a cosmatesque pavement and a portico of paired columns. On the hill below, the Villa Romana di Poggio Gramignano, built around the 10s BC, was excavated through the 1980s and again from 2016. Beneath its collapsed roof archaeologists found a late-fifth-century cemetery of 47 infant and fetal burials, the largest set of child burials in Roman Italy, interpreted as a catastrophic die-off from Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The Olea Mundi olive collection, planted in 2014, holds 1,200 trees from 23 countries.

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Gallery

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Known for

Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta
Romanesque parish church dated 1230 in travertine from Tiber quarries, with cosmatesque pavement and a paired-column portico.
Villa Romana di Poggio Gramignano
Augustan villa with a late-fifth-century cemetery of 47 infant burials, interpreted as a catastrophic malaria die-off.
Palazzo Farnese-Ridolfi
Sixteenth-century palace known as the Pennone for its mast-like profile rising above the lower town.
Convento di San Francesco
Franciscan convent at the edge of the borgo, restored and now a quiet stop on the Cammino dei Protomartiri Francescani.
Olea Mundi
World collection of olive trees planted in 2014, 1,200 specimens from 23 olive-growing countries, set on the slopes below town.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the months that work. The Tiber valley below stays green into early summer, and the olive harvest carries through November when the Olea Mundi trees come into the frantoi. July and August are hot on the lower Tiber; the centro storico thins between three and six. November through March is quiet, with shorter hours for the Collegiata and the convent. Poggio Gramignano is best visited in late spring when the wildflowers cover the hillside and the dig is preparing its summer season. The town remains small enough that an afternoon covers the ridge.