Vallo di Nera

Beauty Not To Be Abandoned

The Name

Of Roman origin, the ancient name of the village was Castrum Valli, which could mean either "castle of the valley" or "castle of the rampart" (vallo), i.e. a fortified place (vallum).

The reference to the river Nera was added after the Unification of Italy.

History

• 4th-2nd century B.C.: the Romans penetrate the territory inhabited by the Naharci tribe (whose name derives from the river Nahar, the Nera), according to some historians ethnically and linguistically related to the Celts.
• 4th-6th century A.D.: hagiographic texts speak of Christians who fled from Syria and reached the Valnerina where, living as hermits, they founded Anchoritic settlements and reclaimed the valley. The settlement of Vallo together with the church of San Giovanni are under the authority of the parish church of Santa Maria di Narco, one of the most ancient in the Valnerina.
• 1217: on September 8th the podestà of Spoleto grants the men of Vallo the right to erect a castle under its rule in exchange for protection and defense. In this way Vallo enters into the sphere of Spoleto and pledges to pay the town taxes and to make war or peace according to its directives.
• 1361-1490: during this period the castle of Vallo - as related by documents of the Municipality of Spoleto - is the most populous and prosperous of the Valnerina. Following an increase in population, the first construction expansion occurs during the 15th century around the church of Santa Maria, with another in the 16th century, when the hamlet of Casali springs up outside the city walls, with its artisan workshops and tower-houses (later transformed into dovecotes).
• 1522-23: various castles in the valley form a coalition against Spoleto, led by Petrone da Vallo and Picozzo Brancaleoni. Petrone kills the papal governor who comes to put down the revolt. The castle of Vallo - writes a historian - "is conquered, filled with ruins and with blood and despoiled of everything." Petrone is burnt alive, while in 1527 passing Lansquenets sack the village and leave behind the plague.
The village returns to life later, as testified by the many 16th-century architraves and the 1536 fresco by Jacopo Siculo in the church of San Giovanni, depicting Vallo with tower-houses and its city walls intact.

The tolling of the hour amid the trickling of the fountains

Vallo di Nera is a monument-village. It barely emerges from the woods, with its houses of light-colored stone, amazingly preserved since 1217, when the city of Spoleto granted the men of Vallo permission to construct a castle on the hill where a fortress had previously risen, in order to defend the valley.

Thus it presents itself as a medieval fortress with an elliptic urban layout, erected on a hill along the left side of the Nera river.

The imposing city walls and the ancient towers encircle the stone houses, set one against the other and interrupted only by the steep alleyways, arches and underpasses. Two symmetrical gates, Portella and Portaranne, permit access to the village-castle, where only pedestrians are admitted.

Once inside it is more medieval than ever: embrasures, corbels, narrow passageways, dark and serried alleyways, the priceless Romanesque churches and the stone portals, the tower-house of the proud Petrone who led the revolt of the castles in the valley against Spoleto.

Three Romanesque churches, located inside the castle on the peaks of an imaginary triangle, represent Vallo di Nera's artistic treasures. The church of San Giovanni Battista dominates the village on the highest part of the hill. Originally Romanesque (13th century), it was enlarged and partially rebuilt around 1575 (the date is engraved in the left corner of the façade). The façade with its bell-tower can be dated to this period, as can the portal and rose-window. Inside, the fresco in the conch is a splendid work dating to 1536 by Jacopo Siculo, dedicated to the Death of the Madonna. On the front of the arch the master painted a delicate Annunciation and life-size figures of Saints Sebastian and Rocco.

The Franciscan church of Saint Mary was begun in 1273 and presents a lovely Gothic portal and a turreted bell-tower. The interior is surprising for the quantity of frescoes which still embellish it, work of artists of the Giotto school. Among these the Procession of the Bianchi stands out, painted by Cola di Pietro in 1401 (the fresco is one of the most complete sources for the Bianchi penitentiary movement which spread through Italy in 1399), as well as the Martyrdom of Saint Lucy by a 15th-century artist from Camerino. Here bell-ringers still ring the bells inside the mighty square tower by hand, in scales of chords which have remained unchanged throughout the centuries.

The third church intra moenia is that dedicated to Saint Catherine, erected in 1354, now home to a small auditorium.

Outside the city walls lie the 15th-century hamlet of Santa Maria with its Franciscan church and the hamlet of Casali, of 16th-century origin, with its small church of San Rocco, the shrine of the "Immagine delle Forche, the hermitage of Sant'Antonio and the old artisan workshops, springs, country shrines and dovecote towers.

Also of interest is the church of Santa Maria dell'Eremita, an ancient Benedictine abbey erected over hermit cells in the small village of Piedipaterno.

Finally, the parish church of Paterno is worth a visit, as is the church of San Michele Arcangelo in Meggiano, after having rediscovered in these two ancient villages the enchantment of days gone by. Here you can wander about admiring stone portals and cornices, projecting windowsills (with the hole in the center used to dry corn and hang out banners), and come upon vegetable gardens and the ovens for baking bread.

Stone, wood and brick speak in Vallo di Nera. In this timeless landscape, whose inhabitants are struggling against the village's abandonment, one recalls three words of Dostoyevsky: mir spasët krasota, beauty will save the land.
Beauty is a great legacy, which is not to be abandoned.

Local Products

All of the Valnerina generously bestows flavors and fragrances, from the intoxicating ones of the precious black truffle - the undisputed sovereign here - to the unmistakable ones of pecorino cheese, salami and cold pork meats, spelt, lentils and river trout.

A place this rich in tradition does not lack handicraft production, including baskets woven by hand, lace, works in wrought iron and furniture.

Some local farmers will sell you extra-virgin olive oil produced on the rocky and sun-drenched slopes.

Local dishes

There are a variety of choices.

They goes from strengozzi with truffle to spelt-pie with saffron and mushrooms, truffled local lamb and barbecued river trout.

The gnocchi with wether are excellent (to be savored in the summer at the festivals organized in the piazzas under the starlit sky), as is the grilled pecorino.

Exquisite sweets include those made with ricotta and the Christmas 'ttorta made by wrapping baked apples, chopped nuts, chocolate, cinnamon and nutmeg in flaky pastry.