Cerreto di Spoleto
To be visited
Localita: Cerreto di Spoleto
Castle of medieval origin built on a pre-existing settlement on the San Sebastiano hill, it is located in a panoramic position, dominating the confluence of the narrow valleys of the Vigi and the Nera, which surround it on both sides.
Its name derives from the widespread presence of oak trees (Cerri), and indeed until the last century a centenary oak could be admired in the main square of the town.
The oak tree is also present in the municipal coat of arms.
The first settlement probably dates back to 290 BC, when the Romanization of the territo-ry was carried out by the legions of the consul M. Curio Dentato. The first historical infor-mation on the village dates back to the time of the Lombards.
Cerreto had always been the subject of wars and contentions between the municipalities of Spoleto and Norcia, which ended in 1446, when Spoleto was once again and finally vic-torious, the walls were rebuilt and the local administration reorganised.
Protagonists of these eras of hunger, wars, epidemics were the famous Cerretani wande-rers, better known with the term of "Ciarlatani", storytellers and swindlers, famous for their marked eloquence and ability to persuade. In the dictionary of the Crusca of 1612 they were described as "Those who sell ointments or other medicines in the squares, pull out teeth or play tricks, who today are more commonly called Charlatans, ... from Cerreto, a town in Umbria from which in ancient come such people, who with various fictions were making money". Even today, in the month of August, the Charlatan Festival is celebrated, a cultural event aimed at highlighting the great intelligence of the Charlatans who crossed all of Europe, astonishing entire squares and different populations. These characters ma-naged to demonstrate how people of humble origins and in a certain sense "unfortunate", as the inhabitants of Cerreto could have been at the time, were quite skilled in the art of reinventing themselves, creating a real science of quackery .
Cerreto di Spoleto is a typical hillock castle, with a ridge road flanked by parallel streets, nowadays overlooked by elegant noble palaces from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The castle of Cerreto culminated in a fortress of which only the tall and slender tower (21 m), which dominates the village and is to all effects a Bell Tower, still remains.
It contains, in fact, the "campanone", a large bell cast in 1452, weighing 16 quintals and decorated with a Gothic inscription ("AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA DOMINUS TECUM" and "SERVA CERRETI POPULUM IN PACE DEUS HOMO FACTUS JHESUS") and figures in bas-relief (Our Lord and the Madonna and Child, the coat of arms of the Town Hall and, perhaps, the effigy of San Ponziano). In addition to the big bell, in the bell tower there is another smaller bell from the 15th century. In 1565, also a clock was placed near the bell.
Of the ancient and imposing circle of walls, arranged as a double wall on the south-eastern side, the round-arched gate remains, next to the Church and Convent of San Gia-como (today the headquarters of CEDRAV) and the one leaning against the Church of Santa Maria "Delibera ”, whose apse was obtained from a round tower that still shows the loopholes.
