Visit Norcia

The artistic-monumental fulcrum of the city certainly revolves around its central square where, with a Renaissance-style organization, the buildings that symbolize the Nursina identity are concentrated:

The Basilica of San Benedetto whose original construction, with the splendid Gothic facade, the rose window and the friezes of the 4 evangelists dates back to the 12th century. Tradition has it that it was built on the remains of the saint's birthplace but more likely in the same place stood a Roman basilica which was subsequently destroyed.

the Portico delle Measure , an indoor cereal market, with the stone capacity measures still clearly visible, built close to the basilica in 1570.

La Castellina , the fortified residence seat of the prefecture and the papal governors, built in 1554 on a design by Vignola.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Argentea , built on the site occupied by a parish church demolished in 1554 to make way for the Castellina, of which the portal reassembled on the right side remains, houses some works by Flemish authors and a 16th century wall triptych by Francesco Sparapane.

The Town Hall , a building dating back to the fourteenth century, extensively renovated in the nineteenth century due to the damage reported in previous seismic events.

The monument to San Benedetto da Norcia executed by Francesco Prinzi on the occasion of the 14th centenary of the saint's birth.

More decentralized than Piazza San Benedetto, but still of considerable artistic interest, is the Monumental complex of San Francesco whose construction dates back to the fourteenth century and which today houses the municipal archive and the civic library.

Another example of a Gothic facade that follows the structure of the patronal abbey is represented by the Church of Sant'Agostino , from the 14th century.

Near the Porta Ascolana the cryptoporticus houses some archaeological finds found in different areas of the city and belonging mainly to the Sabine civilization.

Outside the walls there are numerous monuments of a certain artistic interest. The White Madonna , near the town called Forca d'Ancarano, is a valuable building dating back to the fifteenth century.

In Campi, the parish church of Sant'Andrea is very interesting, inside the town with its original and functional architecture and the suggestive triangular plan air gallery that characterizes it.

Also near the hamlet of Campi it is worth visiting the parish church of S. Salvatore with its two rose windows and two portals from different eras.

At 12 km from the inhabited center, near the hamlet of Savelli, the consolidated and restored ruins are visible, together with the surviving frescoes, of the Madonna della Neve , an elegant octagonal building, built on designs by Bramante, which was almost destroyed in the course of the 1979 earthquake.

Near the hamlet of San Pellegrino stands the convent of Santa Maria di Montesanto , a 14th century building erected by the Clareni friars and gradually entrusted over the centuries to various religious orders, until the beginning of the last century, since it has been abandoned. . The convent, in a poor state of conservation, has a valuable internal cloister, an adjoining church with some 17th century canvases and a wooden statue of the Madonna with child dating back to the 14th century, an object of particular devotion by the population.