Historical and tourist notes

The origins of Acquapendente are quite uncertain. A careful campaign of archaeological rem searches only, could investigate the past history of Acquapendente. For the time being, we can rely on occasional finds which, although not exceptional, are frequent in the territory.

Sporadic prehistoric recoveries are located between the valley of river Paglia and Torre Alfina. To the Etruscan period are mainly testified graves datable between the III and Il century b.C. and ascribable to the cultural influences of two remarkable adjacent centres: Chiusi and Velzna (Orvieto).

The Roman presence is even less relevant, being testified by a few memorial stones and by columbaria dug in tuff, only, but for some smaller country settlements.

The break-up of Roman empire and of its institutions, in addition to centuries of fighting and
invasions, caused a period of silence in documentary sources, which can only be found again starting from the middle of IX century.

The church of St. Vittoria, located on the Francigena road, constitutes the parish church of the village called Arisa, according to documents from the archives of St. Salvatore Abbey on Mount Amiata.

The quick expansion and importance this centre attained in short time, were due to a continual traffic of pilgrims on their way to Rome and Jerusalem: they found reception-structures and shelter, houses of refuge and markets.

Acquapendente is mentioned for the first time in the imperial diploma of Otto the First.

This document, dating back to 964, ends up with the usual wording indicating the place of subscription.

When Countess Mathilda of Canossa donated all her possessions to the Church of Rome (1102),
a long chain of contrasts started, where Acquapendente had to play the role of buffer between the
Marquisate of Tuscany and the Patrimony of St. Peter. The situation got worse With the descent of Frederic I Barbarossa: he crushed communal autonomies, seized part of the Marquisate and entrusted the territories to his nephew Guelfo the Sixth.

This context gave rise to the insurrection of Aquesians against the imperial vicar instituted by Frederic Barbarossa. According to tradition, the insurrection originated from a miraculous happening in 1166.

Here is how, in 1588, Pietro Paolo Biondi narrates the event in his ”Chronicles of Acquapendente”:
“There were twofanners working in a vineyard just outside Porta St. Vittoria, where an image of the Madonna with her Son had been placed, and they were talking about such rebellion when one of the two said to the other: it has as many chances to succeed as that cherry tree has to bloom (pointing a finger at a cherry tree, withered since many years); and all of a sudden the tree flowered
and got full of flowers in a miraculous way (…), and all the people rushed there and saw it, and they knelt down and made the now that, when they succeeded in getting rid of the tyrant, they would be subject to the saint Church for ever (…)”

As memorial of liberation, the community organised a solemn feast on the middle of May.
Today, the event lives again through the Pugnaloni: large mosaics covered with flowers, symbolising the universal theme of freedom that wins any form of oppression.

Besides the quarrels between Papacy and Empire, Aquesians had to put up with heavy troubles
caused by the town of Orvieto.

For more than one century, acts of submission and rebellion alternated between the two communities with the pacificatory intervention of prelates and Popes.

The dispute went on during the XIV century, despite the agreement drawn up during the pontificate of Boniface VIII including obligation, on behalf of Acquapendente, to support Orvieto With arms in case of war.

To troubles with Orvieto, other calamities are to be added, among which the black plague in 1384.
The town, during a crisis subsequent to the Renaissance, knew difficult times worsened by the beginning of the war with Castro.

It was sacked first by the castrensian army of Odoardo Farnese and later by the troops the Pope sent to chase the invaders.

After the peace drawn up between Odoardo Farnese and Urbano VIII, the dispute began again in
1644 under the new Pope Innocent X who ordered the siege and destruction of Castro.

On account of this event, the title of cathedral was transferred to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre so Acquapendente became diocese.

After the French Revolution, it was the first centre to set up a republican order.

Transports

Acquapendente is located on the S.R. Cassia, 90 km from Siena and 130 km from Rome, and this is the main road from which you can arrive by car from both north and south. The nearest motorway exit and railway station are those of Orvieto, 30 km away. The main bus transport is the regional one guaranteed by COTRAL, but also by other transport companies, which connect Acquapendente, in addition to the centers of Lazio, including Rome, also with Orvieto and the Tuscan centers of Monte Amiata. From and to Viterbo: Cotral Service Viterbo – Acquapendente From and to Rome: Cotral Service Rome – Civitavecchia – Viterbo – Acquapendente From and to Orvieto: Cotral Service Orvieto – Acquapendente The closest airports are those of Rome and Perugia.

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