Trevignano Romano

History

Trevignano is a picturesque village of about 4.000 inhabitants stretching along the northern shore of Lake Bracciano, formerly known as Lake Sabatino. Built on a basalt cliff, the village lies at one end of a small bay, formed by the secondary crater of an extinct volcano. Thanks to its south-facing position and the presence of thermal waters, the place has always attracted human habitation. Indeed, prehistoric archaeology has brought to light the existence of a now-submerged lakeside village built on stakes, dating back to the Bronze Age. Evidence of Trevignano’s former importance as an Etruscan settlement are the many necropolises which stretch for some three kilometres along the hills behind the present-day village. These have yielded interesting finds which are now housed in the municipal museum of archaeology. With the conquest of Veio and Caere in 387 b.C, the Sabatine region came under the control of the Romans, who built many villas there.The one most closely linked to the history of Trevignanois the residence of the Gens Trebonia who, some say, decided to change the name of Sabate or Sabazia to Trebonianum, which is the origin of the modern Trevignano. Steeped in history, Trevignano today welcomes the visitor with its delightful mediaeval quarter and a tree-lined lakeside promenade well endowed with places to try the local specialities in a magical setting created by the fresh water of the lake and its limpid hues.

What to see

Walking through the streets of the mediaeval town centre you come to the parish church of Santa Maria Assunta. The exact date the building was started is unknown but we do know that is was finished by the beginning of the 16th century and that is was built over the ruins of a previous Gothic building. Between 1775 and 1791 the church was completely reconstructed in Baroque style to the plans of the architect Giuseppe Pelucchi. The church contains a striking fresco depicting the ‘Death, Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin’, dating from 1517 and attributed to the painter Pellegrino da Modena from Raphael’s studio. There is also a 12th century triptych depicting Jesus enthroned, with the Virgin Mary and Saint John, the most ancient reproduction of an acheiropoeton (an image not painted by human hands) kept in Rome in the Sancta Sanctoum at Saint John Lateran.

The Orsini Fortress.

From the square outside the church you can climb up the basalt cliff along a grassy path to the remains of  the fortress erected in 1200 under Pope Innocent III. It had a double circle of walls defending the village which extended down to the lake. It was destroyed in 1496 by Cesare Borgia’s brother Giovanni, during the conflict with the Orsini family triggered by Pope Alexander VI Borgia. From the fortress there is a lovely view of the lake and the surrounding towns and villages across the rooftops of Trevignano.

The Municipal Museum of Archaeology

Located in the Town Hall, the museum has 350 pieces from the Etruscan necropolises at Trevignano, mostly consisting of impasto and bucchero vases but also bronze and gold items. The most prestigious of these is a large finely-worked embossed bronze Flabello (fan), a fine example of Etruscan craftsmanship from the middle of the VII century BC. Also worthy of mention are a pair of large, elegantly painted oriental style amphorae from the VII century BC; a rare example of an Etruscan warrior’s tomb complete with funerary furnishings from the VII century BC still set in the block of earth in which it was found, with accompanying weapons still clearly visible.

Church of San Bernardino Da Siena

In the peace of the surrounding countryside, one kilometre from Trevignano, stands the Church of San Bernardino da Siena, said to be the site where the Saint first met the terriefied population of Trevignano as they fled from the Saracens, who were rumoured to be advancing on the village. Reassured by his preaching, the people of Trevignano erected this little church in honour of their patron saint. It has recently been restored. Inside there is a statue of the Saint on a stone, said to be the pulpit from which the friar originally addressed the ‘Trevignanesi’.

Church of Saint Catharine of Alexandria

A mediaeval building incorporating remains of Roman pus reticolatum in its façade. It contains an interesting fresco painted in the little apse portraying the Virgin of Alexandria between two Saints, thought to be Saint Sebastian and Saint Rocco.