THE PALAZZO LEPRI CIVIC MUSEUM
Palazzo Lepri, an 18th-century building designed by Andrea Vici and purchased by the Municipality of Bevagna in the wake of the 1832 earthquake, houses the Civic Museum of Bevagna. Palazzo Lepri served as the town hall of Bevagna up until the earthquake of 1997, when it was relocated to another place.
The Museum, which was opened in 1996, taking up the ground floor of Palazzo Lepri, was expanded in 2008 and now occupies the entire building.
Today, the museum comprises the Archaeological Collection, the Art Gallery, the magnificent 19th-century Town Council Hall, and a section on some of Bevagna’s most prominent figures.
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTION
The Archaeological Section of Palazzo Lepri originates from a multitude of archaeological finds that Abbot Fabio Alberti donated to the town of Bevagna in the 18th century, which in 1838 were embedded in the walls of the building’s staircase. Over the years, this archaeological collection was expanded to include donations and finds and now stands as a valuable record of the history of the town and of its territory in pre-Roman, Roman and Late Antique times.
An Umbrian settlement, and later a Roman municipium called Mevania, the town of Bevagna flourished through the ages: its strategic position along the ancient section of the Via Flaminia, the fact that it had a major river port, and its favourable environmental conditions made it possible for people to settle here since ancient times.
The fact that the archaeological collection of the Civic Museum of Bevagna is so extensive is proof of its importance.
THE ART GALLERY
The Art Gallery originally contained state-owned artwork, acquired after the unification of Italy, later supplemented with other artworks from the town’s churches and other local churches or donated by private citizens, which have considerably expanded our knowledge of the history of Bevagna and of its territory from the 16th to the 18th century.
Most of the paintings date back to these centuries and form an extensive collection that offers a good example of the artwork produced and of the devotion of the local community.
Some of the most notable works are the Immaculate Conception by Andrea Camassei, Our Lady of Constantinople and the Casket of the Blessed Giacomo Bianconi by Ascensidonio Spacca (known as Il Fantino di Bevagna), the Adoration of the Magi by Corrado Giaquinto da Molfetta, the Madonna and Child by Dono Doni, and the Trinity and Saints by Giovanni Battista Pacetti (known as Lo Sguazzino).
One of the wooden artworks on display is the scale model of the Church of Madonna delle Grazie, made by architect Valentino Martelli in the second half of the 16th century.
THE TOWN COUNCIL HALL
As part of the museum tour, visitors can also marvel at the magnificent 19th-century Town Council Hall, which is still used today for Town Council meetings. Wooden high-backed chairs and fresco medallions depicting the faces of distinguished citizens of Bevagna, dating back to the classical period up until the mid-20th century, can still be found here. It was commissioned to the painter Mariano Piervittori from Tolentino, who worked on it in 1867 and 1868 at the request of Agostino Mattoli, the mayor of Bevagna at the time. Piervittori painted the first 30 portraits and decorated the ceiling with a fresco in which these same men were depicted as full-length figures, flanked by two winged goddesses. As some of the portraits were not completed, Ugo Scaramucci finished them sometime after 1950, while the last paintings were done more recently by the painter Luigi Frappi from Bevagna. There are currently 41 completed portraits depicting saints, blesseds, cardinals, men of letters, captains, and high officials.
Leon Battista Alberti describes them as ‘blooming in holiness… adorned with dignity… distinguished in arms and in letters’.
PROMINENT FIGURES
The tour of the museum comprises several rooms dedicated to prominent figures: Filippo Silvestri, a ‘world-renowned entomologist’; Mario Mattoli, who from 1934 to 1966 directed and wrote 84 films (16 of which starred the famous Italian actor and comedian Totò), a forerunner of neorealist cinema; Agostino Mattoli, a well-known homeopathic doctor and historian of Italian homeopathy, who wrote an invaluable text on the ‘History of Homeopathy in Italy’; and Carlo Frappi, a painter from Foligno who loved Bevagna deeply as if it were his second home, who painted portraits, still lifes and landscapes that stand out ‘for their masterful execution, pursuit of the picturesque, and resemblance to the model’.