Historical notices
Archives don't say anything about the origins of Lugnano: the hypothesis, on the contrary, are many. The most likely could be a foundation around the 5th century A. D., due to the exodus from the country when the malaria supervened. As testified by the findings in the Roman villa at Poggio Gramignano in that period malaria used to take a heavy toll of lives and the late Roman age populations used to take shelter in dwellings built high up on ventilated hills. So the inhabitants of the Tiber Valley built Lugnano or Luniano, probably named after "Lucus Jani" (the wood of Janus). Around the year 1,000 A. D. it becomes a not enfeoffed Commune, and directly under the dipendence of the Church, hence the name of "Terra di Lugnano". Being part of the provinces of the Patrimony of St. Peter, it was a guelph outpost against the ghibelline Todi that ruled over Amelia and the possessions the Alvianos had in the Teverina.
Cultural sights
The jewel of Lugnano is for sure the Collegiata di S. Maria Assunta.
The façade has a rose-window and is enriched with a porch with a ribbed vault and columns on the front. The interior has three aisles with barrel vaults, separated by columns and capitals decorated with the typical patterns of the Romanesque art (plaits, floral motifs, holy scenes).
Underneath the presbytery there's a little crypt covered with large travertine slabs resting on elegant small columns with capitals with different floral motives. In the apse there is a fine tryptic by Nicoḷ Alunno (15th cent.) and aside a Crucifixion (school of Giotto, 14th cent.) and a Decollation by Filippo Agresti (1571). If you proceed along via Umberto I you get to Palazzo Pennone (16th cent.) named so because, due to its height, it overhangs the skyline of Lugnano. Present seat of the Commune, built on the old palace of the "podestà" and on the church of St. Peter, it's the most interesting residential building in the town centre, acting also as an urban connection between the axis of the high street and the northem borough. Which is made by two stairs and even a covered alley. A little outside the town centre are the two convents of St. Francis (1229) and of the Capuchins (1579), both noteworthy as for architecture, and containing some frescoed rooms.
Curiosities
Right at the entrance of the town centre is the "Ex Fabbrica", a late 19th cent.
interesting big building which was destined to many activities. Bought by the Commune in 1991 is now the seat of a multimedial tourist information spot.
