Municipal Art Gallery

The Pinacoteca Comunale is entertained near the church of Saint Francisco of the suburb of Montone in Umbria.
The collection includes a group of paintings dated between the XVI and XVIII century, coming from the churches of Montone, witnesses of the relationships of the suburb with Perugia and Città di Castello.
The family to which the fame of Montone was linked is illustrated in the two genealogical trees that represent the Fortebracci lineage. The two trees, accompanied by a view of Montone and by the Fortebracci coat of arms with the rampant ram, develop luxuriantly from an "Ugolino" (1100) to the famous leader Braccio, to his son Carlo "general of the Venetians" up to the generation of the last seventeenth century.

Substantial and noteworthy is the conspicuous collection of textile works, various in materials and colors, executed with elaborate techniques and imaginative floral motifs, covering the chronological period between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. These are liturgical vestments and apparatus, such as copes, chasubles and altar cloths. Bottega Altotiberina Group of Deposition (Crucifix, Madonna, san Giovanni, san Giuseppe d'Arimatea), 1260-1270 Coming from the parish of San Gregorio, the four sculptures are how much remains of a group of Deposition from the cross, surely comprising also the figure of Nicodemo, today dispersed.

It is certain that similar groups were exhibited during the ceremonies of worship that culminated in Good Friday, and there is also evidence of their presence in a dramatic function during the performance of the Sacred Representations of the Passion inside and, more often, outside the churches. They were also used during processions with the intention of giving maximum emphasis to the cult of the deposed Christ, caught in the moment of his most human dimension. Bartolomeo Caporali Madonna of the Mercy, 1482 is a typical gonfalone against the plague, of the type of those realized in the XV century in Umbria, and above all in environment perugino, to invoke the divine aid in case of calamity and illnesses. The Virgin of the Mercy protects, in fact, the faithful with her own mantle from the arrows that symbolize the misfortunes hurled by Christ the Judge. A skeleton with a sickle, the image of death, alludes to the effects of the plague. In addition to Saints Sebastian, Francis and Blaise, represented on the left, and Nicholas and Bernardine, represented on the right, appear the Baptist, St. Gregory the Great, protector of the Borgo, and Anthony of Padua, the thaumaturge saint of the Franciscans.

Of great interest is the inferior part of the work, in which is present the view of Montone reproduced very faithfully high on the hill and closed in the circle of walls: they are evident the Church of San Francesco and the Rocca restored between 1422 and 1423 from the bolognese Fioravante Fioravanti on assignment of Braccio Fortebracci. Tommaso di Arcangelo Bernabei, said the Papacello and Vittorio Cirelli Annunciation and the saints Fedele and Lazzaro, 1532 The work reflects one of the variants of the culture tardo raffaellesca in Umbria.

The cartouche in low to the left brings the names of the two authors: the cortonese Papacello, student of Luca Signorelli and Vittorio Cirelli, documented from 1532 to 1552 and of probable origins montonesi. It comes from the church of San Fedele, as indicated by the image of the homonymous saint, represented with the pastoral and the bishop's mitre. San Lazzaro, who holds in his hand the hammer used by lepers to warn them of their presence, is, together with San Rocco, the protector of contagious diseases, flanked by the dog.

The Pinacoteca Comunale of the San Francesco Museum houses an Archaeological Section that collects evidence of a discovery of a Roman villa near Santa Maria di Sette dating back to the second century AD. The latest excavations have brought to light numerous fragments of tiles and roof tiles, pieces of dolia and amphorae, fragments of black pottery, a beautiful silver coin, and black marble mosaic tiles. From the data collected it can be assumed that this was a servant villa of medium-large size, which developed halfway up the coast with a series of terraces and owned by a rich and illustrious personage of whom unfortunately we do not know the name.

OPENING HOURS AND DAYS
Opening days: (from April 1 to September 30)
Friday - Saturday - Sunday and holidays
Hours: 10.30 am - 1.00 pm / 4.00 pm - 6.30 pm
Open on: (from October 1 to March 31)
Saturday - Sunday and holidays
Hours: 10.30 am - 1.00 pm / 3.00 pm - 5.30 pm

Ticket office:
Full: € 5.00
Reduced A: € 4.00 - groups of 15 people, Affiliated Members
Reduced B: € 2.00 - children between 6 and 14 years old