Castiglione del Lago

Castiglione del Lago rises on a promontory overlooking Lake Trasimeno. The city owes its name to the symbol of the family that in ancient times dominated there; indeed, Castiglione derives from Castellum Leonis (The Lion’s Castle), then popularized in Castellioni.
Founded by the Romans under the name of Novum Clusium, its origins are still found in the three parallel streets which cut across the country lenghtways (decumanus).

Castiglione del Lago’s old town centre, still included within the medieval walls, is basically divided into two major sections: the eastern half is completely occupied by Palazzo Ducale and its jurisdictions, and by the Fortezza (fortress); in the western half there is the populated centre, whose arrangement, as well as for the fortress and the decumanus, refers entirely to the number 3. In fact three are the doors to the country, it has three squares and even the Mastio has only three sides.

To this day, the Palazzo Ducale and the Fortezza represent a large monumental route, but extremely pleasant it is also the panoramic route under the external walls, along the Poggio Olivato. Inside the town along the Via del Forte, there is the seventeenth-century church of San Domenico, while the parish church dedicated to Santa Maria Maddalena, along the main thoroughfare, is from the late 800 but it preserves precious tables of the previous Romanesque church. In the main square there is the ancient Palazzo del Popolo with the bell and watchtower.

Even Castiglione del Lago, like all of Umbria, is a place not only rich in history and beauty, but also of unique local foods and products, such as the Fagiolina and the Broccoletti del Lago, the Paté of chicken entrails and of course the fish of lake.Two ancient fish dishes to be tasted absolutely are the Brustico, whose origin seems to date back to the Etruscans and the Tegamaccio. The first is a specially roasted fish, exclusively on coals of lake straws, while the Tegamaccio is a soup of different varieties of fish that must be left to cook for at least 5 hours in terracotta pots.Other specialties of the area are spaghetti with fish sauce, fried perch fillets, queen carp in porchetta, that is, an oven-baked carp flavored with fennel, garlic, pepper and salt.