Cannara
Encyclopedia
Cannara is a town and comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

 on the Topino River in the floodplain of central Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...

, in the province of Perugia
Province of Perugia
The Province of Perugia is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia...

. It is located about 7 km west of Spello
Spello
Spello is an ancient town and comune of Italy, in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the lower southern flank of Mt. Subasio. It is 6 km NNW of Foligno and 10 km SSE of Assisi.The old walled town lies on a regularly NW-SE sloping ridge that eventually meets the plain...

 and 9 km north of Bevagna
Bevagna
Bevagna is a town and comune in the central part of the Italian province of Perugia, , in the flood plain of the Topino river.Bevagna is 25 km SE of Perugia, 8 km west of Foligno, 7 km north-north-west of Montefalco, 16 km south of Assisi and 15 km north-west of Trevi.It...

.

It is a low-key agricultural village: its main business is the growing of wheat and onions. Its railroad station is used for freight and does not serve passengers.

As indicated by the etymology of the name (from canna, rushes), it is a medieval town, recent by the standards of the region, since in earlier times the site was underwater in the Lacus Clitorius that covered much of the area between Bastia Umbra
Bastia Umbra
Bastia Umbra is a comune in the Province of Perugia in the Italian region Umbria, located about 15 km southeast of Perugia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 20,523 and an area of 27.6 km²....

 and Foligno
Foligno
Foligno is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system...

, and was only drained in the Middle Ages. At any rate Cannara is first mentioned in 1170 as insula Cannaio — "the island of Cannaio"; the lake had not been completely drained yet.

Main sights

Its principal monuments consist in a number of small churches, among which the most important is probably the Church of the Buona Morte (also known as the Church of the Stigmata of St. Francis), which may be associated with the foundation of the Third Order
Third order
The term Third Order designates persons who live according to the Third Rule of a Roman Catholic religious order, an Anglican religious order, or a Lutheran religious order. Their members, known as Tertiaries, are generally lay members of religious orders, i.e...

 by St. Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...

.

In the territory of the comune, a shrine at Pian d'Arca commemorates the Miracle of the Birds of the same St. Francis; and the little hilltop town of Collemancio
Collemancio
Collemancio is a frazione of the comune of Cannara in the Province of Perugia, Umbria, central Italy. It stands at an elevation of 507 metres above sea level. At the time of the Istat census of 2001 it had 78 inhabitants....

 has two old churches and a ruined Roman settlement identified by some with Urbinum Hortense
Urbinum Hortense
Urbinum Hortense was an ancient Roman town of central Italy, of uncertain location, mentioned by Pliny the Elder in a roughly alphabetical and contextless list...

.

Local events

Cannara's main annual celebration is a Sagra in honor of the onion: the Festa della Cipolla. The week-long festival, featuring onion-based dining al fresco, draws over 10,000 visitors and is one of the best of the Umbrian sagre.

External links




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