Sigillo

Extreme poetry and rose-colored stones that pass through time. The small centre of medieval origins is located on the slopes of Monte Cucco, on a plain immersed in greenery where one can experience the exhilaration of flying with deltaplanes and hand gliders. The territory maintains a lively soul that pulsates through sport and integration.

The natural environment, the true richness of Sigillo, has made it an ideal destination for hikers and mountain bikers, practiced along highly suggestive routes, or the river that has passage and thrills of descending into the Rio Freddo Forra, between ancient sedimentary rocks dug out by cold waterways. Homeland of flying races, which exploit ascending air masses, The Italian glider championships, and an international meeting dedicated to motorless radio controlled gliders. The territory is also known for being the first in Europe to have organised an evening dedicated exclusively to Paralympic sports. The event takes place on the last Saturday of August and there are contests in sitting volleyball,, dog agility for the disabled, archery for the blind, climbing and shooting.

Sigillo's origins are very ancient. Its history is rooted in the vicissitudes of the ancient Umbrian populations that populated Central Italy even before the advent of the Etruscans. During Roman rule it is was important for its strategic position along the consular Via Flaminia. There is testimony of the epic clashes between the Lombards of Totila and the Byzantines of Narsete as well as the barbarian invasions.  It became a castle in the Middle Ages and was at the centre of struggles for power between dukes and lords taking over the domination, along with looting, destruction and rebuilding. The urban fabric retains the medieval structure with a central square, made of pink stone slabs from Assisi and geometric travertine compositions. Around a group of pink stone houses and in the background there is a 12th-century municipal palace with bell tower.

The artistic vivacity is manifested in the major religious buildings: like the church of Saint Andrew in a neo-Renaissance style, built on the remains of an ancient church, the church of Sant'Agostino, built between 1788 and 1791 by the Swiss architect Giacomo Cantoni starting from the previous design of the previous church (of which only the medieval crypt remains) and the church of Sant'Anna, erected towards the middle of 1400 along the Via Flaminia. Not far from the inhabited centre is the church of Santa Maria Assunta (13th century), where the paintings of Matteo da Gualdo are preserved. The Roman bridge called the Spiano bridge, is an architectural masterpiece that crosses the Fonturci stream, just outside Sigillo, built by the Emperor Augustus.

Among the gastronomic products of the area there are excellent quality of meats, which are cooked during the festivities, such as that linked to the lighting of the focaraccio: a great bonfire in memory of the passage of the sacred picture of the Madonna carried by the crusaders on their way to Loreto. Other products such as truffle and hand-made pasta are also on offer.