Lake Trasimeno is where memories of extraordinary figures have shaped the culture, where stories of deep love, of peace and spirituality linger as they left an indelible mark on all of Umbria.
Legend has it that prince Trasimeno, the son of King Tirreno, fell in love with the water nymph Agilla and drowned himself in the lake in order to be with her forever and make their dreams come true. On those nights that the northern wind blows over the lake, they say the sound it makes is actually Agilla calling out to her long lost lover.
One of the places to really explore this love story is Isola Polvese, where, they say, Agilla and Trasimeno met and fell deeply in love.
Vittoria Aganoor Pompilj, a poet of Armenian descent, was born in Padus in 1855.
In 1901 she moved to Perugia after having married Guido Pompilj, a scholar and Umbrian deputy. It was on the shores of Lake Trasimeno that she embarked upon a new phase in her life and discovered a love of writing poetry, far from the pain of her troubled youth.
You can visit the home of the poet in Monte del Lago, the village that inspired her and her husband to write Nuove liriche in 1908.
Every year, in honour of Vittoria Aganoor Pompilj, the town of Magione celebrates poetry with the Festival of Correspondence, a literary event which gives a voice to modern poets and authors.
Saint Francis of Assisi, the ultimate symbol of peace and spirituality, was born in Assisi in 1182. His mission took him to preach and pray in every corner of Umbria.
In 1209, Saint Francis went to Rome to seek approval for the rules of his new order from Pope Innocence III. Once back in Umbria, he and his brothers in the faith moved to Rivotorto, to a place now known as the Santuario del Sacro Tugurio, located along the road that connects Assisi to Foligno. The following year, however, they moved to a tiny country church: Santa Maria degli Angeli, better known as the Porziuncola, which still today every year attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world.
On a stormy night in 1211 Saint Francis reached Lake Trasimeno and docked at Isola Maggiore to spend Lent. A church and a convent were built on the island in memory of this event.
Another very important landmark is located just outside of Castel Rigone, in Feriano, where there is a large slab of rock known as the Bed of Saint Francis. Popular tradition has it that it was here that he stopped to spend the night during one of his frequent meanderings over the trails and paths of Umbria.
Fra’ Giovanni Da Pian del Carpine was born in Magione in 1182.
A fervent missionary, in 1245 he took off from Lyon, France, to Mongolia to deliver a letter of peace from Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan, several decades before the more famous journey embarked upon by the Venetian Marco Polo.
In 1246, the Friar managed to deliver the letter, written in Farsi, but the Great Khan’s response was a negative one. The story of this mission was written by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and is known as the Historia Mongalorum.
In the historical centre of Magione, in the sala consiliare, hangs a painting by Gerardo Dottori which portrays the meeting between Giovanni and the Great Khan.
Lake Trasimeno is also where Santa Margherita, the spiritual heir of St. Francis, was born in 1247, in Laviano, just outside of Castiglione del Lago. After a series of sad events, she moved to Cortona, where she died a Franciscan tertiary in 1247.
Her conversion came about through a repentance near an oak tree, known as the Oak of Repentance, in I Giorgi at Castiglione del Lago. She was canonised in 1728 by Pope Benedict XII and her body lies in the Cortona’s Basilica di Santa Margherita.
In the many paintings depicting her life, she is often portrayed with a dog, her faithful companion.
Born in Pozzuolo Umbro in 1901, Franco Rasetti was a botanist and physicist. He played a major role in Enrico Fermi’s research into radioactivity and was a member of the celebrated group of young physicians who worked together on via Panisperna, Rome. Rasetti refused to take part in the creation of the atomic bomb on moral grounds, and turned to botany instead. This choice left him and his accomplishments in the small print of history.
Pozzuolo Umbro has an Associazione Franco Rasetti complete with a bronze bust in his honour.
