the town is circumscribed by three circles of walls (Etruscan, Roman and medieval) that enclose countless treasures. Among the things to see in Todi, one of the most beautiful views is surely that of Piazza del Popolo, the beating heart of the town, overlooked by some of the most important buildings in the historic center that contrast, to striking effect, with the religious complex.
Here you can admire the complex of the Palazzo Comunale, born from the union of the Palazzo del Popolo in which are housed the Museo lapidario, the Pinacoteca Civica and the Museo Etrusco Romano, the thirteenth-century Palazzo del Capitano and the Palazzo dei Priori, perhaps the most beautiful of the three and which was finished in the fourteenth century.
The cathedral, erected in the 12th century on the remains of a temple dedicated to the god Apollo, features a long entrance staircase and a beautiful Romanesque facade; as you climb the stairs from the top of the steps, you can take fantastic photos of the entire Piazza.
Not far away, about 20 meters from the square is the Church of San Fortunato, dedicated to the city’s patron saint and built in the 13th century, which preserves in its crypt the tomb of the humanist poet Jacopone da Todi and features a beautiful fresco by Masolino da Panicale.
Not everyone knows that..Todi is home to the painted house of Patrick Ireland (aka Brian O’Doherty) and Barbara Novack, a true work of contemporary art that conceals deep symbolic meanings. The key to unlocking the enigma is OGHAM, a language extinct for more than 1,200 years, with which the ancient Irish translated the Roman alphabet into lines. Thus, what seemingly appear to be geometric strictures for their own sake turn out to be letters. And the surprises continue when it turns out that behind such a choice, like that of the stage name Patrick Ireland, is the Bloody Sunday of 1972, and the desire to remember the innocent victims of that bloody Sunday.
