A small, intimate space where history and devotion meet: Piazza San Bernardino (also called Largo San Bernardino) preserves Montecchio’s bond with its Patron Saint. First you’ll notice the bricks from the old kilns on Via della Lungara, then the radiant-sun symbols with the IHS monogram emerging on stone—memories of Saint Bernardino of Siena’s preaching here in 1426.
The square takes its name from Montecchio’s Patron, Saint Bernardino of Siena, whose presence is still “written” on the stones: the Bernardinian sun with a cross and the IHS (Iesus Hominum Salvator) monogram appears on lintels and façades, recalling his 1426 sermon and the popular devotion that has accompanied the town ever since (the feast day is 20 May).
The setting dialogues with the nearby parish church: a slightly raised plane, stone wings, and the view toward the bell tower shape a typical Umbrian-village scene. In the past, the area beside the church held the old cemetery of the castle; with 19th-century enlargements and modern regulations, burials moved outside the settlement. Today it remains a “small theatre” of memory: carved symbols, aged plaster, weathered doors.
If you’re following the urban trekking route, pause here: look for the radiant sun and other Bernardinian signs, then walk up to the nearby forecourt of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta. It’s the spiritual heart of the castle—just a few steps, rich in atmosphere.
Umbro-Etruscan frontier land, land of contested castles, land of a landscape shaped by silent hamlets and rolling hills of olive, oak and chestnut trees.
Fondo Europeo Agricolo per lo Sviluppo Rurale: L’Europa investe nelle zone rurali
The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas
