The town's origins are lost in time and the name Vasanello itself, formerly Bassanello, has a complicated story. The oldest document mentioning this name is a marble inscription dated 1038 in the church of S. Salvatore, in memory of Domenico who was the "archipresbiter in castro Vassanello". In 727 the church incorporated it in the "Estates of the Patrimony of St. Peter".

The Castle (XII° Century)

The first lords of the Castle were the Orsini; in 1505 it passed to the Della Rovere family thanks to the marriage of Giulia Farnese "la bella" and Orsino Orsini's daughter; in 1534 Stefano Colonna became the new lord of Vasanello and in 1787 the fief carne into possession of the Barberini-Colonna di Sciarra. In 1907 the castle was purchased by Mons. Misciattelli who had it completely restored. Subsequently, his nephew Marquess Professor Paolo Misciattelli Moscenigo Soranzo set up an refined artistic ceramics manufactory in it. The quality of the "Bassanello Ceramics" is attested to by orders from large firms and by the fact that the art managers were masters from Faenza. Recently, the Castle was inherited by his daughter, Donna Elena Misciattelli, who began to valorise the place by having a Medieval Garden created and conservation work carried out with a view to setting up a Ceramics Museum. Together with the Museum and the oid town's "fornaci" recovery, there'll be a memory (many seats) of our "cocciari" and of their ageold "art of pot" (and terracotta).

The Castle of Vasanello (X° century)
© Copyright Photo - Andrea Di Palermo (Archives Photo - May 2005)

Churches

Santa Maria Assunta (X° century)
It was probably built on thè ruins of a pagan temple. The front entrance is fifteenth-century. Inside, the church is divided into a nave and two aisles leading to a presbytery; in the smaller abses there are two frescos (Xll° c.) with byzantine influences; roman capitals are decorated with geometrical drawings, acanthus leaf and imaginary animals. We mention the Assunta (anonymous) and a Font (XVI° c.) too. In the Crypt, relics of the Patron Saint Lanno are kept.

The Church of Saint Maria Assunta
© Copyright Photo - Andrea Di Palermo (May 2005)

San Salvatore (XI° c.)
The church has a nave and two aisles separated by two rows of columns surmounted by Ionic capitals.
In the Apse there is a beautiful Virgin of the Swallow with Child and Saints to the right, and at the centre there is a valuable XVI° century tabernacle-ciborium. The niche of Our Lady of Fever is in a good state of repair. The fresco in it was painted by Scarelli in 1878. Near by the side entrance we can admire a fresco Pietà e Santi painted by M. Castiglione in Teverina.

Il Campanile (XIII ° century)
It is a square tower, about 28 m high, with 6 floors. On the four outer walls of the first floor there are two-light windows. Above these the three-light fully arched windows rise.

Il Campanile
© Copyright Photo - Andrea Di Palermo (May 2005)

Minor Churches

Abbey of Our Lady of Graces (XVI" century)
It is particularly interesting because it is adorned with frescos credited to the Perugino School (1445-1523). We draw your attention to the beautiful Virgin with Baby Jesus in the Act of Blessing (in the niche outide).

Chapel of Saint Lanno (Patron Saint of Vasanello)
This chapel was built towards the year 1000 on the site where St. Lando, now called St. Lanno, became a martyr in 296 AD. Inside there is a beautiful fresco from 1493 painted by M. Castiglione in Teverina.

The Chapel of Saint Lanno
© Copyright Photo - Andrea Di Palermo (Archives Photo)

Saint Mary of the Star
It was built in 1704. And here too the image of the Virgin over the altar comes from a countryside niche.

The Church of Saint Mary of the Star
© Copyright Photo - Andrea Di Palermo (Dec. 2004)

Notes
The Churches and Bell Tower have recently been restored to a large extent. In order to go deeper into the background history of the frescos in the Church of Our Lady of Graces (Madonna delle Grazie), and learn more in general about conservation and valorisation of the frescos in our churches, systematic historic-critic research is advisable.

Tours

Archaeological tours

La Torricella: part of a system of watch towers that appears to follow the line of Via Amerina.

La Torricella
(On the Background the Cimini Mounts)
© Copyright Photo - Andrea Di Palermo (Dec. 2005)

Palazzolo: it is on a spur of tuff, surrounded by ravines. Palazzolo is almost certainly thè ancient Castrum Amerinum. The bridge over the fosso delle mole is Roman.

Poggio della Mentuccia: on a hill rising from the Fosso delle tre Fontane the chimney of an Arezzo fùmace has been found.

Morticelli: these are anthropomorphic graves dug out of the tuff. They are Lombard tombs dating from the 8th century AD.

Pestarole: "Pestarole" around Palazzolo consist of 2 basins on different levels.

Bridge of Valle Gaudenzio: The ruins of a second-century Etruscan bridge over the channel of Valle Canale. It is a single-arch bridge of which the side parapets are still standing.

La Selva: there are some interesting travertine columns here, belonging to a temple dedicated to a countryside divinity. Our tour ends in the Parco del Fontanile, in Valle di San Silvestro, where there is a church dug out of the rock, the church of St. Sylvester.

Where We Are ?

Hypotethical if we put Vasanello to the centre have to South the ROME (Km. 97) capital and Naples (Km. 286), the Perugia (Km. 109) and Florence (Km. 210) North, East Terni (Km. 40) and Rieti (Km. 105) and the West ours capoluogo of Viterbo (Km. 38) province and Civitavecchia (Km. 90).-

Perugia - Florence

Viterbo - Civitavecchia           VASANELLO           Terni - Rieti

ROMA - Naples

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Plant Historyc