Hollywood knows how to do with cinema, but even Narni – in Umbria – has something to say: “The Chronicles of Narnia” (three films, as well as seven novels) have derived their name from Narni (Narnia is like the ancients Romans called this town) and from a panoramic point of Narni you can enjoy a splendid view of the Abbey of San Cassiano, where in 1971 a part of the film by Nino Manfredi “By grace received” was shot.
A scene from the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia – The Voyage of the Sailing Ship”, third episode of the series. The name Narnia is inspired by Narni: in Latin this Umbrian city was called Narnia
The panoramic point from which you can observe San Cassiano corresponds to the churchyard of a wonderful church, Santa Maria della Rupe, whose existence in 1971 was not even suspected: they only rediscovered it in 1979, after a long oblivion, and for Narni it is it was a great emotion, which is still a little relived today when you visit the place and let the story be told.
The small church of Santa Maria della Rupe (formerly San Michele Arcangelo) in Narni
The protagonists were six boys, between the ages of fifteen and twenty, with a passion for caving. On a hillock in Narni the six had been attracted by the ruins of an old monastery. The building had collapsed in wartime, but not because of the bombs: his was a natural death, so to speak, under the weight of the years and centuries. However, not all evil comes to harm: deep gashes had opened in the rubble, which allowed a glimpse, in the dark, of the foundations of the monastery, and perhaps who knows, something that was even further below … The Govani Marmotte, that is the young speleologists, they spotted a farmer who was tending a vegetable garden and a few chickens nearby, they overcame his initial distrust (“Who are you? Do you want to get down on the ropes? And why?”) until he revealed: “My father told me that in a certain place a treasure is buried. If I show you where, and you find the treasure, then are we half done? ». Done deal!
In this closer photo it is better visible (on the left) St. Michael the Archangel who originally gave the church its name
Unfortunately for that hopeful peasant, the treasure discovered by the six boys could not be shared: under the monastery they found not coins or jewels but an ancient church whose memory had been lost. Even now that it is partially restored, this church gives the visitor a fabulous archaic aspect: for the structure (it is not built but carved into the rock), for the dimensions (it is small and collected), for the illustrations on the walls (definitely pre-Giotto ) and for the general atmosphere, it resembles one of those ancient and secret churches of Cappadocia, if you know the genre, where you can breathe the myth.
The entrance to the church is a very narrow passage: you enter in single file, but it is already much more comfortable than when the six brave and enterprising speleological boys arrived there by venturing into a tunnel
A phenomenal detail: a stone bench runs along one wall, with circles painted on the wall for the eminent figures of the parish; the circles were traced using indelible paint, and the names of the legitimate users were written on them, but with another type of paint, erasable, for when people died and were replaced.
Outbuildings and connected: in the foundations of the monastery were also found two rooms of more recent use: one was used as a court by the Holy Inquisition and the other as a cell. We know of a certain Domenico Ciabocchi who was sentenced here to 6 months of rowing for bigamy, but he managed to escape; and of a corporal named Giusepe Andrea Lombardini who was detained in 1759 on charges of letting a prisoner escape; recognized innocent, he was released, but first he had time to cover the walls of the cell with inscriptions of various subjects and esoteric or Masonic symbols.
Last detail: the name of the church had been lost, so when it was rededicated they gave it a new and suggestive one: Santa Maria della Rupe. It so happened that just two months after the rededication the original lost name was rediscovered: it was St. Michael the Archangel. But now the new one is valid.
No, this is not the cell of the Inquisition in Narni, but a room in one of the apartments in Torre del Nera – Albergo diffuso & spa, where we stayed for a few days in Umbria. Starting from here, Narni and all the other historical and artistic places of the region are within reach by car: from thirty to just over sixty minutes by car. The accommodations in Torre del Nera are all different from one another, in terms of size and furnishings; this is among the most luxurious, but there are also more to the hand, like the one below.
