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{{Redirect|Mevania|the genus of moth|Mevania (moth)}}
{{Infobox Italian comune
| name                = Bevagna
| official_name       = Comune di Bevagna
| native_name         = 
| image_skyline       = BevagnaDec122023 03.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| image_alt           = 
| image_caption       = View of Bevagna
| image_shield        = CoA Comune di Bevagna.svg
| shield_alt          = 
| image_map           = 
| map_alt             = 
| map_caption         = 
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_alt     = 
| coordinates         = {{coord|42|56|25|N|12|36|34|E|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes = 
| region              = [[Umbria]]
| province            = [[Province of Perugia|Perugia]]
| frazioni            = [[Cantalupo, Bevagna|Cantalupo]], [[Gaglioli]], [[Limigiano]], [[Torre del Colle]], Campofondo, [[Castelbuono, Bevagna|Castelbuono]], Madonna della Pia
| mayor_party         = 
| mayor               =  Annarita Falsacappa 
| area_footnotes      = 
| area_total_km2      = 56.22
| population_footnotes = 
| population_total    = 5013
| population_as_of    = 31 December 2017
| pop_density_footnotes = 
| population_demonym  = Bevanati
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m         = 210
| twin1               = 
| twin1_country       = 
|istat=| saint               = [[Vincent of Saragossa|Saint Vincent]]
| day                 = June 6
| postal_code         = 06031
| area_code           = 0742
| website             = {{official website|http://www.comune.bevagna.pg.it}}
| footnotes           = 
}}
[[File:Bevagna - Chiesa di San Michele e fontana.jpg|thumb|Piazza Silvestri|435x435px]]
'''Bevagna''' is a town and ''[[comune]]'' in the central part of the [[Italy|Italian]] [[province of Perugia]] ([[Umbria]]), in the flood plain of the [[Topino]] river.

Bevagna is {{convert|25|km|mi|abbr=on}} south-east of [[Perugia]], {{convert|8|km|mi|abbr=on}} west of [[Foligno]], {{convert|7|km|mi|abbr=on}} north-north-west of [[Montefalco]], {{convert|16|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of [[Assisi]] and {{convert|15|km|mi|abbr=on}} north-west of [[Trevi, Umbria|Trevi]].

It has a population of c. 5,000, with the town of Bevagna proper accounting for about half of that. It is one of [[I Borghi più belli d'Italia]] ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").<ref>{{cite web|url=https://borghipiubelliditalia.it/umbria/|title=Umbria|access-date=1 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

==History==
The city was originally an [[Etruscan civilization|Etrusco]]-[[Oscan]] settlement. Around 80-90 BC it became a [[ancient Rome|Roman]] ''[[municipium]]'', called '''Mevania''', in the Augustan [[Roman Umbria|Regio VI]]. It lay on the western branch of the [[Via Flaminia]], {{convert|13|km|mi|abbr=on}} west-north-west of [[Forum Flaminii]], where the branches rejoin. It is mentioned on several ancient [[itinerarium|itineraries]], following the [[Vicus Martis Tudertium]] on the way out of Rome.

In 310 BC the consul [[Fabius]] broke the Umbrian forces here; but otherwise it is not mentioned until the 1st century AD. In 69 the army of [[Vitellius]] awaited here the advance of [[Vespasian]].

Pastures near the [[Topino|Tinia river]] and the white oxen of the [[Clitunno|Clitumnus River]] (the modern Clitunno) are mentioned by [[Propertius]], whose family was from the area (from [[Assisi]]um, [[Spello|Hispellum]], or Mevania itself): they may refer to Mevania. Mevania is specifically mentioned by the later writers [[Silius Italicus]], [[Lucan (poet)|Lucan]] and [[Statius]].

There are important remains of a temple near the north gate, of a [[Roman theatre (structure)|theatre]] built into modern houses in the (misnamed) via dell'Anfiteatro, lesser remains of a second temple in the church of San Vincenzo near the east gate, mosaics belonging to midsized baths in the via Porta Guelfa, and very scanty remains of an [[amphitheatre]] at some distance from the modern town. The original walls, which have disappeared, were, according to [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] ([https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/35*.html#173 Hist. Nat. xxxv.173]), built of unbaked bricks. The town now has a complete circuit of medieval stone walls that are said to be very near, if not identical with, the Roman walls.

After the [[Lombards|Lombard]] conquest, it became the seat of a [[gastald]] in the [[Duchy of Spoleto]], and after the year 1000 it was a free ''comune''. In 1152 [[Frederick Barbarossa]] set it on fire. In 1249 it was again destroyed by the Count of [[Aquino, Italy|Aquino]]. The [[Trinci]] family ruled it from 1371 to 1439. Later it was part of the [[Papal States]] until the [[unification of Italy]].

==Francis of Assisi and the birds==
The legendary account of [[Francis of Assisi]] preaching to the birds took place in a field outside Bevagna. The stone on which he allegedly stood when preaching to the birds is now in the Ciccoli Chapel of the Church of San Francesco.<ref>[http://www.keytoumbria.com/Bevagna/S_Francesco.html Key to Umbria: Bevagna: San Francesco], retrieved 4 December 2019.</ref>

==Main sights==
*''Palazzo dei Consoli'', known from 1187, with Teatro F. Torti (1886)
*[[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] church of ''S. Michele Arcangelo'' (12th-13th centuries)
*Romanesque church of ''S. Silvestro'' (1195).
*Church of ''Sant'Agostino'' (1316).
*Church of ''San Francesco'' (after 1275)
*Church of ''San Nicolò''.
*Church of ''Santa Maria in Laurenzia'', built in the 13th century and later enlarged.
*Church of ''San Vincenzo'' (known from the 12th century).
*The medieval walls.
*Ruins of a Roman temple.
*Ruins of a Roman theatre.
*Roman thermae with mosaics of marine life.
*Castle of Cantalupo.
*[[Castelbuono di Bevagna|Castle of Castelbuono]].
*[[Limigiano|Church of Limigiano]].
*Castle of Torre del Colle.

==Culture==
The main events held in Bevagna include:
*''Primavera medievale'' (April): exposition of local culinary and artistic products held by the Associazione Mercato delle Gaitte.
*''Arte in Tavola'' (end of April): Spring festival with exhibitions by local artists, concerts, exhibitions of local products and dishes with tastings.
*''Mercato delle Gaite'' (June): big summer festival with medieval banquets, processions, challenges between the four ''gaite'' (quarters – those of San Giorgio, San Giovanni, San Pietro, and Santa Maria) and taverns.

==Notable residents==
* The painter [[Andrea Camassei]] (1602–1649) was born in Bevagna.
* The singer and composer [[Odoardo Ceccarelli]] (c. 1600–1668) was born in Bevagna.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
*[http://www.comune.bevagna.pg.it/ Official website]
*[http://web.genie.it/utenti/p/proloco.bevagna/ Pro Loco Bevagna]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040922214548/http://www.bevagna.net/ Bevagna.Net]
*[http://www.ilmercatodellegaite.it Mercato del Gaite] - all about the festivals (in Italian)
*[http://www.webvisionitaly.com/category.php?id=216&ref_genre=11&ref_item=167 Mercato del Gaite English Video]
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Mevania}}
*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Umbria/Perugia/Bevagna/Bevagna/Roman/home.html Mevania] at [[LacusCurtius]]

{{Province of Perugia}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Roman sites in Umbria]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in Italy]]
[[Category:Borghi più belli d'Italia]]