Beauty will save the Earth

In the province of Terni, in the Nerina valley, we visit an intact medieval village, rich in Romanesque churches. Small and extraordinary, it welcomes us through narrow passages, defenders of the ancient community. Stone, wood and bricks are the only materials, simple and severe, humble and refined, used to build buildings and churches. Walking from the Piazza di Santa Maria, with the Gothic portal and the turreted bell tower, we visit the ecomuseum. Here the house of tales tells us of fantastic stories and popular tradition. Between the small streets opens the square with the Church of San Giovanni Battista, in Romanesque style of the thirteenth century. Inside you can admire the fresco of the apse basin made in 1536 by Jacopo Siculo and depicting the death of the Madonna. We go up to the apical square where the highest church stands, Santa Caterina from 1354, which like a castle surrounds the whole town around itself in a hedgehog structure that defends itself, thanks to its beauty, from forgetfulness and abandonment.