Bolsena - Bolsena

Bolsena is a city of Lazio.

To know

Bolsena is famous for its lake and for being named The city of the Eucharistic miracle, from which the solemnity of Corpus Domini was extended to the whole Church. It is about 30 km from ViterboIt is located on the northern bank of the Lake of Bolsena, formed over 300,000 years ago following the calderic collapse of some volcanoes belonging to the Volsini mountains. Its territory is all included between the shores of the lake and the hills that formed the edge of the ancient volcanic cone.

When to go

It has a generally mild climate thanks above all to the proximity of the lake and therefore not too cold winters. Snowfalls are rare, which are more frequent in the mountains just behind them (Monti Volsini), which reach 700 m a.s.l.

Background

Volsinii was an ancient Etruscan and then Roman city.

Political and religious center of primary importance, ancient sources testify to its destruction in 264 BC. by the Romans, following which the Roman center of Volsinii (also called modernly Volsinii novi), the current Bolsena, was re-founded.

The identification of the ancient Etruscan center (modernly referred to as Volsinii veteres) is instead discussed: according to the most accredited hypothesis it would be ancient Orvieto while according to others it should always be identified with the Roman Volsinii and therefore the current Bolsena.

How to orient yourself

How to get

How to get around

What see

• Chapel of the Miracle. Baroque style construction, completed in the 19th century. The miracle refers to the host that in the distant 1263 or 1264 caused a considerable amount of blood to gush out, according to the chronicles of the time. Evidence of the miracle was brought to Orvieto and delivered to Pope Urban IV, who after having seen the traces of the miracle, instituted the feast of Corpus Domini, the following year. The interior is characterized by an altar with a very old ciborium and a valuable statue in homage to Santa Cristina, attributed to Buglioni. 

• Church of Santa Cristina (11th century). In Romanesque style, it preserves works by Benedetto Buglioni, a polyptych by Sano di Pietro and a chapel frescoed in 1498 by Giovanni de 'Ferrarris from Mondovì. In August 1976, Pope Paul VI elevated it to the dignity of a minor basilica. 
• Convent of Santa Maria del Giglio. It was started at the beginning of the 17th century, after the local community decided to build a church on the site of the small medieval votive capital dedicated to the Madonna del Giglio. In 1626 the cloister was already finished and frescoed.

On the crossroads of roads to Viterbo-Rome is Orvieto, seems to have been an ideal stopping place for pilgrims to the Via Francigena that they wanted to detour for Orvieto and visit, after the altar of the Eucharistic miracle on the tomb of Santa Cristina in Bolsena, also the chapel of the miracle of the cathedral of Orvieto, the bishop's seat.

Sufficient for the needs of the first friars who took care of the sanctuary, the convent began to become too small in the mid-eighteenth century when, thanks to the contribution of Cardinal Lorenzo Cozza, Bolsenese by adoption, but coming from the nearby town of San Lorenzo Nuovo, it was enlarged with the addition of two arms towards the west.

In the 19th century, a floor was added on the north wing. The convent came to accommodate more than 70 permanently resident people. From the second post-war period a progressive decrease in the presence of the friars began.

Currently owned by the Roman Province of the Friars Minor, who bought it back from the State after the expropriation of 1870, it has been managed since 1997 by the "Punti di Vista" association which leads, among other activities, a holiday home, continuing maintenance. and the progressive recovery.  

• Former church of S. Francesco. From the XII-XIII century with frescoes and today the municipal theater and the adjacent one San Ludovico 16th century, now a library. 
• Former church of San Salvatore, via Delle Piagge. From the thirteenth century, it is located in the medieval Castello district, with the characteristic domed bell tower covered with majolica and today used during the summer for exhibitions 
• Church of San Salvatore. It dates back to the 15th century and is located outside the walls facing the fortress which was destroyed inside by a fire in 1914 
• Oratory of the Madonna dei Cacciatori. From the 15th century, it is located a few steps from the previous one in the homonymous street. Inside there are various votive frescoes of various saints. The church is private, but can be visited by contacting the tobacconist in front of the entrance to the fortress. 

• Rocca Monaldeschi della Cervara. The first news dates back to 1156 when Pope Adrian IV fortified the villages located on the Cassia to defend the barbarian incursions. It then passed to the powerful Monaldeschi family from Orvieto. It currently hosts the Territorial Museum of Lake Bolsena. La Rocca is located in the historic center of Bolsena, in the northern area. The neighborhood is called Castello, and it is the oldest neighborhood in Tuscia. The Castle is still in medieval style, with pretty alleys, and with a large building owned by a local prince. The Castle is the most visited tourist spot by foreign tourists. 
• Cozza Crispo Palace (hour of the Dragon). It can be visited upon reservation. Built on designs by architects Simone Mosca and Raffaello da Montelupo around the middle of the 16th century, it is one of the best preserved 16th century palaces of the Lazio and inside it preserves a cycle of frescoes from the Mannerist era. It was the residence of the famous Abbot Giuseppe Cozza Luzi, Deputy Librarian of S.R.C. and abbot of the abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata. 
• Fountain of San Rocco. It was built by Cardinal Giovanni de 'Medici and is located in the picturesque square of San Rocco: for the Bolsenese the water that flows is miraculous and every year a mass is celebrated with the blessing of the waters (16 August). The fountain was carefully restored a few years ago. 
• Caposavi Palace (now Cozza Caposavi). Of sixteenth-century origin, it was redesigned in the eighteenth century under the direction of the architect Domenici and dominates the Medici fountain of San Rocco. 
• Catacombs of Santa Cristina. can be visited. 

Events and parties

• Sacred representation of the Mysteries of Santa Cristina. July 24 Santa Cristina. On the evening of 23 July some living pictures, called Mysteries, are set up to commemorate the sufferings of the holy child. The procession with the statue of Santa Cristina stops in front of each representation, along the road from the Basilica to the Church of the Santissimo Salvatore. The costumes and the set-up are particularly accurate and the subdivisions of the roles and the different settings follow a tradition that has been handed down from father to son. The next morning the procession with the Saint leaves from the Church of the Santissimo Salvatore until it returns to Santa Cristina, stopping in front of new performances that are set up. 
• Eucharistic miracle. The Christian tradition recalls the Eucharistic miracle that took place in Bolsena in 1263. A priest of Bohemian origin, during the celebration of the Eucharist on the tomb of Santa Cristina, would have had doubts about the transubstantiation. Suddenly the blood, gushed from the consecrated Host, bathed the corporal and the liturgical linens. Pope Urban IV, who was in the nearby Orvieto, was informed of the incident and sent the bishop Giacomo to check the situation, with the task of taking the sacred bloody linen with him. In 1264 the Pope promulgated the Bolla Transiturus which established the Feast of Corpus Domini. The sacred stones are kept in Bolsena, one of which is always exposed to the veneration of the faithful.

The famous procession that winds through the streets of the old town was celebrated, for the first time, in 1811 by the will of the Franciscan friar Francesco dei Conti Cozza. 

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Where stay

High prices

• Ludwig Boutique, Viale Cadorna 15, ☎ 39 0761 799262, fax: 39 0761 796084. Five star hotel 
• Holiday, Viale Diaz 38, ☎ 39 0761 796900, fax: 39 0761 799550. Four star hotel 
• Lido Beach & Palace, Via Cassia Km 114,800, ☎ 39 0761 799026, 39 0761 799033, fax: 39 0761 798489, 39 0761 798586. Four star hotel 
• Royal, Piazzale Dante Alighieri 8/10, ☎ 39 0761 797048, fax: 39 0761 796000. 

Campsites

• The Cappelletta, Via Cassia Km 116,500, ☎ 39 0761 799543, fax: 39 0761 799543. 
• The Calle, Location Fornacella 11 / D, ☎ 39 328 7154633, 39 329 4064764. 
• Lido Village, Via Cassia Km 111, ☎ 39 0761 799258, fax: 39 0761 796105. 

Safety

• Lanzi, Via Gramsci, 38, ☎ 39 0761 799031. 

How to keep in touch

• Italian post, via Gramsci 38, ☎ 39 0761 799018. 

Around

• Pitigliano - It stands overhanging the cliff of the tuff spike where it was built, with the outer curtain of the houses appearing as one with the rock, to which the buildings are also uniform with the color. It was for centuries a fief of the Orsini and maintains an important medieval village as well as valuable monuments: the Cathedral, the Medici Fountain, Palazzo Orsini, the Jewish Synagogue and the Ghetto.
• Sovana - Ancient bishopric, it was an Etruscan center. Its medieval historic center is noteworthy; of great importance its Etruscan archaeological area with the monumental tombs Ildebranda is of the Siren.
• Sorano - It is defined the Matera of Tuscany for its particular urban characteristic of numerous rupestrian buildings dug into the tuff, reminiscent of the famous Sassi of Matera.
• Orvieto - It develops on a tuffaceous cliff that rises isolated in the plain. Its historic center of great atmosphere reaches its apex in the splendor of the Cathedral, a masterpiece of Gothic in central Italy. It was an Etruscan city, a civilization of which it retains numerous testimonies and a necropolis in the countryside below.
• Civita di Bagnoregio - Isolated due to the progressive erosion of the hill and the surrounding valley, it is famous for its suggestive geographical position and its medieval layout. Connected by a single pedestrian bridge, it is called "The city that dies". It is part of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
• Montefiascone - It stands on a hill directly overlooking Lake Bolsena. The soil rich in materials of lava origin has favored the development of vine cultivation and this is why Montefiascone is known for its wine production far beyond its borders.
• Viterbo - Its historic center, with an almost totally medieval aspect, finds an excellent example of that era in via San Pellegrino, precisely in its medieval quarter. Numerous churches, squares with fountains, narrow streets are surrounded by turreted walls that contribute to making the impression of having gone back through the centuries even stronger. Popes often resided there; of undoubted beauty is the Papal Palace, a fine example of Viterbo Gothic.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Bolsena
• Commons contains images or other files on Bolsena

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