Offida - Offida

Offida is a city of Marche.

To know

Offida joined the club of the most beautiful villages in Italy on 2 May 2008.

Geographical notes

It is located in the Piceno area of ​​the Marche region and its territory lies entirely between the valleys of the Tesino river to the north and the Tronto river to the south. The inhabited center owes its irregular plan to the rocky spur on which it stands, cut out from the two spring branches of the Lama torrent, a left tributary of the Tronto.

Background

The origins of Offida are rather debated. The toponym itself is the subject of different interpretations and does not help to form a certain idea of ​​how the inhabited center arose. In the Offida area there are Picene tombs (7th-5th century BC) and Roman remains, but there is no certain historical trace until 578 AD. when the Ascolans fleeing the Lombard invasion founded several castles in the Piceni hills, including Offida.

According to some historians, Offida already in the seventh century was a center of some importance, becoming the seat of a Gastaldato. Of the same there would be traces in the Carolingian era and under the Holy Roman Empire when the city assumed great importance. The first certain historical evidence dates back to 1039, when Longino d'Azone yields to the Abbey of Farfa the castle of Ophida. In 1261 a bull of Pope Urban IV confirmed the powers of the Abbey of Farfa by establishing the Presidato Farfense, a sort of governorate detached from Farfa and independent of any diocese. and priori. For Offida and other large Marche towns of the time it is an official recognition for institutions already operating and "tested".

Similarly to the whole Piceno territory, the period from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century is characterized by the wars between Ascoli is Stop with the people of Offida who took the parts of the latter. The terrible internal struggles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines that resulted in numerous bloody events date back to the first half of the sixteenth century. of the church. After a century under the diocese of Montalto, Offida passes under the diocese of Ascoli.

In 1831 Pope Gregory XVI elevates Offida to the status of a city. At the end of the nineteenth century the transition from an exclusively agricultural economy to one with a marked artisanal presence begins, up to the development of small industries in a town that, today, is not plus that important landmark it has been for centuries.

During the Second World War in June 1944 the German troops blew up the bridge of the electric tramway that connected Offida with the Castel di Lama railway station and the bridge of the "Mezzina road" over the Lava stream, two pontoons placed under the cliffs that surrounded Offida and, in the historic center, the main sources of communication (telephone and telegraph) and the transformer that supplied electricity to the Cappuccini hamlet were destroyed.

In 2010 it was the site of the junior cycling world championships in which 49 nations participated, a truly impressive event for such a small center if you consider that the previous venue was Moscow and the next Copenhagen.

How to orient yourself

Neighborhoods

Its municipal territory includes the hamlets of Borgo Miriam and Santa Maria Goretti; the localities Rovecciano, San Barnaba and San Venanzio; the districts of Ciafone, Lava, San Lazzaro and Tesino.

How to get

How to get around

What see

• Church of Santa Maria della Rocca. The church is located on the western edge of the town, surrounded on three sides by cliffs that open onto two valleys. It is a brick construction in the Gothic style, built by Maestro Albertino in 1330 on a pre-existing small Benedictine church.

The facade, facing the outside of the town, is articulated by pilasters and on the opposite side there are three high polygonal apses with white stone pilasters, single lancet windows and Gothic arches. On the central apse there is a Gothic portal that leads into the crypt (3 then 5 naves), as wide as the upper church and adorned with frescoes attributed to the Master of Offida.

The upper church, with a single hall according to the tradition of the mendicant orders, preserves frescoes of Giotto influence, still attributed to the Master of Offida (those of the transept are dated by an inscription to 1367) and others attributed to Giacomo da Campli (15th century). Part of the original decorations were also lost due to the deterioration of the roof.

In the side altars, erected in different eras, there is the one dedicated to Sant'Andrea, from the 15th century, with an altarpiece frescoed on the wall by Vincenzo Pagani.

During the advance of the allied troops, between 16 and 18 June 1944, some German soldiers had completely undermined the church so that the rubble was in the way of the allies, but none of the thirty mines exploded and the inhabitants attributed the episode to a miracle of the Virgin.

On the left side of the first staircase leading to the church a sheep is represented eating a four-leaf clover; popular belief has it that if you position yourself on it, walking backwards along the staircase, with your eyes closed, your wish will be fulfilled. 

• Sanctuary of Sant'Agostino. Sanctuary of Sant'Agostino. Following the arrival of the relics relating to the Eucharistic miracle of They launch, the original church of the Maddalena was replaced by a more grandiose church, which the Augustinians decided to name after Sant'Agostino. Its construction lasted from 1338 to 1441. The facade is Baroque (1686). The interior was modified and enlarged in the eighteenth century with a Latin cross plan, with a dome within a lantern and a late Baroque robe of stuccoes and valuable wooden furnishings (choir and confessionals in walnut briar by the cabinetmaker Alessio Donati from Offida). Also inside there is a very precious reliquary cross (the "holy cross" which preserves the relic of the aforementioned miracle), a work in gilded silver made in Venice in the fourteenth century and another reliquary of Marche art of the fifteenth century. 
• Church of the Madonna del Suffragio. Church of the Madonna del Suffragio. On the eastern façade there are two small walled doors in travertine from the 14th century, a Romanesque-style terracotta frieze and a travertine architrave with Byzantine friezes. Also on the same façade there is the original entrance to the church of Sant'Antonio abate with a fresco by Simone de Magistris on the side dedicated to the same saint, much deteriorated as it is exposed on the outside. The interior with three naves was built in the eighteenth century. There is a wooden statue of the fifteenth century and a wooden skeleton of the seventeenth century depicting "death", which once the Compagnia del Suffragio wore as an emblem in procession. 
• Monastery of San Marco. Monastery of San Marco. Built as a Franciscan monastery in the fourteenth century on a pre-existing Benedictine site, it has undergone several changes over the centuries. Since 1655 it has housed the Benedictine nuns while the current church of San Marco in Baroque style was built in 1738 occupying the central part of the original one erected in 1359 in Romanesque-Gothic style and of which a large portal with an overlying rose window has come back to light. (currently not visible because they are enclosed in the boundary wall). The south side on Piazza Baroncelli, in addition to the aedicule portal of access to the church (1574), has the original closed Gothic arches and single-lancet windows, as well as on the north side which, however, is not visible because it is enclosed by the walls of the monastery. In the monastery there are some frescoes from the 14th-15th century, a polychrome wooden cross and a reliquary cross made of stone and precious pearls. 
• Church of the Addolorata. Fifteenth-century church with a single nave with an elegant sixteenth-century loggia on the front and an elaborate brick cornice. Inside there is exposed the "coffin", that is that chariot with a finely decorated canopy on which the statue of the dead Christ is placed, which is carried in procession on Good Friday. 

• Collegiate Church. Collegiate Church. Built between 1785 and 1798 by the Ticino architect Pietro Maggi on a much modified design by Lorenzo Giosafatti from Ascoli; it has a neoclassical Louis XVI interior and a façade built only at the end of the nineteenth century in an eclectic style of brick and travertine. Inside, among other things, there is a thirteenth-century wooden casket with 26 ivory figures of northern art, a fourteenth-century processional cross, a fifteenth-century reliquary, a sixteenth-century wooden group, a wooden crucifix by Desiderio Bonfini (1612) , paintings of the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Crivellesque school and school of Pietro Alemanno). The choir carved with twisted columns and mirrors in Verona briar with two orders of 14 stalls was made by Alessio Donati for the church of Santa Maria della Rocca but was transferred in 1794 to the Collegiate, together with the relics of San Leonardo di Noblac preserved in a urn placed inside the main altar, also in wood. On 12 November 1994 the body of Blessed Corrado da Offida was placed in the third altar on the left, solemnly moved from Perugia, where it had been kept in the now no longer consecrated Church of San Francesco al Prato. The church, despite the distance, was affected by the strong earthquake that occurred in L'Aquila on April 6, 2009: in fact, on the day of the earthquake some pieces of plaster fell off the bell tower. 
• Sanctuary of Beato Bernardo. 

• Town Hall. Built between the 13th and 14th centuries (central crenellated tower). The façade is preceded by a 7-arched portico with an elegant 14-arched loggia raised in the 15th century. Inside there is a small art gallery with works by Pietro Alamanno and Simone de Magistris from Caldarola. In the municipal historical archive there is, among other things, the mutilated parchment cadastre of the fourteenth century with a good 70 parchments in Gothic characters. 
• Serpente Aureo Theater. In 1768 in the council chamber of the town hall there was a stage used for theatrical performances. On July 8, 1768, the proposal of Paolo Cipolletti and Gaetano Castellotti was presented, consisting in creating a wooden theater with a stage and 29 boxes placed in 3 orders and a gallery. The theater was completed in 1771 but it turned out to be too small and many noble families were left without a box; the audience also proved insufficient. Other structural problems were evident, but despite these drawbacks the structure did not undergo any changes until 1820. On 21 October 1801, Paolo Cipolletti was entrusted with the task of renovating the theater: the project was entrusted to the architect Pietro Maggi.

The current theater, dating back to the restructuring of 1862, is nicknamed by the inhabitants of Offida "La Bomboniera": it is Baroque in style with a horseshoe shape. You reach the hall with 50 boxes arranged on 3 orders, stalls and gallery, through an entrance adorned with four statues representing four muses.

The room is decorated with stuccoes and gilded carvings on a green background created by G. Battista Bernardi. The ceiling was frescoed by Alcide Allevi, it depicts Apollo and the Muses. The whole is dominated by an artistic chandelier with globes of precious crystal. The legend of the mythical golden snake is still preserved on the stage. Later the structure underwent further restorations.

Currently the theater is used for cultural events. During the Carnival it is used for the Veglionissimi. 

Events and parties

• Historic Carnival of Offida. from Thursday to Shrove Tuesday. 
• Holy Cross. on May 3. Commemoration of the Eucharistic Miracle. The name of the ancient festival is due to the precious cross-shaped reliquary that was made in the fourteenth century by Venetian artists and that is carried in procession together with the other traditional signs of the miracle: the bloody tile, the bloody tablecloth and the horse / mule . 
• Feast of the Blessed Bernard of Offida. on 23 August. 
• Feast of the Blessed Corrado of Offida. on September 30th. 
• Patronal feast of San Leonardo di Noblac. 
• The Cove (at the church of the Addolorata). in August. Grain festival, of ancient peasant tradition: cove stands for sheaves. 
• Stuffed Chichì Festival. first Sunday of August. 
• Antiques Fair. on Fridays in July and August. 
• Wine market exhibition of the Piceni hills. first days of September. 

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Around

• Ascoli Piceno It is known as the City of a hundred towers. Its historic center is famous for having houses, palaces, churches, bridges and elevated towers in travertine. Here, history and architectural styles have settled their passage from the Roman age to the Middle Ages, up to the Renaissance. Artists such as Cola dell'Amatrice, Lazzaro Morelli, Carlo Crivelli, Giosafatti and other talented sculptors, stonecutters, painters have left a mark of their talent. It welcomes one of the most beautiful squares in Italy: Piazza del Popolo, center of cultural and political life, framed by arcades with loggias, Palazzo dei Capitani and Caffè Meletti. Every year in August the Quintana is held there, a historical re-enactment in costume with a procession and competition of six knights vying for the conquest of the Palio.

Other projects

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

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