From the adventures of the brave leaders of Trasimeno, changing perspective, one can pass to its great artists, first of all Pietro Vannucci, known as “Il Perugino” (1450-1523). Originally from Città della Pieve, Pietro Vannucci was trained between Arezzo and Florence, in the environment of Piero della Francesca and in the Verrocchio workshop, working side by side with young talents such as Leonardo da Vinci, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Lorenzo di Credi, Filippino Lippi , Luca Signorelli and Sandro Botticelli.
Vannucci will become more properly “il Perugino”, nickname given to him by the Florentines, only from January 1501, when he opened a shop in Perugia. Works by him are present in the most important museums in the world. In Città della Pieve there is “The Adoration of the Magi” (Oratory of Santa Maria dei Bianchi, 1504). The story is represented as a great chivalrous procession that is lost in the distance among one of the largest landscapes designed by Perugino, where the presence of the Trasimeno is recognizable, albeit idealized.
In Panicale it is possible to visit “The Martyrdom of San Sebastiano” (Church of San Sebastiano, 1505). The scene seems to deliberately fly over the traces of blood, proposing an ecstatic saint who languidly receives the arrows with his gaze turned to the blessing God.
Pupil of Perugino and Gianluca Signorelli was Giovan Battista Caporali (Perugia 1496-1560), architect and painter. Several works by this artist can be admired at Trasimeno, including “The Coronation of Mary” at the Sanctuary of the Madonna dei Miracoli in Castel Rigone, “Madonna with Child and angels” also known as “Madonna with the rose”. In the chapel of the Hospital of Castiglione del Lago,” The Adoration of the Magi “in the church of San Michele Arcangelo in Panicale, and the fresco on the high altar of the church of the Santissimo Salvatore in Paciano. Among his other important projects were the cathedral of Panicale and the Municipality of Perugia.
The name of Niccolò Circignani known as Pomarancio (1516 – 1598) is also strongly linked to this territory. In fact, having moved to Castel della Pieve (today Città della Pieve) in 1563 he never left the area where all his major works are found. Among the frescoes by Pomarancio that can be admired inside the Sanctuary of Mongiovino (Panicale), there is “The Resurrection”.
In Città della Pieve almost all the churches contain works by him and, in Castiglione del Lago, the Palazzo Ducale della Corgna is largely painted by him. Worthy of mention are the frescoes on mythological themes such as the “Judgment of Paris” and “Stories of the Aeneid”.
Another illustrious painter is Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini, known as Masolino da Panicale (Panicale, 1383 – Florence, 1440). Considered Masaccio‘s teacher, he traveled extensively, spreading the Renaissance culture with a style that linked the Gothic to new perspective schemes. Among his works we remember the Madonna and Child, preserved in Bremen, the Madonna of Humility, now in the Uffizi, the decoration of the Brancacci chapel, in the church of Carmine in Pisa.
So much Perugino loved classical harmony, so much Gerardo Dottori (1884 – 1977), a futurist painter, proposed his art through aeropainting, in particular by representing mystical landscapes, mainly inspired by Trasimeno lake and Umbria. Among the works of Doctors present at Trasimeno, the frescoes and the canvas dedicated to Fra Giovanni da Pian di Carpine in the council chamber of the town hall of Magione are worthy of mention; the religious-themed frescoes in the churches of Magione – San Giovanni Battista, San Cristoforo di Montesperello, Santa Maria Annunziata di Montecolognola – and Tuoro, Santa Maria Maddalena.
Entering the world of artistic craftsmanship, Trasimeno has its most important center in Piegaro, where glassmaking began around the 13th century, thanks to some Venetian workers who arrived on site. From the order of large quantities of mosaics ordered for the Cathedral of Orvieto, in the early 1300s, the development of the Piegaro glassworks took off, concentrating its production on very high quality levels: colored glass and mosaic tiles adorned the facades and the large windows of other famous cathedrals such as those of Perugia, Milan and Bologna.
