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Stemma di Nocera Umbra

Umbria · Perugia

Nocera Umbra

A hill town at 520 meters on the Apennine slope, leveled by the 1997 earthquake and rebuilt, with mineral springs flowing since the sixteenth century.

Known for

  • MINERAL WATER

    Bagni di Nocera springs, used since 1500 for hydrotherapy; the Sorgente Angelica still bottles for the national market.

  • 1997 EARTHQUAKE

    The Campanaccio was almost entirely destroyed on 26 September 1997 and reconstructed across two decades, completed in 2016.

  • NICCOLÒ ALUNNO

    Fifteenth-century Foligno school painter whose works anchor the Pinacoteca alongside Matteo da Gualdo and Cimabue-circle panels.

  • PATATA ROSSA DI COLFIORITO

    The commune lies inside the Patata Rossa di Colfiorito IGP production zone.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J
  • F
  • M
  • A
  • M
  • J
  • J
  • A
  • S
  • O
  • N
  • D
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

The festa: Rinaldo di Nocera Umbra, 9 February

Why come

Nocera Umbra sits fifteen kilometers north of Foligno. The Romans called it Nuceria; the town has held its own bishopric since the early Middle Ages and was contested between Perugia, Spoleto and the Trinci of Foligno through the medieval period, a tug of war between larger powers that left it walled and defensible on its slope rather than absorbed by any one of them.

The centro storico climbs to a summit where the tower, the cathedral and the former Rocca stand together, the civic and the religious and the military crowded onto the same high ground. Below, five kilometers down from that core, the springs form a separate pole of the town's life, functional rather than defensive, drawing visitors for water rather than for stone. The Bandiera Arancione recognition was reconfirmed after reconstruction, a marker that the rebuilding did not just replace what fell but held the town to the standard it met before the quake.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Nocera Umbra’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

Nocera Umbra — photo 1
Nocera Umbra — photo 2

What to see

  • Campanaccio (Torre Civica)

    Eleventh-century square tower at the highest point of the borgo. Only part of one side remained standing after 1997; the rest is reconstruction, stone matched to stone.

  • Pinacoteca e Museo Civico

    Civic gallery in the deconsecrated Chiesa di San Francesco with works by Niccolò Alunno, Matteo da Gualdo, and the school of Cimabue.

  • Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

    Cathedral at the summit of the centro storico, partially damaged and restored, set beside the tower and the former Rocca.

  • Sorgenti di Bagni di Nocera

    Mineral springs five kilometers below the centro storico. The Sorgente Angelica still bottles commercially, drawn from the same source used for hydrotherapy since 1500.

  • Centro storico restaurato

    Medieval walled core rebuilt after the quake, with the original streetplan preserved and most masonry restored stone by stone.

The slow-trip planner

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Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

  • Palio dei Quartierihistorical re-enactment

    usually held in August. TrovaSagre

Living here

  • Population 5,511
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Ancona / Pescara, 1 h 29 min drive
  • Regional capital Perugia, 54 min drive

This is a thermal town — terme operate here.

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 520 m
  • Population: 5,511
  • Surface area: 157.17 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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