Magione

Rising in the Etruscan-Roman period, the settlement of Magione dates back to the Middle Ages when, in order to provide hospitality to the numerous pilgrims who passed through here on their way to Rome, the Knights of the Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem founded a hospice called \'La Magione di Pian del Carpine\' and, by extension, the name was extended to the entire settlement.

In 1300, the Knights of Malta turned the hospice into a castle for security reasons. Within the strong walls in 1502, the conspiracy against Cesare Borgia, the natural son of Pope Alexander VI, was hatched.

Magione is also the home of Friar Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, a follower of St Francis who left for the East in 1245, arriving as far as Mongolia, at the court of the Great Khan. On his return he wrote his Historia Mongolorum (History of the Mongols).

The Castle of the Knights of Malta is certainly the most representative building in the city: its square plan with circular towers and a courtyard overlooked by three orders of loggias, takes visitors back to an ancient time.

Take the time to visit the Church of St John the Baptist, built in 1571. Its majestic Baroque façade introduces us to a rich interior enriched by a cycle of frescoes by Gerardo Dottori, the famous futurist artist who, in Magione, also painted a stupendous cycle of frescoes in the Palazzo Comunale.