The layout of the Piazza dates back to the 12th-13th centuries and has always represented the heart of the city. It is one of the most evocative and famous squares, considered to be among the most important medieval urban realisations in Umbria.
First named after Umberto I, King of Italy, today its name pays homage to fellow citizen and entomologist Filippo Silvestri, who achieved great fame thanks to his valuable studies in the fascinating world of insects. Considered worldwide to be one of the founders of agricultural entomology, Silvestri theorised the biological control of pests using other insects.
Originally, there was an octagonal cistern in the center of the square, which was replaced in 1896 by the current fountain. A characteristic element of the room is the Roman column with Corinthian capital, known as the San Rocco column.
It is overlooked by the imposing and elegant Palazzo dei Consoli (1270), the largest civil building in Bevagna. Constructed in travertine and sandstone, its façade is enlivened by a double row of Gothic double lancet windows at the top and rests on a large loggia, which is accessed by pointed arches framing the direct access from the street level.
A wide, scenic staircase gives access to the first floor which, since 1886, has housed the Teatro Torti, , a 19th-century jewel set in the old palace, designed by architect Antonio Martini. Developed with a horseshoe layout, on which three tiers of boxes and a gallery open, the ceiling is decorated with a representation of the arts in the form of dancing Muses, the work of Mariano Piervittori. There are two curtains: the original one by Domenico Bruschi depicting 'Propertius pointing out his homeland to Torti', and the modern curtain, created in the 1990s by Luigi Frappi, a contemporary Bevanate painter, which depicts the poetic cippus, the small temple of Clitunno and the river Clitunno, with a highly evocative landscape view.
The palace is contrasted by the buildings of religious power:
- the church of San Silvestro, a jewel of Romanesque architecture, erected in 1195, with its façade, unfinished at the top, has a beautiful travertine portal and, in the center, a marble triple lancet window with two twisted mullioned windows at the sides;
- the Church of San Michele Arcangelo, opposite and contemporary to the 'twin' Church of St Silvestro, with a solemn Romanesque façade and horizontal crowning. The middle and minor portals, with their three-mullioned window, are noteworthy. On the right stands the solid, domed bell tower with Gothic triple lancet window;;
- the Church of S. Domenico e Giacomo from 1291, built on a pre-existing oratory donated to Blessed Giacomo Bianconi by the municipality. The façade features a beautiful late 14th-century polystyle portal, decorated in the lunette with a fresco.
A curiosity, for those who feel they have already been here before: the village of Bevagna with its square and the buildings that characterise it, in recent years in particular, have been and continue to be the backdrop for various films and TV series that have made it famous even to the eyes of the youngest.
