New contents on the convents of the Franciscan Observance in Umbria (Italy): examples from an ongoing research on the historical archival documentation

This essay sets out the results of research conducted in the main historical archives of Umbria, starting with that of San Francesco del Monte in Perugia (Monteripido) and espe- cially the Historical Archive of the Patriarchal Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi. The latter preserves, in addition to the papers of the Basilica and the Portiuncula, extensive documentation relating to a number of Franciscan Observance monasteries, including the Hermitage of Santa Maria delle Carceri in Assisi, the monasteries of Santissima Annunzi- ata in Gualdo Tadino, Santissima Annunziata in Amelia, San Bartolomeo in Foligno, Mon- teluco, Sacro Speco in Narni and San Francesco in Stroncone. These documentary bodies – very fragmentary and incomplete, not always ordered and catalogued and therefore, often difficult to consult – consists of correspondence, minutes of sacred canonical visits, patrimo- nial and accounting notes, entries and exits, convent chronicles and memoirs, and concern various aspects of the history and life of the Osservanza convents. Among them, those consid- ered most significant have been selected in order to document some fundamental episodes of the architectural complexes chosen as case studies (such as the construction, renovation and expansion works of the buildings), with the relations established, since their foundation, with the territory and the landscape in which they are set, regarding in particular the use of resources (mainly water and springs, woods and pastures, agrarian spaces), communication routes and urban settlements, in a period between the 17th and 20th centuries.