This is the birth-place of Fra' Giovanni di Pian di Carpine, who owes his name to the mighty carpini betuli (horn-beams) which once covered the plain at the foot of Magione. In 1225 the friar was sent by Pope Innocent IV to the Orient, to spread the order of the minorites.
He was to return twenty--three years later, and commit to posterity his book "Historia Mongolorum" which described the Mongolian civilisation for the first time. It was a text used as a guide by many missionaries and merchants, among whom Marco Polo.
The town (299 m a.s.l.) grew around the hospice founded by Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, transformed into a castle in 1300 and enlarged in 1420 by the Bolognese, Fieravante Fieravanti. The municipality of Magione also includes the picturesque hamlets of S. Feliciano, Agello, Monte del Lago and Monte Colognola, whose church houses an interesting "Annunciation" on majolica tiles (1584) and a fresco by a XX century artist, Gerardo Dottori.
Other works by the same painter may be seen in the council chamber and parish church of Magione.
Castle of the Knights of Malta
The "Castle of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta" was constructed between 1160 and 1170 as a fortified hospital. The original nucleus comprised the bell-tower and the ancient chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which contains two XVI century frescoes of the school of Pinturicchio. Over the centuries, the castle has been subject to various modifications, until it reached its present aspect. Particularly impressive is the courtyard, with its loggia covering three sides.
The Fishing Museum at San Feliciano
Since 1974, the Fishing Museum has set out to record the "life" of Trasimeno through what for centuries has been the principal activity of its people. The Museum shows the visitor not only the different fishing methods but also objects from the daily lives of the fishermen, not least documents written in the dialect of their world, now almost lost.
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