Matigge

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Matigge, a village in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria at 294 m (965 ft) above sea-level on the lower flank of Mt. Puranno, 42°54N 12°44E. It is a frazione of Trevi, which is 3 km (2 mi) S. Its population is around 100.

[edit] History and Monuments

The origin of the town's name is unknown, but may derive from Latin (villa) Matidiae: Matidia Minor was a sister-in-law of emperor Hadrian. Matidia was known to have had a villa in Umbria and Matidia was a wealthy and socially-conscious woman, responsible for one of the grander building schemes in Ostia. Hadrian restored a large chunk of the Umbrian Via Flaminia in AD 123‑124; it is thus an appealing, if unproven, theory, that Hadrian would have had the need for restoring the road personally brought home to him as he travelled it back and forth to his daughter's hypothetical villa.

Matigge does in fact boast of Roman remains: traces of small Roman roads, and significant Roman spolia used in the construction of the attractive Romanesque church of S. Donato. A second small Romanesque church in town is S. Niccolò.