For those who have given me such very positive feedback about the extracts from Edward Hutton's book "The Cities of Romagna and the Marches", I thought it might be interesting to know that he was highly honoured by Italy for his services to the country (including his role in helping to protect Italy's cultural heritage in WWII). In 1917 he was made a Cavaliere of the Italian Crown; at age 83 the Italian government conferred on him the Commenda of the Italian Order of Merit and at 90 he was awarded the Medaglia culturale d'oro.
Here's what Mr Hutton had to say about our nearby Montefortino and its works of art:
From Amandola I made an excursion to Montefortino, a little castello very loftily and beautifully situated some five miles to the south. Apart from its own beauty,
Montefortino is chiefly noteworthy for the pictures that are to be found in its Municipio. Here is a fine tondo of the dead Christ by Perugino, and a panel of a saint by Antoniazzo Romano, as well as a picture of the Madonna and Child, with Tobias and two archangels painted in 1497 by Pier Francesco Fiorentino, the imitator of Neri di Bicci, and a Madonna adoring her little Son by Neri di Bicci's pupil, Botticini. In the church of S. Agostino is a picture, once attributed to Perugino, of the Adoration of the Magi, and a S. Antony painted on wood that has
much charm. Other works will be found in the Santuario deir Ambro and in the Madonna del Fonte outside the castello, where there are fine frescoes.
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