Bevagna is a town and comune in the central part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria), in the flood plain of the Topino river.
Bevagna is south-east of Perugia, west of Foligno, north-north-west of Montefalco, south of Assisi and north-west of Trevi.
Bevagna is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
History
Antiquity
Bevagna, known in antiquity as Mevania, was an important Umbrian city on the Via Flaminia, between Carsulae and Fulginium. The ancient settlement lay on the bank of the river in an open and fertile valley stretching from the vicinity of Spoleto to the Tiber, separating the main Apennine chain from the ranges that extend toward Todi and Amelia. Classical authors including Columella, Silius Italicus and Lucan refer to the fertility of this region.
Before the Roman conquest, Mevania was a significant centre; in 308 BC Umbrian forces were stationed here when the consul Fabius advanced against them. In the Roman imperial period the city continued to flourish: Strabo mentions it among the strongest Umbrian cities, and Pliny records that it was enclosed by brick walls. The Antonine Itinerary and the Itinerary of Vicarello list Mevania as a mansio (station) on the Via Flaminia. Pliny also notes that the territory, the Mevanias ager, produced a particular prized wine called Irtia. Inscriptions indicate that the city belonged to the tribus Aemilia and that its municipal magistracies included quattuorviri.
The city later rose again through the efforts attributed to the Blessed Giacomo of Bevagna, who rallied the dispersed inhabitants and encouraged the rebuilding of the walls on a more modest scale, sufficient to protect the families who had returned.
In the mid-19th century the town had 4,024 inhabitants. Of these, 2,087 lived within the built-up area and 1,937 in the rural district.
In 2021, 1,606 people lived in rural dispersed dwellings not assigned to any named locality.
thumb|Dome featuring a fresco cycle arranged around the oculus
Its current layout is basilican, with a raised presbytery and aisles separated by columns carrying transverse arches with recessed archivolts, resting on capitals that were abraded during the Baroque works. The façade, dated to the first years of the 13th century, is built of small travertine blocks. Three portals open at ground level, with the central portal richly decorated; above, the façade is divided into five parts by four shaped lesenes, the two on the right continuing into the bell tower. Between the lesenes are three triple-light windows, and above them runs a band of blind arches resting on corbels carved as human and animal heads. Four projecting protomes emerge from the lesenes, two animal and one in the form of a crowned male head.
Santissima Annunziata
The Church of the Santissima Annunziata stands a short distance from Bevagna on the road to Cannara and formerly belonged to the abbey of Sassovivo. In 1487 it was given to the Observant Friars Minor. Inside is a major 16th-century terracotta work in the form of a large altar, representing the Nativity of Mary, the Presentation at the Temple, the Marriage, the announcing Angel, and the Dream of Saint Joseph. A painting of Saint Sebastian is attributed to Camassei. The main room is rectangular, with one long side marked by a semicircular niche flanked by two rectangular niches. The walls were covered with marble slabs.