Poggio Mirteto

DIOCESE OF POGGIO MIRTETO (MANDELENSIS)

Diocese in the province of Perugia, central Italy. The city is situated on a pleasant height, by the River Sole, in a fertile region, where pot-herbs, cereals, grapes, and pastures are cultivated, and where ancient ruins of villas and of aqueducts are numerous; the villa of Terentius Varro was in this neighbourhood. Poggio Mirteto was under the jurisdiction of the Abbot of Farfa, and the present home of the bishop was the abbot's residence. The Abbey of Farfa, however, like that of San Salvatore Maggiore, passed to the Diocese of Sabina, from which the territory of the See of Poggio Mirteto was taken in 1841; the old collegiate church became the cathedral, and a seminary was established. The first bishop was Nicolo Crispigni. The diocese has 38 parishes, with 32,600 inhabitants, 2 religious houses of men, and 8 of sisters, under whose direction are the schools for girls in several communes.