
Cannara is a town in the province of Perugia. It's laying by the left bank of the Topino river, near the middle of the Valle Umbra (Umbrian Valley), in a swampy area once known to the Romans as
Lacus Umber. Cannara takes its name from
cane, an aquatic plant that still exists in the area. The first settlements of the village are dated around 1000 AD. For many centuries it was a well-fortified castle with high walls and towers; it became a town in 1200.
A list of the most interesting places to visit when you are in Cannara:
- Church of San Biagio
- Parish Church of St. Matteo - Built in the fourteenth century, it was transformed into its present form in the years 1788 - 1793
- Church of San Sebastiano (deconsecrated, it is now the Municipal Auditorium)
- Church of St. Giovanni Battista - Documented since 1333, it has been transformed into its present form presumably during the works in 1584
- Church of St. Francis - It was built between the XV and XVI centuries and dedicated to the Saint of Assisi. According to the tradition, he had created the Third Franciscan Order in Cannara, where he made the famous "Sermon to the Birds" too (near Piandarca)
- Church of the Buona Morte (or the Sacred Stigmata of St. Francis) - Originally the small chapel where St. Francis of Assisi, according to the tradition, gave Lucio Modestini of Cannara the first blessed habit of the Third Franciscan Order
- Majolica Landrini Palace - Inside it there is the shack where St. Francis of Assisi lived when he came to Cannara
- Piandarca - It's a place in the town of Cannara where, according to the tradition, St. Francis of Assisi held the famous sermon to the birds. The spot where the miracle took place is marked by a stone, which is located along the ancient road that connected once the two castles of Cannara and Bevagna. It lays in a still untouched area, accessible through a path that begins just outside the village and goes through the fields. Near the stone, along the present road to Bevagna (the SP403), a small shrine in memory of the event was also built in 1926