Heraldic curiosities

A careful analysis of the coat of arms of the Municipality of San Venanzo allows us to note the presence of: an eagle with its claws well planted on the towers of a castle set inside a shield with a noble crown on its head and surrounded at the bottom between an oak and an olive branch. The interpretation of this symbolism based on the traditional meaning of classical Heraldry reveals that: the EAGLE represents the feudal power, the CROWN the dominion by a noble lordship, the OAK BRANCH represents strength, courage, virtue, perseverance, the BRANCH OF OLIVE TREE finally signifies a clear call for peace.

Now, on the basis of logical reasoning, it is legitimate to think that the choice of the Eagle may derive, for example, from an explicit reference to the imperial eagle of the Barbarossa troops whose passage remains the most accredited testimony in nearby Poggio Aquilone.Or that eagle could be the testimony of its most authentic and long feudal history during which the Castle of San Venanzo grew and prospered under the dominion of the powerful Monaldeschi family of Orvieto from the beginning of the 1300s until the end of the 1600s. San Venanzo and all the other Castles of Upper Orvietano, located in the north-east side of Peglia, were in fact governed by at least one of the descendants of that Guelph family and, coincidentally, the symbol seems to be a faithful copy of the medieval seal used by the Municipality of Orvieto.

Finally, it is clear that the eagle in question, however, does not refer to one of the four different branches into which the Monaldeschi divided following ferocious internal feuds after the death of the powerful Ermanno. San Venanzo in fact belonged to the Monaldeschi della Cervara and this excludes any connection with the fact that, together with those of the dog, the viper and the deer there is for example also that of the eagle.

Having fielded these arguments, not supported by documentary evidence, is therefore only an attempt to provide a range of possible explanations that strive at least to suggest plausible reasons for the posthumous choices made by those who adopted them.