1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Montefiascone

MONTEFIASCONE, a town and episcopal see of the province of Rome, Italy, built on a hill (2077 ft.) on the S.E. side of the Lake of Bolsena, 70 m. by rail N.W. of Rome. Pop. (1901), 3041 (town); 9731 (commune). The cathedral (1519) is one of the earliest structures by Sammicheli, S. Maria della Grazie is also by him. The town has in San Flaviano (built in 1032, repaired and enlarged in the Gothic style late in the 14th century), a curious double church of importance in the history of architecture (cf. G. T. Rivoira, Origini dell’ architettura lombarda, i. 326 sqq.); in its interior some 14th-century frescoes were discovered in 1896. In the crypt is the grave of a traveller, who succumbed to excessive drinking of the local wine known as Est, est, est. The story is that his valet who preceded him wrote “est” on the doors of all the inns where good wine was to be had, and that here the inscription was thrice repeated. It is possible that Montefiascone occupies the site of the Fanum Voltumnae, at which the representatives of the twelve chief cities of Etruria met in the days of their independence; while under the Empire the festival was held near Volsinii.