Let's behave with food: Pope Urbano IV

Heraldic achievement of Urbano IV
with  fleurs-de-lis and rosettes.
Credit: Araldica Vaticana

Deruta is famous because one of the Italian Popes, Urbano IV, died in the city in 1264, exactly on October 2nd.
He was escaping from the town of Orvieto and riding towards Perugia. The story narrates that he died because of a food indigestion.

He found hospitality in the convent of the "Suore del Preziosissimo Sangue" (Sisters of the precious Blood of Christ) downtown Deruta, where he died.

Nowadays the convent is no longer active and the building has been restored and transformed into the Ceramics Museum of Deruta and still part of the Saint Francis Church Romanesque cloister.

The Museum has kept the same flavor of the Convent, where the nuns had opened a kindergarten for the children of Deruta and sorroundings.

 If we go to the ex-convent as adults we feel we can still smell the aroma of the wonderful pasta with red sauce by Sister Domenica, who was in charge of the kitchen. The pasta was especially "al dente" like in the best restaurants!

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By looking at the crest I would like to think that the stylized red flowers are blooming Ruta flowers! They look just like the flowers of the Ricco Deruta pattern. On the contrary I must confirm that they are probably rosettes, because of the fleur-de-lis combination, which is mentioned together with  roses in Biblical books.