Description
The palace has a fine ashlar portal of Sixteenth century, with the coat of arms of the Municipality and the following motto "MODERATA DURANT" (the moderate things last). Monte Frumentario is a beneficial-charity association diffused by the end of the fifteenth century until the Italian Unification. These kind of associations are born to contrast speculation on cereals, unfortunately diffused because of poor harvests, providing seeds at a low interest rate. With the Italian Unification, the association is absorbed by others institutions. Its activities in Monteleone di Spoleto is documented from 1770 to 1906 (used by the Consortium of Landowners). The Monte Frumentario Palace, now private property, has a fine portal, with ashlar jambs and arch. At the center of the arch there is the civic coat of arms of 1559 (with lion on three mountains encasing an ear of corn). In the frieze of the above entablature the following motto is engraved: "MODERATA DURANT "(the moderate things last), which, spread over the centuries, and also present on a building in Ruscio, is perhaps to attribute to Solone, the legislator and Greek poet of VII-VI century B.C. Monte Frumentario is an organization for charity and welfare diffused from the end of XV century until the Italian Unification. In this period, as even today, cereals (wheat in particular) are the indispensable raw material for the power supply. In an economy based essentially on agriculture, farmers are willing to get into debt in order to obtain seeds in times of crop failure, which are very frequent due to the splitting of the properties, the absence of cultivation techniques and adequate fertilization, the spread of famine and pestilence.
Monte Frumentario is established to counter speculation on the price of seed and usurious terms of payment, to which farmers are often forced, and to provide seeds at a low interest rate (usually an slightly increased amount of the harvest is given back). Cases of insolvency, that undermine the stability of these institutions are frequent and various government interventions are needed. With the Unification of Italy, Monte Frumentario associations are absorbed by other institutions and their activity gradually comes to an end. The earliest documentation of the Monte Frumentario of Monteleone di Spoleto, preserved at the Municipality, attests the activity from the second half of XVIII century (1770), but its foundation seems to be much older. This organization is finally absorbed in 1906 by the Local Consortium of Landowners. In the town, at n. 12 in Via Cesare Battisti, there is the Monte Frumentario Palace. Now privately owned, it has a fine Sixteenth century portal, with ashlar jambs and arch, adorned with various decorative motifs placed in circles. At the center of the arch there is the coat of arms (it is older than 1559, as the lion, carved from the chest and placed on three mountains, holds in its paws an ear of corn instead of the papal keys, which appear after that date), while at the sides there are two heads of angels with wings in relief. In the frieze of the entablature above there is the following engraved motto: "MODERATA DURANT" (the moderate things last), which is widely attested in different contexts and is present also in buildings in Ruscio fraction. A Florentine text of Eighteenth century attests this motto to Solon ( "Moderata durant, Solon said to his farmer, when he had so much load the donkey, that flawed under the burden"), a leading figure of the VII-VI centuries B.C., legislator and Greek poet known for wisdom in judging.