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The
Chiesa di S. Flaviano, built around the year 1000 in
Romanesque style on a pagan construction, consists - like
the basilica of St. Francis in Assisi - of two superimposed
churches. In 1200 it was enlarged in Gothic style by Urban
IV, the first pope to be elected in Viterbo. From the back
part you acceed to the upper church where an arcaded Romanesque
interior conserves the throne of Urban IV.
The
interior of the lower church offers frescoes of various periods
and the tombstone of John Defuc (†1113), connected with the
legend of the Est! Est!! Est!!! wine. According to
the legend, John Defuc was part of the retinue of Henry V
- on his way to Rome for the coronation by the Pope as emperor
of the Holy Roman Empire - and used to send his servant to
scout the inns along the journey in order to discover good
wines, which the servant marked by writing on the door of
the inn the word Est! (here's some good). When the servant
reached Montefiascone and after having sipped the local excellent
Moscatello, he wrote Est! Est!! Est!!! . Defuc
condivided the tastes of his servant and established himself
in Montefiascone where he died in 1113. The rather uncommon
epigraph on his tombstone says: EST EST EST. Here died, because
of too many EST, my master John Defuc.
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