Tuscania | |
---|---|
Comune di Tuscania | |
Coordinates: 42°25′06″N11°52′15″E / 42.41833°N 11.87083°E | |
Country | Italy |
Region | Lazio |
Province | Viterbo (VT) |
Government | |
• Mayor | Fabio Bartolacci |
Area | |
• Total | 208.03 km2 (80.32 sq mi) |
Elevation | 165 m (541 ft) |
Population (31 December 2015) [2] | |
• Total | 8,451 |
• Density | 41/km2 (110/sq mi) |
Demonym(s) | Tuscaniesi, Tuscanesi or Toscanellesi |
Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Postal code | 01017 |
Dialing code | 0761 |
Patron saint | Sts. Secondianus, Verianus and Marcellianus Martyrs |
Saint day | August 8 |
Website | Official website |
Tuscania is a town and comune in the province of Viterbo, Lazio Region, Italy. Until the late 19th century the town was known as Toscanella. [3]
According to the legend, Tuscania was founded by Aeneas' son, Ascanius, where he had found twelve dog pups (whence the Etruscan name Tus-Cana, cana being similar to Latin canis for "dog"). Another legend attributes the foundation to one Tusco, son of Hercules and Araxes.
Evidence of human presence in the area dates from the Neolithic age, but probably the city proper was founded in the 7th century BC when the acropolis on St. Peter's Hill was surrounded by a line of walls. Villages existed in the vicinity. In the following years its strategic position gave Tuscania a leading role in the Etruscan world. After the defeat of the coastal cities by the Greeks (4th century BC), Tuscania also became a maritime trade centre through the port of Regas (next to today's Montalto di Castro). There is no record of Tuscania being involved in the battles that led to the Roman conquest of the Etruscan northern Lazio (280 BC), as the city probably entered into the Roman orbit peacefully. The agricultural development and construction of the Via Clodia further boosted the economic situation of the city. It became a municipium in 88 BC.
In the 5th century AD (or earlier, depending on the source), Tuscania became one of the first bishopric sees in Italy.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it fell to the Lombards in 569 or 574. In 781 it became part of the Papal States. In 967–1066 it was a fief of the Anguillara family and then of the marquises of Tuscany. In 1081 it was besieged by Emperor Henry IV.
In the following century it became a free commune with authority over a wide territory, including numerous castles. The inner struggles within Tuscania led to a loss of prestige, in favour of the nearby Viterbo, which was made a diocese in 1192, formally on split-off territory, but virtually achieved a transfer by immediate, constant personal union under Viterbo's bishops until the 1896 former merger of the Tuscania bishopric (as it had been renamed in 1911) into the Viterbo diocese. In 1222 St. Francis of Assisi sojourned in the city.
During the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines throughout the Holy Roman Empire, it was captured by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen on March 2, 1240, and provided with a line of walls.
A failed military expedition against Pope Boniface VIII (early 14th century), led to the submission to Rome, with the pejorative name of Tuscanella. In 1348–49 a bubonic plague struck Tuscania very hard. Shortly thereafter, in 1354, Cardinal Gil Alvarez De Albornoz definitively returned the town to the Papal States.
In 1421 it became a county under the condottiero Angelo Broglio da Lavello.
In 1495 it was ravaged by the French troops of King Charles VIII during his march towards the Kingdom of Naples, much thanks to the destruction of the walls ordered by Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi in reply to the continual internecine struggles and public riots. Thereafter the city experienced a long decline which lasted until the annexation to the new unified Kingdom of Italy in 1870.
In the 19th century the local Campanari family spearheaded the exploration of Etruscan tombs. They organized the first Etruscan exhibition in London. [4] Many of the valuable discoveries ended up in various European museums, as well as Tuscania's own Archeological Museum.
On February 6, 1971 an earthquake caused 31 deaths. The town has been meticulously restored since, and the historic quarter is substantial, completely surrounded by the medieval city walls that offer excellent views over the surrounding countryside and the church of St Peter.
The main attraction of the city is the Church of San Pietro, built in Lombard-Romanesque style, begun in the year 739 [5] and renovated in the 11th–12th centuries. The interior has a nave and two aisles divided by low columns and pilasters incorporating half-columns, with antique and mediaeval capitals. The façade with its rose window also dates from the 12th century. [5]
Other sights include:
Etruria was a region of Central Italy delimited by the rivers Arno and Tiber, an area that covered what is now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and north-western Umbria. It was inhabited by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that flourished in the area from around the 8th century BC until they were assimilated into the Roman Republic in the 4th century BC.
Blera is a small town and comune in the northern Lazio region of Italy. It was known during the Middle Ages as Bieda, an evolved form of its ancient name, which was restored in the twentieth century. It is the birthplace of Pope Sabinian; Pope Paschal II was also originally thought to be from here.
Sutri is an Ancient town, modern comune and former bishopric in the province of Viterbo, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Rome and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Viterbo. It is picturesquely situated on a narrow tuff hill, surrounded by ravines, a narrow neck on the west alone connecting it with the surrounding country. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
The Via Clodia was an ancient high road of Italy. Situated between the Via Cassia and the Via Aurelia, it is different from them notably in that the latter was designed primarily for military long-haul, irrespective of settlements they met, but the Via Clodia was of short-range, intended for commercial traffic with the colonies in Etruscan lands.
The province of Viterbo is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo.
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Caere is the Latin name given by the Romans to one of the larger cities of southern Etruria, the modern Cerveteri, approximately 50–60 kilometres north-northwest of Rome. To the Etruscans it was known as Cisra, to the Greeks as Agylla and to the Phoenicians as 𐤊𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤉𐤀.
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Rusellae was an important ancient town of Etruria, which survived until the Middle Ages before being abandoned. The impressive archaeological remains lie near the modern frazione or village of Roselle in the comune of Grosseto.
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Sovana is a small town in southern Tuscany, Italy, a frazione of Sorano, a comune in the province of Grosseto. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
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The Diocese of Viterbo is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in central Italy. From the 12th century, the official name of the diocese was the Diocese of Viterbo e Tuscania. In 1986, several dioceses were combined, and the title was changed to "Diocese of Viterbo, Acquapendente, Bagnoregio, Montefiascone, Tuscania and San Martino al Monte Cimino"; in 1991 the name was shortened to "Diocese of Viterbo".
Acquapendente Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral, dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre, in the town of Acquapendente in Lazio, Italy. Formerly the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Acquapendente, it is now a co-cathedral in the Diocese of Viterbo.
The Diocese of Tuscanella was a Latin Church residential bishopric of the Catholic Church, in existence by the 7th century. Even at the time of the Lombard invasions, it belonged to the Duchy of Rome and was immediately subject to the Pope. The seat of the bishop was originally in the church of S. Maria, then in the church of S. Pietro, and after 1592 in the church of S. Giacomo.
The Vie Cave, also known in Italian as Cavoni, is a road network in southern Europe, found in Spain, Italy, Turkey and as far east as Jordan. In Italy they partly link an Etruscan necropolis and several settlements in the area between Sovana, Sorano and Pitigliano. They consist mainly of trenches of variable width and length, excavated as nearly vertical cliffs in different types of bedrock, sometimes over sixty feet high, possibly serving as a defense system against invaders, wild animals or forces of nature. Although often dated as being carved by pre-Roman civilisations in the first or second millennium BC, the builders and purpose of the road system are largely unclear, and there are indications that they are much older than assumed.
Santa Maria Maggiore is an ancient Romanesque basilica church located at the foot of Colle di San Pietro in Tuscania, Province of Viterbo, Region of Lazio, Italy. Atop the hill is the Basilica of San Pietro.