History of Terni, Umbria
History of the municipality of Terni, Italy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The city of Terni is now the main population center of the basin of the same name and one of the most important and populous cities in Central Italy and the Apennine area. It is developed on a plain to the right of the Nera River, in an area at the confluence of the Velino and Valnerina valleys, where the valley floors intersect the important Apennine natural corridors such as the Naia valley, the middle Tiber and the Clitunno valleys, historically crossed by the main communication routes of central Italy.
The earliest archaeological finds, testifying to a stable human presence in the area, emerged from some peripheral excavations and date from the Copper and Iron Ages. After the first half of the 3rd century B.C., the Romans founded a colony in Nequinate territory, near Narni, under the name of Interamna. The colony was later included in the Augustan age in Regio VI. Interamna became the seat of a Christian diocese from the second century and, after suffering the ravages of barbarian invasions, it saw in the Middle Ages the domination of the Lombards of Spoleto at first, then freedom as a free municipality rebelling against the Papal State, with the Ghibelline party of the city always at its head, until the final annexation to the Papal State, which took place under Pope Pius IV in 1563.
Throughout the ancient age Terni was a thriving medium-sized city in the Umbrian countryside until, in the 19th century, industrial and railroad development at first, and the establishment of the province of the same name later, brought the city, in a relatively short period of time, to a radical change in its economy and social balance.[1]