Umbria - Amordivino

Umbria

Population: 831.714
Surface (Kmq): 8456
Density (Inhabitants/Kmq.): 98
Main city: Perugia (PG)
Other towns: Terni (TR).

Umbria is situated exactly in the centre of the Italian peninsula and it has always represented a crossroads for people, ideas and cultures. Being a place of transit has also moulded the character of its people, who are generous and welcoming. As well its environmental riches the region has a major artistic and architectural heritage. Etruscans, Romans and then, over the centuries, refined lords and scholarly abbots have enriched this land with true architectural masterpieces: the cathedrals of Orvieto and Spoleto, the Palazzo Pubblico in Perugia, Todi and Gubbio, the Franciscan basilica of Assisi and mountain monasteries, villages perched on rocky spurs and castles standing on hills and rises represent the heights of a love of beauty that distinguishes the whole region. Umbria is also a mystical, spiritual and contemplative land and not even the thousands of visitors to Assisi, Gubbio, Spoleto, Todi and Spello have undermined the original sentiment that inspired saints and hermits, such as Francesco d’Assisi.

According to historic sources, the territory occupied by the Umbri people was much wider than today's Umbria, reaching inland along the eastern bank of the Tiber and up north all the way to the Po Valley. Human presence in Umbria is documented by graffiti dating back to the Earlier Paleolithic period. In fact, Pliny the Elder said the Umbri were the most ancient race in Italy, crediting their Greek name Ombrikoi, or "rainy", to their survival from before the primeval flood.

The process of "Romanisation" of the territory was completed by the emperor Augustus with the foundation of colonies such as Spoletium (today Spoleto) and the organisation of the territory along the Amerinian Way that linked Nepet (Nepi) with Clusium (Chiusi). Umbria then became the 6th regio or “region” of the Roman Empire.

The Roman aristocrats, masters in combining business with pleasure, created the concept of villa - a large farmhouse complex including an elegant domus (the master residence), rural buildings, huts for the slaves who took care of the property and, scattered in the fields, the casae or “houses” of the farmers. Besides functioning as a place of agricultural production, the villa was a place of leisure (otium in Latin), a staple of the prosperous Romans' way of life in the age of Empire.

After the fall of Rome, the area was occupied first by the Goths and then by the Byzantines before being integrated into the powerful Lombard duchy of Spoleto. In the 16th century the popes conquered Umbria - with the exception of the city of Gubbio. The region was ruled by France from 1798 to 1800 and from 1808 to 1814, until the fall of Napoleon, when it was restored to the papacy. After several revolts against papal rule, in 1860 the region voted to join the kingdom of Sardinia, which then also included Tuscany and the Marche regions as well.

Umbria is a landlocked, hilly region where modest, family-run farming still represents the main occupation. Umbria's popular visitor destinations include world-famous Assisi and Spoleto in addition to Perugia, Orvieto, and Castiglione.