Narni (Latin: Narnia) is an ancient hilltown and comune (municipality) of Umbria, in central Italy, with 19,252 inhabitants (2017). At an altitude of 240 metres (790 ft), it overhangs a narrow gorge of the River Nera in the province of Terni. It is very close to the geographical centre of Italy.[3] There is a stone on the exact spot with a sign in multiple languages.[4]
Narni | |
|---|---|
| Comune di Narni | |
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 Flag  Coat of arms | |
Location of Narni  | |
  Narni Location of Narni in Italy  Narni Narni (Umbria) | |
| Coordinates: 42°31′N 12°31′E / 42.517°N 12.517°E | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Umbria |
| Province | Terni (TR) |
| Frazioni | Narni Scalo, Borgaria, Capitone, Guadamello, Gualdo, Itieli, La Cerqua, Montoro, San Faustino, San Liberato, Sant'Urbano, San Vito, Schifanoia, Taizzano, Vigne |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Lorenzo Lucarelli (PD) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 197 km2 (76 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 240 m (790 ft) |
| Population (31 December 2017)[2] | |
| • Total | 19,252 |
| • Density | 98/km2 (250/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Narnesi |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 05035–05036 |
| Dialing code | 0744 |
| Patron saint | Juvenal of Narni |
| Saint day | May 3 |
| Website | Official website |
History
editThe area around Narni was already inhabited in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages, as attested by finds in some of the caves. Around the start of the first millennium the Osco-Umbrians, a people with a language of Indo-European origin that dominated the left bank of the Tiber that vertically cuts the region to the Adriatic Sea, settled in the area and called the town Nequinum. Records mention Nequinum as early as 600 BC.
The Romans conquered Nequinum in the 4th century BC and made it a position of force at a key point of the Via Flaminia, the famous road which connected the city of Rome to the Adriatic Sea (at that time the road passed through the town descending to the right bank of the Nera to then carrying on to Carsulae, Acquasparta, Massa Martana and Spoleto). It supported the Gauls with the hope of freeing itself from Rome. The attempt failed and the victorious Romans changed its name to Narnia after the nearby Nar River; as in the case of Benevento, the former name was considered of ill augury— in Latin: nequeo means 'I am unable', and nequitia means 'worthlessness'.
During Roman times the town was a strategic outpost for the Roman army. In 299 BC it became a Roman Municipality and took the name Narnia. The rediscovery, in the late 20th – early 21st century, of an ancient Roman shipyard within its territory has made researchers hypothesise its particular importance during the Punic Wars.[5] In 209 BC, however, Narnia refused to help the Romans financially with their aim of continuing the war against Carthage.
The Roman Emperor Nerva was born at Narni in 30 AD.
Narnia is mentioned in an Early Christian list of "false gods" in the second century Church father Tertullian's Apologeticus, midway into Chapter 21:
Not even a human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered him and so the very Egyptians have been permitted the legal use of their ridiculous superstition, liberty to make gods of birds and beasts, nay, to condemn to death any One who kills a god of their sort. Every province even, and every city, has its god. Syria has Astarte, Arabia has Dusares, the Norici have Belenus, Africa has its Caelestis, Mauritania has its own princes. I have spoken, I think, of Roman provinces, and yet I have not said their gods are Roman for they are not worshipped at Rome any more than others who are ranked as deities over Italy itself by municipal consecration, such as Delventinus of Casinum, Visidianus of Narnia, Ancharia of Asculum, Nortia of Volsinii, Valentia of Ocriculum, Hostia of Satrium, Father Curls of Falisci, in honour of whom, too, Juno got her surname.
In Late Antiquity it suffered the events of the Greek-Gothic War (535–554) and was plundered by Totila. Narni was contested by the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Lombard Duchy of Spoleto in the late sixth century as the city controlled the southern reaches of the Via Flaminia, an essential route between Rome and Ravenna.[6] Narni was the seat of a Lombard gastald. In 755 Fulrad went to "Rome carrying the keys of these towns, which he handed to the Pope ... : Ravenna, Ariminum, Pisaurum, Conca, Fanus, Caesenae, Senogalliae, Esium, Forum Pompilii, Forum Livii, Narnia and others".[7] During the late 9th to early 10th century, Narni was, along with much of central Italy, a stronghold of—or threatened by—the Saracens.[8][9] Narnia embraced the cause of Otho I of Saxony thanks to the mediation of its bishop, by then Pope John XVII.
From the 11th century it began to increase in wealth and power, was opposed to Pope Paschal II in 1112 and rose against Barbarossa in 1167. This insubordination cost Narni a ferocious repression imposed by the archbishop Christian of Mainz, Barbarossa's chancellor. In 1242 Narni, prevalently tied to the Guelph party, entered into an alliance with Perugia and Rome against the Empire.
In the following century it was included in the reconquest of the papal patrimony by Cardinal Albornoz, who also had the mighty Rocca built. It was the work of Ugolino di Montemarte, known as il Gattapone. He was also author of the plans for the Loggia dei Priori and the Colonnade that faces out onto the Piazza dei Priori together with the 13th-century Palazzo del Podestà and the 14th-century fountain.
In 1373 Narni was given as fief to the Orsini to whom it returned in 1409. Occupied by King Ladislaus of Naples, in the 15th century, to be soon again reabsorbed by the church, thanks to Braccio da Montone. A decisive turning-point in Narni's history was reached on July 15, 1527[10] The troops of Charles V, mostly in fact German mercenaries (Landsknechts), put the city to fire and sword; it lost its ancient prosperity. Even the inhabitants of Terni took advantage of the situation to deliver their blame to give vent to their long-repressed hatred of Narni. Its reconstruction gives it a physiognomy characteristic of the cities in Papal territory. It became part of the Roman Republic in 1789. In 1831 it joined the revolt against Gregory XVI and was annexed to the Italian Kingdom in 1860.
Monuments and sites of interest
editThis section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2023) |
Like many of the smaller towns of Umbria, Narni is still of strikingly medieval appearance today, with stone buildings, and narrow cobblestone streets. The town is famous for one of the largest Roman bridges (Ponte d'Augusto[11]) ever built, by which the Via Flaminia crossed the Nera. One arch of the bridge still stands; it is some 30 metres (98 ft) high.
Religious
editThere are a number of historical churches in the town:
- Il duomo, Co-cathedral of Saint Juvenal
- Church of Sant'Agostino – decorated with 18th-century trompe-l'œil frescoes
- San Cassiano – church building in Narni, Italy; a former Benedictine abbey located on Monte Santa Croce
- San Domenico – 12th-century church
- San Francesco – church located near the Palazzo dei Priori, built in late-Romanesque and Gothic styles
- Santa Margherita – late 16th-century Renaissance-style church
- Santa Maria Impensole – 12th-century Romanesque church in the town's centre
- Church of Santa Pudenziana – Romanesque church just outside the town
- Santa Restituta – small church that was historically part of a Clarissan convent
Secular and civic
edit- Communal Palace (13th century)
- Palazzo dei Priori, located in the ancient Roman forum's site
- Rocca Albornoziana (or, Albornoz' Castle), overlooking the town, now hosting temporary exhibitions
- Eroli Museum with a Domenico Ghirlandaio's altarpiece[12]
Narnia and C. S. Lewis
editThe imaginary land of Narnia, described in the works of C. S. Lewis, was named after Narni after he came across the name in an atlas as a child.[3][13]
Concerning Narnia and Narni Roger Lancelyn Green writes about C.S. Lewis and Walter Hooper:
When Walter Hooper asked [C.S. Lewis] where he found the word 'Narnia', Lewis showed him Murray's Small Classical Atlas, ed.G.B. Grundy (1904), which he acquired when he was reading the classics with Mr Kirkpatrick at Great Bookham [1914–1917]. On plate 8 of the Atlas is a map of ancient Italy. Lewis had underscored the name of a little town called Narnia, simply because he liked the sound of it. Narnia — or 'Narni' in Italian — is in Umbria, halfway between Rome and Assisi.
Narnia, a small medieval town, is situated at the top of an olive-covered hill. It was already ancient when the Romans defeated it in 299 BC. Its thirteenth-century fortress dominates a deep, narrow gorge of the Nera river which runs below. One of its most important archaeological features is a Romanesque cathedral, which contains the relics of a number of Umbrian saints.
People
edit- Marcus Cocceius Nerva (30–98), Roman emperor from AD 96 to 98
- Juvenal of Narni (Italian: San Giovenale di Narni, died in 369 or 377), first bishop of Narni and saint
- Erasmo of Narni (1370–1443), best known as "Gattamelata", a famous condottiere
- Rino Gaetano (1950–1981), singer-songwriter. He studied at the Piccola Opera del Sacro Cuore from 1961 to 1967.
- Berardo Eroli (1409–1479), cardinal
- Lucia Brocadelli of Narni (1476–1544), Blessed Lucy of Narni
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ a b "Narni - Journey to the Center of Italy". Goeurope.about.com. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
- ^ "Narni Pictures - Italy Photo Gallery". Goeurope.about.com. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
- ^
- Armadori, Christian (2013). Il porto di Narnia e il cantiere navale romano sul fiume Nera [The port of Narnia and the Roman shipyard on the River Nera] (in Italian) (2nd ed.). Quasar. ISBN 9788871405094.
- Caponi, Alvaro (2006). I segreti del porto etrusco e il cantiere navale di Narnia. Ritrovamenti unici al mondo: Villa Pompeia Celerina [The secrets of the Etruscan port and the shipyard of Narnia. Unique finds in the world: Villa Pompeia Celerina] (in Italian). Terni, Italia: Ricerca obiettivo. ISBN 9788871405094.
- ^ McMahon, Lucas (2022). "Digital Perspectives on Overland Travel and Communications in the Exarchate of Ravenna (Sixth through Eighth Centuries)". Studies in Late Antiquity. 6 (2): 303–305. doi:10.1525/sla.2022.6.2.284.
- ^ Alexander Hourani (16 December 2011). "The Carolingians and the Romans". Mystagogy Resource Centre. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
- ^ Peter Partner (1972). The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance (illustrated ed.). University of California Press. p. 81. ISBN 9780520021815.
- ^ Ferdinand Gregorovius (2010). History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. p. 262. ISBN 9781108015028.
- ^ Narni. Key to Umbria. Retrieved on 2017-10-29.
- ^ "Ponte di Augusto (Narni)". Structurae: International Database and Gallery of Structures (in German, English, and French). Retrieved 19 August 2023.
- ^ "Palazzo Eroli: La storia di Narni racchiusa in un Palazzo". Archeoares (in Italian). 27 April 2023. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023.
- ^ Holly Hartman. "Narnia: A Look Back". factmonster.com. Accessed 9 August 2023.
External links
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