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ITALY: UMBRIA: SPOLETO: ספולטו
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1. Terni - The Map:
2. HOW TO GET THERE:
By
car:
- Highway A1 (Autostrada del Sole) Rome-Florence;
connecting road Orte - Terni.
- Dual carriage-way E45 Terni-Cesena.
- National roads : SS. 79 - SS. 3 - SS. 209 - SS.
204
By train:
- Line Roma - Ancona (Terni station)
- Line Roma - Firenze (Orte station and connecting
train to Terni)
- Line Terni - Rieti - L'Aquila - Sulmona
- Umbrian -Tuscan railways. Line Terni - Perugia -
Umbertide - San Sepolcro
By plane:
- Umbria Regional Airport S.Egidio (Perugia) Km. 95
- Leonardo da Vinci International airport (Roma)
Km. 140
- There is a Bus connection between Terni and all
the cities of Terni touristic territory (By way of A.T.C.)
- Taxi service - Rent a car - Rent a bus
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3. THE
TOWN:
Terni is a modern town, characterised by regular wide streets lined
with trees, which make us understand the typical Roman plan based on
the "cardo" and the "decumano"; among the
buildings standing along the principal streets many were rebuilt in
the post-war period, while some are decidedly more ancient.
The centre of the town, rather pleasant, reveals surprising corners
where interesting remains of the past recall other ages and different
lifestyles. The busiest thoroughfares one can walk along to discover
these corners are Corso Tacito, Corso Vecchio, via Roma, via Cavour
and the network of alleys linking them, where one may admire important
and fascinating buildings. Of the Roman period can be seen the ruins
of the ancient walls and the ones of the AMPHITHEATRE, where are
visible parts of "opus reticulatum", in small two-coloured
blocks: it was erected in 32 AD by order of Fausto Liberale, during
the reign of Tiberio, and it could hold up to 10.000 people. Today is
visible only 2/3 of the perimeter, being a section occupied by the
church of the Carmine; anyway is possible to see the original ellipse,
while there are no remains of the tiers of seats. The Amphitheatre
represents without doubt, together with Carsulae, the most important
Roman testimony in the area of Terni.
In the beautiful piazza della Repubblica is situated the PALAZZO
COMUNALE: rebuilt at the end of the 19th century in Renaissance style,
after being damaged by the bombardments during the last World War it
has revealed 14th century structures.
The near piazza Europa is dominated by the PALAZZO SPADA, family
Spada's residence, a massive two-storeys building with a mezzanine
considered Antonio da Sangallo the Young's last work (he died in Terni
in 1546).
Other noteworthy buildings are Palazzo Magroni, Palazzo Mazzancolli,
Palazzo Fabrizi, Palazzo Rosci, and two medieval towers, Castelli's
tower and Barbarasa's tower.
The MUNICIPAL THEATRE "Giuseppe Verdi" (1849) is an
important neo-classical building by L. Poletti.
Piazza Tacito is another strategic point in the town centre; there are
some typical buildings of the Fascist period, and at the centre of the
piazza may be admired one of Terni's most characteristic monuments,
the FOUNTAIN, by the architects Ridolfi and Fagiolo (1936),
reconstructed after the damage caused by the heavy bombardments; the
basin is decorated with a mosaic representing the signs of the Zodiac.
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4. TERNI -
HISTORY:
The name of the town derives from the term "interamna",
which means "between two rivers", a clear reference to the
setting of the town at the confluence of the stream Serra with the
river Nera.
The valley where Terni is situated, a natural amphitheatre surrounded
by green hills, was already inhabited in prehistoric times, and there
are a lot of remains testifying it: Eneolithic huts, protovillanoviano
tombs, necropolis from the Iron Age to the 4th century BC.
We don't know exactly where the prehistoric site was situated: a Roman
inscription reports that the town was founded in 672 BC; moreover, the
inhabitants of the valley are mentioned in the Eugubine Tablets as
enemies of the Umbrians: they were, in fact, even more ancient people,
perhaps pre-Indo-European.
Conquered by the Romans, the town became Municipium belonging to the
Crustumina tribe, traversed by the Via Flaminia between Narni and
Spoleto. Terni was converted to Christianity in the years between 200
and 300 AC, and the Bishop Valentino patron saint of the town and of
lovers was martyred in 273: the Basilica dedicated to him was built
above an old Roman cemetery.
On the fall of the Roman Empire because of the barbarian invasions the
town suffered great destruction: it was destroyed by Totila in 546, by
Narsete in 554 and by the Longobards in 755.
In the following centuries Terni fought for a long time against
Spoleto, and for this reason it received with every honour Frederick
Barbarossa destroyer of Spoleto who, nevertheless, transformed the
town, in 1159, into Cardinal Monticelli's estate (the religious who
became anti-pope with the name of Vittore IV); the inhabitants of
Terni rose up in revolt and the town was destroyed in 1174.
Terni prospered again, placing its trust alternatively in the Papal
State and in the Empire, and in that period there were many conflicts
between Guelphs and Ghibellines.
In 1300 it was under the Orsini family and fought against Narni; in
the 1400s the town was ruled by a sort of Magistracy composed of 24
Nobles and 24 Commoners; in the following years it was dominated
successively by Ladislao di Napoli, Braccio Fortebraccio, the Sforzas
and the Papal State.
On the 25 August 1564, by night, the faction of the Banderesi,
bourgeois, killed a great number of Nobles, and because of this
terrible fact the town underwent a severe repression ordered by the
Apostolic Delegate.
In 1861 Terni was incorporated in the Kingdom of Italy and, at the end
of the 19th century, began the massive industrialisation of the town:
first was founded the large Weapons Factory, then the steel-works and
the calcium carbide plants; later on many other industrial
installations were constructed, thanks to the extraordinary water
patrimony of the area.
During the Second World War the town, because of its industries,
suffered heavy bombardments which destroyed most of its structures,
and for this reason the aspect of Terni is mainly modern; however, it
preserve interesting buildings of the past which merit to be visited
and which make Terni a pleasant place to live in.
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5. MARMORE
WATERFALLS:
Stupendously located in a natural
scenario of peerless beauty, the Marmore Waterfalls (7 km from Terni
along the Valnerina state road) is an artificial work built by the
Romans. In 290 BC the consul Curio Dentato ordered a canal to be dug (Cavo
Curiano) in order to make the stagnant waters of the Velino river flow
down into the Rieti valley conveying it to the Marmore cliff, from
where it was made to fall down onto the bed of the river Nera below
with a jump of 165 metres.
| At that time the
work was heralded as a great event and certainly contributed
to stengthen the prestige of Rome among the inhabitants of
Umbria, recently conquered. But popular imagination prefers to
give it a mythological origin: the story goes that the nymph
Nera had fallen in love with a shepherd, Velino, but Juno to
punish her transformed her into a river, the Nera. Velino,
anguished, threw himself down from the Marmore cliff in order
to be united with his beloved: that mortal jump would continue
for eternity. |
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In every era the beauty of the
Waterfalls has inspired poets and artists; numerous reproductions of
Italian and foreign artists exist; it seems that Virgil referred to
the Marmore Waterfalls when he quotes in the Aeneid, VII book, a
valley of dark woodlands and between the trees a river which thunders
and falls over big stones. Also G. Byron in his Childe Harolds
Pilgrimage sings the praises of the Waterfall describing it as one of
the most fascinating spectacles ever seen during his numerous
journeys.
For the last 50 years the waters of the Waterfall have been used to
supply hydroelectric power stations: the abundance of water in the
entire area is the origin of the industrial development of the Terni
basin where siderurgical, electrochemical and electrical industries
have been set up.
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6.
OPENING HOURS FOR THE MARMORE WATERFALLS:
| Open |
Week-days |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday
and Holidays |
| January |
A.M.
P.M. |
- |
- |
12 -
1
_3 - 4 |
12 -
1
_3 - 4 |
| February |
A.M.
P.M. |
- |
- |
11 -
1
_3 - 5 |
11 -
1
_3 - 5 |
| March |
A.M.
P.M. |
12 -
1
_4 - 5 |
11 -
1
_4 - 9 |
11 -
1
_4 - 9 |
| April |
A.M.
P.M. |
12 -
1
_4 - 5 |
10 -
1
_4 - 9 |
10 -
1
_4 - 9 |
| May |
A.M.
P.M. |
12 -
1
_4 - 5 |
10 -
1
3 - 10 |
10 -
1
3 - 10 |
| June |
A.M.
P.M. |
11 -
1
4 - 6 and 9 - 10 |
10
- 1
3 - 10 |
10
- 1
3 - 10 |
| July |
A.M.
P.M. |
11 -
1
4 - 6 and 9 - 10 |
10
- 1
3 - 10 |
10
- 1
3 - 10 |
| August |
A.M.
P.M. |
11 -
1
4 - 6 and 9 - 10 |
10
- 1
3 - 10 |
10
- 1
3 - 10 |
| September |
A.M.
P.M. |
12 -
1
4 - 5 and 8 - 9 |
10
- 1
_3 - 9 |
10
- 1
_3 - 9 |
| October |
A.M.
P.M. |
- |
-
3 - 5 |
11 -
1
_3 - 7 |
11 -
1
_3 - 7 |
November
December |
A.M.
P.M. |
- |
- |
12 -
1
_3 - 4 |
12 -
1
_3 - 4 |
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7. TERNI ON
THE NET:
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Sources:
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FOOD