Discover Foligno - Perugia

Foligno, (Latin: Fulginiae, Fulginium) is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located 40 km (25 mi) south-east of Perugia, 10 km (6 mi) north-north-west of Trevi and 6 km (4 mi) south of Spello. Foligno is a station on the main line from Rome to Ancona, and is the junction for Perugia; it is thus an important rail center, with repair and maintenance yards for the trains of central Italy, and was therefore subjected to severe Allied aerial bombing in World War II, responsible for its relatively modern aspect, although it retains some medieval monuments. Of its Roman past no significant trace remains, with the exception of the regular street plan of the centre. Other resources include sugar refineries and metallurgical, textile, building materials and paper and timber industries. After the war, the city's position in the plain and again its railroad connections have led to a considerable suburban spread with the attendant problems of traffic and air pollution, as well as a severe encroachment on the Umbrian wetlands.

History

Foligno seems to have been founded by Umbrians in the pre-Roman period (probably 8th century BC). It was conquered by the Romans after the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC, receiving the name of Fulginiae from the ancient cult of the goddess Fulginia. In the classic Roman age the city acquired importance as a Statio principalis of road traffic along the ancient Via Flaminia. The city began to decay in the late Roman Empire years: after the fall of the latter, Fulginiae became part of the Duchy of Spoleto, and was sacked by the Saracens in 881 and ruined by Hungarians in 915 and again in 924: its inhabitants therefore decided to move, settling around the nearby Civitas Sancti Feliciani (former Castrum Sancti Feliciani), a church strengthened by walls where the Bishop and martyr Feliciano was buried in the 3rd century AD and which was then already populated. The new seat had also attracted people from Forum Flaminii (now San Giovanni Profiamma), a neighbouring city that had been destroyed by the Lombards under Liutprand. Foligno gained the status of free city in 1165 thanks to emperor Federico Barbarossa. Siding first with the Guelph party, it became Ghibelline as a fierce rival of the Guelph Perugia. It changed hands often during the wars of the 13th century, until 1305 when it was seized by the powerful family of the Trinci acting as semi-independent deputies of the Holy See. During this period Foligno flourished and controlled a large territory, including Assisi, Bevagna, Giano, Montefalco, Nocera and Spello.When one of the Trinci went against the church, Pope Eugene IV sent a force against Foligno in 1439, led by the fearsome Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi: the inhabitants opened their gates, and the last of the Trinci, Corrado III, was beheaded in 1441 in the castel of Soriano. Henceforth Foligno belonged to the Papal States until 1860, with the exception of the Napoleonic era, when it was part of the Roman Republic (1799) then of the Kingdom of Italy (1809‑1814). The citizens took an active part in the Risorgimento wars, and on September 14, 1860 Savoy troops took the city and annexed it to the Kingdom of Italy. It has suffered from several major earthquakes, among which those of 1832 and 1997.

Monuments, art and folklore

Main monuments of the city include: * Palazzo Comunale, built in the 13th century and rebuilt various times; * Duomo or Cathedral of San Feliciano (1133-1201): a Romanesque building; the interior, however, was completely reworked in the 18th century);# Church of S. Maria Infra Portas, the oldest church in town, although the present edifice dates to the 11th century * Trinci Palace (1389-1407), which houses an archaelogical museum and the city's picture gallery * The Abbey of Sassovivo, 5 km (3 mi) to the east, with cloisters of 1229 with pairs of small columns supporting arches, and Cosmatesque decorations. The name of Foligno was famous for a noteworthy school of painting in the 15th century: it is also recorded for the famous Raphael's Madonna of Foligno (now in the Vatican), painted by the Urbinate artist for the nobleman Sigismondo di Comitibus, and for the first printed edition of Dante's Divina Commedia, finished on April 11, 1472 in the Orfini Palace. The city is also notable for its association with the Bl. Angela of Foligno.