The City of Spoleto |
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 La
storia della cittą
From Umbrian origins, it was then a roman colony which set themselves against the troops of Hannibal, re pulsed them and became one of the most important Longobardic dukedom. The first testimony coming from hill S. Elia belong to the iron age. the first contact with Rome took place at the end of the IVth century b.C. and in the third century b.C. it passes under Roms influence. In 241, the Romans established a colony: "Spoletum". To Rome, Spoleto remains always faithful, especially during the punic wars, not only to republic Hannibal after his victory on the Trasimeno (217 b.C.) but especially in the critical period which followed this long conflict. In 43 b.C. Ottaviano stopped here before the battle of Modena making a sacrifice in one of the temples of the city. The roman senator Giulio Naucellio resided at Spoleto at the beginning of tile Vth century. Embellished by Teodorico (493) and by Belisario (536) it was conquested by Totila (545) and reestablished by Narsete. Italy invaded, the Longobardic chose Spoleto at the head of a flourishing dukedom. The dukedom passed to the Franks after Longobardic fall. When the Carlovingian empire was dismembered, the dukes from Spoleto, Guido IIIrd and his son Lamberto, drove their power to the conquest of the imperial crown. In 1155 it was destroyed by Federico Barbarossa and various dominations on one side it brought death and destruction, on the other side have enriched Spoleto with remarkable monuments. Contended then between the empire and the Church, it was aggregated by Innocenzo IIIrd in 1198 and definitively in 1247. Afflicted by conflicts between Guelfic and Ghibellines, it was reconciled by Albornoz, assured to the Church and made an important centre of the Papal States which send them authoritative governors, among them also Lucrezia Borgia(1499) Periods of splendour and of decay followed. During the french occupation, Spoleto was chief town of the Trasimeno Department. The re-establishment (1814) made it see of the Pontifex Delegation, until the 17th september 1860 when, the troops of general Brignone united Spoleto to the new Italian States. Beautiful and austere city with a very ancient history, today Spoleto is one of the principal touring centres of Umbria, wether of the importance of its monuments as for the important cultural manifestations which take place. The Spoleto Festival is famous in the world. |
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