Narni Explained

Narni
Official Name:Comune di Narni
Coordinates:42.5167°N 43°W
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
Mayor Party:PD
Mayor:Lorenzo Lucarelli
Area Total Km2:197
Population Total:19252
Population As Of:31 December 2017
Population Demonym:Narnesi
Elevation M:240
Saint:Juvenal of Narni
Day:May 3
Postal Code:05035–05036
Area Code:0744

Narni (Latin: Narnia) is an ancient hilltown and Italian: [[comune]] (municipality) of Umbria, in central Italy, with 19,252 inhabitants (2017). At an altitude of, it overhangs a narrow gorge of the River Nera in the province of Terni. It is very close to the geographical centre of Italy.[1] There is a stone on the exact spot with a sign in multiple languages.[2]

History

The 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 600BC.

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 Latin: nequitia means 'worthlessness'.

During Roman times the town was a strategic outpost for the Roman army. In 299BC 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. In 209BC, 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 30AD.

Narnia is mentioned in an Early Christian list of "false gods" in the second century Church father Tertullian's Apologeticus, midway into Chapter 21:

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.[3] 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".[4] During the late 9th to early 10th century, Narni was, along with much of central Italy, a stronghold of—or threatened by—the Saracens.[5] [6] 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 July15, 1527[7] 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

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[8]) ever built, by which the Via Flaminia crossed the Nera. One arch of the bridge still stands; it is some high.

Religious

There are a number of historical churches in the town:

Secular and civic

Narnia and C. S. Lewis

The 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.[1] [10]

Concerning Narnia and Narni Roger Lancelyn Green writes about C.S. Lewis and Walter Hooper:

People

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://goeurope.about.com/cs/italy/p/narni_italy.htm "Narni - Journey to the Center of Italy"
  2. http://goeurope.about.com/library/phot/bl_narni_3.htm "Narni Pictures - Italy Photo Gallery"
  3. McMahon . Lucas . Digital Perspectives on Overland Travel and Communications in the Exarchate of Ravenna (Sixth through Eighth Centuries) . Studies in Late Antiquity . 2022 . 6 . 2 . 303–305 . 10.1525/sla.2022.6.2.284 .
  4. Web site: Alexander Hourani . The Carolingians and the Romans . Mystagogy Resource Centre . 16 December 2011 . 2013-03-26.
  5. Book: Peter Partner . The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance . 1972 . University of California Press . 9780520021815. 81 . illustrated . registration .
  6. Book: Ferdinand Gregorovius . History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages . registration . 2010 . Cambridge University Press . 9781108015028 . 262.
  7. http://www.keytoumbria.com/Narni/Gates_and_Walls.html Narni
  8. Web site: Ponte di Augusto (Narni) . Structurae: International Database and Gallery of Structures . de, en, fr . 19 August 2023.
  9. Web site: Palazzo Eroli: La storia di Narni racchiusa in un Palazzo . Archeoares . https://web.archive.org/web/20230605040308/https://www.archeoares.it/musei/narni/palazzo-eroli/ . 5 June 2023 . it-IT . 27 April 2023.
  10. Holly Hartman. "Narnia: A Look Back". factmonster.com. Accessed 9 August 2023.