The town of Nocera was founded in the 7th century BC by inhabitants fromCamerinum, anUmbrian town, who left their ancestral homeland during a so-calledver sacrum (sacred spring), that is the deduction of a colony. The name of the town in theOsco-Umbrian language wasNoukria, meaning "New" (town).
TheRoman town was not located on the hill - where modern Nocera lies - but in the valley, near theTopino river.
The town - with theLatin nameNuceria Camellaria (orCamellana) – came under Roman control between the end of the 4th century and the first decades of the 3rd century BC, and became aMunicipium. It soon acquired strategic importance because it lay on a branch of thevia Flaminia, the road which linked Rome to theAdriatic, stretching fromForum Flamini (S. Giovanni Profiamma, nearFoligno) toFanum, on thePicenum. According to another interpretation,Nuceria Favoniense could be another town (today's Pievefavonica), located not far from today's Nocera. Several remains of the Roman roads are still visible today. From Nuceria the Romans also built another road – theSeptempedana - leading to the Roman military outposts ofProlaqueum andSeptempeda, on the Adriatic side of theApennines.
According toPliny the Elder, Nuceria was inhabited by two tribes, one theNucerini Favonienses (faithful ofFavonia, also namedFauna, a Goddess) and the otherCamellani (originating fromCamerinum, or possibly makers ofcamellae, small wooden containers).Strabo records that the town was famous for the production of wooden vases (possiblybarrels).
During theSecond Punic War, in 217 BC,Hannibal, on his way to the Adriatic after the battle ofTrasimeno, is said to have camped with his army near the town (in a place still known asAffrica).Near Nuceria, on the shores of what is now the dried upLacus Plestinus, the commander of the Roman cavalry,Gaius Centenius, fought a battle with 4,000 knights against Carthaginian troops headed byMaharbal.
The town reached the height of its prosperity during the first two centuries AD.
The Roman town was destroyed at the beginning of the 5th century, possibly by theVisigoths ofAlaric, on their way to Rome: the survivors rebuilt their homes on top of the hill, where today's Nocera still stands.
TheLombards occupied the town and stationed anArimannia there, then aGastaldatus and finally, at the beginning of the 9th century (during the Frankish period) it became a county. The walled town – it was namedarx fortissima in contemporary documents - guarded the northern border of theDuchy of Spoleto against the Byzantine garrison atGualdo Tadino. The importance of Nocera during the Lombard period is underlined by theNecropolis excavated in 1897, whose artefacts – weapons, jewels, household utensils, ceramics - form the core of theMuseo dell'alto Medioevo in Rome.
During theMiddle Ages Nocera became a walled town, very much as it exists today.
In 1202 the town came under the control ofPerugia, and in 1248 it was destroyed by emperorFrederick II. A few years later it was destroyed by a large earthquake. Shortly thereafter it came into the possession of theTrinci ofFoligno.
In 1421 theCastellan of Nocera, Pietro di Rasiglia, suspecting his wife of adultery withNiccolò I Trinci, invited the whole Trinci family to a hunting party and had them all killed, except the youngCorrado, who took revenge for the murder of his relatives, attacking the town and killing the treacherous castellan.
The town, with the exception of theNapoleonic period, remained underpapal control until 1860 when, as a part ofUmbria, it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy and assigned to theProvince of Perugia in Umbria.
The town and the surrounding hamlets have been struck several times byearthquakes. The major ones took place on April 30, 1279, April 17, 1747, and September 26, 1997. The damage caused by the last of these has been fully repaired in 2016.
TheCampanaccio, after its reconstruction because of the 1997 earthquake
A characteristic medieval town perched on a hill and famous for the quality of its water springsAngelica (Six kilometers south-east of the town in thefrazione of Bagni) andCacciatore, exported toConstantinople in the 17th century, it has several historical monuments:
Campanaccio: The town is dominated by the large tower that is the symbol of the town, the only remnant of the sturdy fortress of itsGastalds, then its Counts, dating back to the 11th century.[4] The building commemorates the massacre of theTrinci family, which took place in 1421. The tower was almost completely destroyed by the 1997 earthquake (only part of one side remained standing) and rebuilt.
Co-cathedral of the Assumption: Of the ancient church, incorporated into the fortress, only the 10th-century portal remains. The building was rebuilt in the 15th century and renovated several times in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Church ofSan Francesco: De-consecrated church built inRomanesque-Gothic style during the 14th century, now the civic museum (Pinacoteca Communale). It contains frescoes byMatteo da Gualdo and houses the Municipal Art Gallery (Pinacoteca), with works byNiccolò Alunno, the Maestro di San Francesco and the school ofCimabue. The museum also houses artefacts from theRoman era, including a milestone on theVia Flaminia to Ancona, a female portrait, mosaic fragments, a 3rd-century memorial stone and parts of a funerary monument decorated with four Greek inscriptions, by Bishop Varino Favorino daCamerino, a famous Greek scholar who published one of the first dictionaries of the Greek language and was Greek teacher at theMedici court in Florence for the future PopesLeo X andClement VII and also held the chair of Greek at the University of Rome.
In theMuseo dell'alto Medioevo in Rome, there are important artefacts found at the end of the 19th century in almost two hundredLongobard tombs, from the 6th and 7th centuries, from theArimannia settled in the territory of Nocera.
The principal mountain of the commune is theMonte Pennino with an altitude of 1,575 m. The town is dominated by the Monte Alago, whose meadows are the destination of walks.
Sigismondi, Gino (1979).Nuceria in Umbria (in Italian). Foligno: Ediclio.
Boschi, Enzo; et al. (1988).I terremoti dell’Appennino umbro-marchigiano area sud orientale dal 99 a.C. al 1984 (in Italian). Bologna: ING-SGA, Bologna.
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