Narni Scalo, Borgaria, Capitone, Guadamello, Gualdo, Itieli, La Cerqua, Montoro, San Faustino, San Liberato, Sant'Urbano, San Vito, Schifanoia, Taizzano, Vigne
Narni (Latin:Narnia) is an ancient hilltown andcomune (municipality) ofUmbria, incentral Italy, with 19,252 inhabitants (2017). At an altitude of 240 metres (790 ft), it overhangs a narrow gorge of theRiver Nera in theprovince of Terni. It is very close to thegeographical centre ofItaly.[3] There is a stone on the exact spot with a sign in multiple languages.[4]
The area around Narni was already inhabited in thePaleolithic andNeolithic Ages, as attested by finds in some of the caves. Around the start of the first millennium theOsco-Umbrians, a people with a language ofIndo-European origin that dominated the left bank of theTiber that vertically cuts the region to theAdriatic Sea, settled in the area and called the townNequinum. 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 theVia Flaminia, the famous road which connected the city ofRome to theAdriatic Sea (at that time the road passed through the town descending to the right bank of theNera to then carrying on toCarsulae,Acquasparta,Massa Martana andSpoleto). It supported theGauls 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 ofBenevento, the former name was considered of ill augury— inLatin:nequeo means 'I am unable', andnequitia means 'worthlessness'.
DuringRoman times the town was a strategic outpost for theRoman army. In 299BC it became aRoman Municipality and took the nameNarnia. 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 thePunic Wars.[5] In 209BC, however, Narnia refused to help the Romans financially with their aim of continuing the war againstCarthage.
Not even a human being would care to have unwilling homage rendered him and so the very Egyptians have been permitted the legal use of their ridiculous superstition, liberty to make gods of birds and beasts, nay, to condemn to death any One who kills a god of their sort. Every province even, and every city, has its god.Syria hasAstarte,Arabia hasDusares, theNorici haveBelenus,Africa has itsCaelestis,Mauritania has its own princes. I have spoken, I think, of Roman provinces, and yet I have not said their gods are Roman for they are not worshipped at Rome any more than others who are ranked as deities over Italy itself by municipal consecration, such as Delventinus ofCasinum, Visidianus of Narnia, Ancharia ofAsculum,Nortia ofVolsinii, Valentia ofOcriculum,Hostia of Satrium, Father Curls ofFalisci, in honour of whom, too,Juno got her surname.
From the 11th century it began to increase in wealth and power, was opposed to PopePaschal II in 1112 and rose against Barbarossa in 1167. This insubordination cost Narni a ferocious repression imposed by the archbishopChristian of Mainz, Barbarossa's chancellor. In 1242 Narni, prevalently tied to theGuelph party, entered into an alliance withPerugia and Rome against the Empire.
In the following century it was included in the reconquest of the papal patrimony byCardinal Albornoz, who also had the mighty Rocca built. It was the work of Ugolino di Montemarte, known asil 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 theOrsini to whom it returned in 1409. Occupied by KingLadislaus of Naples, in the 15th century, to be soon again reabsorbed by the church, thanks toBraccio da Montone. A decisive turning-point in Narni's history was reached on 15July 1527[10] The troops ofCharles V, mostly in fact German mercenaries (Landsknechts), put the city to fire and sword; it lost its ancient prosperity. Even the inhabitants ofTerni 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 againstGregory XVI andwas annexed to theItalian Kingdom in 1860.
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)[11] ever built, by which theVia Flaminia crossed the Nera. One arch of the bridge still stands; it is some 30 metres (98 ft) high.
San Cassiano – church building in Narni, ItalyPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback; a former Benedictine abbey located on Monte Santa Croce
When Walter Hooper asked [C.S. Lewis] where he found the word 'Narnia', Lewis showed him Murray's Small Classical Atlas, ed.G.B. Grundy (1904), which he acquired when he was reading the classics with Mr Kirkpatrick at Great Bookham [1914–1917]. On plate 8 of the Atlas is a map of ancient Italy. Lewis had underscored the name of a little town called Narnia, simply because he liked the sound of it. Narnia — or 'Narni' in Italian — is in Umbria, halfway between Rome and Assisi. Narnia, a small medieval town, is situated at the top of an olive-covered hill. It was already ancient when the Romans defeated it in 299 BC. Its thirteenth-century fortress dominates a deep, narrow gorge of the Nera river which runs below. One of its most important archaeological features is a Romanesque cathedral, which contains the relics of a number of Umbrian saints.
Armadori, Christian (2013).Il porto di Narnia e il cantiere navale romano sul fiume Nera [The port of Narnia and the Roman shipyard on the River Nera] (in Italian) (2nd ed.). Quasar.ISBN9788871405094.
Caponi, Alvaro (2006).I segreti del porto etrusco e il cantiere navale di Narnia. Ritrovamenti unici al mondo: Villa Pompeia Celerina [The secrets of the Etruscan port and the shipyard of Narnia. Unique finds in the world: Villa Pompeia Celerina] (in Italian). Terni, Italia: Ricerca obiettivo.ISBN9788871405094.
