Everything about Umbria totally explained
Umbria is one of the 20
Regions of Italy. The capital is
Perugia. It has an area of 8,456 km² and about 900,000 inhabitants.
Geography
Umbria is a region of
Central Italy, bordered by
Tuscany to the west, the
Marche to the east and
Lazio to the south. This region is mostly hilly or mountainous. Its topography is dominated by the
Apennines to the east, with the highest point in the region at
Monte Vettore on the border of the Marche (2476 m = 8123 ft), and the
Tiber valley basin, with the lowest point at
Attigliano (96 m = 315 ft).
Umbria is divided in two
provinces:
The Tiber forms the approximate border with Lazio; although its course northwards from its source just over the Tuscan border lies in Umbria, the river course is changeable and thus few towns have been built on it: the Tiber itself isn't a major factor in the history and human geography of Umbria. The same can't be said of the Tiber's three principal tributaries, each flowing in a generally southward course. The course of the
Chiascio takes it through relatively uninhabited areas until
Bastia Umbra, and about 10 km later it flows into the Tiber at
Torgiano. The
Topino, cleaving the Apennines with passes that the
Via Flaminia and successor roads follow, makes a sharp turn at
Foligno to flow NW for a few kilometres before joining the Chiascio below
Bettona. The third river is the
Nera, flowing into the Tiber further south, at
Terni; its valley, called the
Valnerina, is widely considered to be the most scenic area of Umbria. While the upper Nera flows more or less in isolation in the mountains, the lower course of the Chiascio-Topino basin is a fairly large floodplain, which in Antiquity was a pair of shallow, interlocking lakes, the
Lacus Clitorius and the
Lacus Umber. They were drained by the
Romans over several hundred years, but an earthquake in the 4th century and the political collapse of the Roman Empire resulted in the reflooding of the basin, which was drained a second time over five hundred years;
Benedictine monks started the process in the 13th century, and it was completed by an engineer from Foligno in the 18th century.
In tourist literature one sometimes sees Umbria called
il cuor verde d'Italia (the green heart of Italy). The phrase, taken from a poem by
Giosuè Carducci — the subject of which isn't Umbria but rather a specific place in it, the source of the
Clitunno river, treasured as a beauty spot — is to a certain extent appropriate since the modern administrative region is the only one to have neither a coast nor a border with a foreign country, and, except for August and September, is famously green.
History
The region is named for the
Umbri tribe, who settled in the region in
protohistoric times (
6th century BC):
672 BC is the legendary date of foundation of the town of
Terni (
Interamna). Their language was
Umbrian, a relative of
Latin and
Oscan.
Archaeological evidence shows that the Umbri can be identified with the creators of the
Terramara, and probably also of the
Villanova culture in northern and central Italy, who at the beginning of the
Bronze Age displaced the original
Ligurian population by an invasion from the north-east. It may be provisionally inferred that the Umbrians were closely related to the
Achaeans of prehistoric
Greece.
Pliny the Elder's statement that they were the most ancient race of Italy is certainly wrong.
The
Etruscans were chief enemies of the Umbri, and the Etruscan invasion went from the western seaboard towards the north and east (lasting from about 700 to 500 BC), eventually driving the Umbrians towards the
Apenninic uplands and capturing 300 Umbrian towns. Nevertheless, the Umbrian population doesn't seem to have been eradicated in the conquered districts.
After the downfall of the Etruscans, Umbrians attempted to aid the
Samnites in their
struggle against
Rome (
308 BC); but communications with
Samnium were impeded by the Roman fortress of
Narni (founded
298 BC). At the great
battle of Sentinum (
295 BC), which was fought in their own territory, the Umbrians didn't substantially help the Samnites.
The Roman victory at Sentinum started a period of integration under the Roman rulers, who established some colonies (for example,
Spoletium) and built the
via Flaminia (
220 BC), which became a principal vector for Roman development in Umbria. During
Hannibal's invasion in the
second Punic war, the
battle of Lake Trasimene was fought in Umbria, but the Umbrians didn't aid him.
During the
Roman civil war between
Mark Antony and
Octavian (
40 BC), the city of Perugia supported Antony and was almost completely destroyed by the latter.
In Pliny’s time, 49 independent communities still existed in Umbria, and the abundance of inscriptions and the high proportion of recruits in the
imperial army attest to its population.
The modern region of Umbria, however, is essentially different from the Umbria of Roman times (see
Roman Umbria), which extended through most of what is now the northern Marche, to
Ravenna, but excluded the west bank of the Tiber. Thus
Perugia was in
Etruria, and the area around
Norcia was in the
Sabine territory.
After the collapse of the
Roman empire,
Ostrogoths and
Byzantines struggled for the supremacy in the region; the
Lombards founded the
duchy of Spoleto, covering much of today's Umbria, and ruled from
571 to the
13th century. When
Charlemagne conquered most of the Lombard kingdoms, some Umbrian territories were given to the
Pope, who established temporal power over them. Some cities acquired a form of autonomy (the
comuni); they were often at war with each other in the context of the more general conflict between the
papacy and the
Holy Roman Empire or between the
Guelphs and the
Ghibellines.
In the
14th century, the
signorie arose, but were subsumed into the
Papal States, which ruled the region until the end of the
18th century. After the
French Revolution and the French conquest of Italy, Umbria was part of the ephemeral
Roman Republic (
1789-
1799) and of the
Napoleonic Empire (
1809-
1814). After Napoleon's defeat, the Pope regained Umbria until
1860. After the
Risorgimento and the
Piedmontese expansion, Umbria was incorporated in the
Kingdom of Italy.
The borders of Umbria were fixed in
1927, with the creation of the
province of Terni and the separation of the
province of Rieti, which was incorporated in
Lazio.
Economy
The agriculture of the region produces olives, grapes, wheat and tobacco. Industry is based on the steel factories of
Terni that harness the hydroelectric power of the
Marmore Falls created by the Romans, the food industry of
Perugia (for example
Perugina-
Nestlè), the production of olive oil (
Spoleto and
Trevi) and wine (
Lake Trasimeno,
Montefalco). Tourism is an important factor in the regional economy, especially in the districts of Perugia, Assisi, and Spoleto.
Politics
Umbria is a stronghold of the center-left coalition
The Union, forming with
Tuscany,
Emilia-Romagna and
Marche the famous Italian political "Red Quadrilateral". At the
April 2006 elections, Umbria gave more than 57% of its votes to
Romano Prodi.
Demographics
As of 2006, the Italian national institute of statistics ISTAT estimated that 53,470 foreign-born immigrants live in Umbria, equal to 6.2% of the total population of the region.
Towns of Umbria with a population of 20,000 or more:
| Comune |
Population (2006 est.) |
| Perugia |
161,390 |
| Terni |
109,569 |
| Foligno |
54,381 |
| Città di Castello |
39,492 |
| Spoleto |
38,563 |
| Gubbio |
32,532 |
| Assisi |
26,196 |
| Orvieto |
20,841 |
| Bastia Umbra |
20,760 |
| Narni |
20,212 |
Further Information
Get more info on 'Umbria'.
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