Narni

Narni
Comune
Comune di Narni
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Narni
Narni Location of Narni in Italy Narni Narni (Umbria)
Coordinates:42°31′N12°31′E
Country	Italy
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
Government
• Mayor	Lorenzo Lucarelli (PD)
Area
• Total	197 km2(76 sq mi)
Elevation	240 m (790 ft)
Population (31 December 2017)
• Total	19,252
• Density	98/km2(250/sq mi)
Demonym	Narnesi
Time zone	UTC+1(CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2(CEST)
Postal code	05035–05036
Dialing code	0744
Patron saint	Juvenal of Narni
Saint day	May 3
Website	Official website

Façade of the Communal Palace.

TheAbbey of San Cassiano.

The Bridge at NarnibyJean-Baptiste-Camille Corot,1826

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 Nerain theprovince of Terni.It is very close to thegeographical centreofItaly.There is a stone on the exact spot with a sign in multiple languages.

History

The area around Narni was already inhabited in thePaleolithicandNeolithicAges, as attested by finds in some of the caves. Around the start of the first millennium theOsco-Umbrians,a people with a language ofIndo-Europeanorigin that dominated the left bank of theTiberthat 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 ofRometo theAdriatic Sea(at that time the road passed through the town descending to the right bank of theNerato then carrying on toCarsulae,Acquasparta,Massa MartanaandSpoleto). It supported theGaulswith 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:nequeomeans 'I am unable', andnequitiameans 'worthlessness'.

DuringRoman timesthe town was a strategic outpost for theRoman army.In 299BC it became aRoman Municipalityand 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.In 209BC, however, Narnia refused to help the Romans financially with their aim of continuing the war againstCarthage.

TheRoman EmperorNervawas born at Narni in 30AD.

Narnia is mentioned in anEarly Christianlist of "false gods" in the second century Church fatherTertullian'sApologeticus,midway into Chapter 21:

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.SyriahasAstarte,ArabiahasDusares,theNoricihaveBelenus,Africahas itsCaelestis,Mauritaniahas 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,NortiaofVolsinii,Valentia ofOcriculum,Hostiaof Satrium, Father Curls ofFalisci,in honour of whom, too,Junogot her surname.

InLate Antiquityit suffered the events of the Greek-Gothic War (535–554)and was plundered byTotila.Narni was contested by theExarchate of Ravennaand the Lombard Duchy of Spoleto in the late sixth century as the city controlled the southern reaches of theVia Flaminia,an essential route between Rome and Ravenna.Narni was the seat of aLombardgastald.In 755Fulradwent 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 ".During the late 9th to early 10th century, Narni was, along with much of central Italy, a stronghold of—or threatened by—theSaracens.Narnia embraced the cause ofOtho I of Saxonythanks to the mediation of its bishop, by then PopeJohn XVII.

From the 11th century it began to increase in wealth and power, was opposed to PopePaschal IIin 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 theGuelphparty, entered into an alliance withPerugiaand 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 theOrsinito 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 July15, 1527The troops ofCharles V,mostly in fact German mercenaries (Landsknechts), put the city to fire and sword; it lost its ancient prosperity. Even the inhabitants ofTernitook 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 XVIandwas annexed totheItalian Kingdomin 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) ever built, by which theVia Flaminiacrossed the Nera. One arch of the bridge still stands; it is some 30 metres (98 ft) high.

Religious

There are a number of historical churches in the town:

• Il duomo,Co-cathedral of Saint Juvenal
• Church of Sant'Agostino– decorated with 18th-centurytrompe-l'œilfrescoes
• San Cassiano– church building in Narni, ItalyPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback;a former Benedictine abbey located on Monte Santa Croce
• San Domenico– 12th-century church
• San Francesco– church located near the Palazzo dei Priori, built in late-Romanesque and Gothic styles
• Santa Margherita– late 16th-century Renaissance-style church
• Santa Maria Impensole– 12th-century Romanesque church in the town's centre
• Church of Santa Pudenziana– Romanesque church just outside the town
• Santa Restituta– small church that was historically part of aClarissanconvent

Secular and civic

• Communal Palace (13th century)
• Palazzo dei Priori, located in the ancient Roman forum's site
• Rocca Albornoziana(or, Albornoz' Castle), overlooking the town, now hosting temporary exhibitions
• Eroli Museum with aDomenico Ghirlandaio'saltarpiece

Narnia and C. S. Lewis

The imaginary land ofNarnia,described in the works ofC. S. Lewis,was named after Narni after he came across the name in an atlas as a child.

Concerning Narnia and NarniRoger Lancelyn Greenwrites about C.S. Lewis andWalter Hooper:

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.

People

• Marcus Cocceius Nerva(30–98), Roman emperor from AD 96 to 98
• Juvenal of Narni(Italian:San Giovenale di Narni,died in 369 or 377), first bishop of Narni and saint
• Erasmo of Narni(1370–1443), best known as "Gattamelata", a famouscondottiere
• Rino Gaetano(1950–1981), singer-songwriter. He studied at the Piccola Opera del Sacro Cuore from 1961 to 1967.
• Berardo Eroli(1409–1479), cardinal
• Lucia Brocadelli of Narni(1476–1544),BlessedLucy of Narni

See also

• Roman shipyard of Stifone (Narni)

External links

• Official website
• Eroli Museum
• Underground Narni (Narni Sotterranea)
• Bill Thayer's site