Foligno

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Comune di Foligno
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Umbria
Province	Perugia (PG)
Mayor	Manlio Marini (since June 2004)

Elevation	234 m
Area	263 km²
Population
- Total (as of January 1, 2005)	53,818
- Density	204/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	42°57′N 12°42′E
Gentilic	Folignati or Fulginati
Dialing code	0742
Postal code	06034, 06030, 06037
Frazioni	See list
Patron	St. Felicianus Martyr
- Day	January 24
Location of Foligno in Italy
Website: www.comune.foligno.pg.it

Foligno, (Latin: Fulginiae, Fulginium) is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located 40 km (25 mi) south-east of Perugia, 10 km (6 mi) north-north-west of Trevi and 6 km (4 mi) south of Spello.

Foligno is a station on the main line from Rome to Ancona, and is the junction for Perugia; it is thus an important rail center, with repair and maintenance yards for the trains of central Italy, and was therefore subjected to severe Allied aerial bombing in World War II, responsible for its relatively modern aspect, although it retains some medieval monuments. Of its Roman past no significant trace remains, with the exception of the regular street plan of the centre. Other resources include sugar refineries and metallurgical, textile, building materials and paper and timber industries. After the war, the city's position in the plain and again its railroad connections have led to a considerable suburban spread with the attendant problems of traffic and air pollution, as well as a severe encroachment on the Umbrian wetlands. Foligno is on an important interchange road junction in central Italy and 2 km far from the centre of the city there is the Foligno Airport.

1 History
2 Monuments, art and folklore
3 Quarters
4 Frazioni
5 Sister cities
6 External links

[edit] History

Foligno seems to have been founded by Umbrians in the pre-Roman period (probably 8th century BC). It was conquered by the Romans after the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC, receiving the name of Fulginiae from the ancient cult of the goddess Fulginia. In the classic Roman age the city acquired importance as a Statio principalis of road traffic along the ancient Via Flaminia. The city began to decay in the late Roman Empire years: after the fall of the latter, Fulginiae became part of the Duchy of Spoleto, and was sacked by the Saracens in 881 and ruined by Hungarians in 915 and again in 924: its inhabitants therefore decided to move, settling around the nearby Civitas Sancti Feliciani (former Castrum Sancti Feliciani), a church strengthened by walls where the Bishop and martyr Feliciano was buried in the 3rd century AD and which was then already populated. The new seat had also attracted people from Forum Flaminii (now San Giovanni Profiamma), a neighbouring city that had been destroyed by the Lombards under Liutprand.

Foligno gained the status of free city in 1165 thanks to emperor Federico Barbarossa. Siding first with the Guelph party, it became Ghibelline as a fierce rival of the Guelph Perugia. It changed hands often during the wars of the 13th century, until 1305 when it was seized by the powerful family of the Trinci acting as semi-independent deputies of the Holy See. During this period Foligno flourished and controlled a large territory, including Assisi, Bevagna, Giano, Montefalco, Nocera and Spello.

The Cathedral of Foligno.

When one of the Trinci went against the church, Pope Eugene IV sent a force against Foligno in 1439, led by the fearsome Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi: the inhabitants opened their gates, and the last of the Trinci, Corrado III, was beheaded in 1441 in the castel of Soriano. Henceforth Foligno belonged to the Papal States until 1860, with the exception of the Napoleonic era, when it was part of the Roman Republic (1799) then of the Kingdom of Italy (1809‑1814). The citizens took an active part in the Risorgimento wars, and on September 14, 1860 Savoy troops took the city and annexed it to the Kingdom of Italy.

It has suffered from several major earthquakes, among which those of 1832 and 1997.

[edit] Monuments, art and folklore

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

Main monuments of the city include:

Palazzo Comunale, built in the 13th century and rebuilt various times.
The Duomo or Cathedral of San Feliciano (1133-1201): a Romanesque building; the interior, however, was completely reworked in the 18th century).
The Church of S. Maria Infra Portas, the oldest church in town, although the present edifice dates to the 11th century.

The church of Santa Maria Infra Portas.

Trinci Palace (1389-1407), which houses an archaeological museum, the city's picture gallery, a multimedia museum of Tournaments and Jousts and the Civic Museum. The façade was rebuilt in Neoclassicist style after the earthquakes in 1831-1832. It houses frescoes from the early 15th century
The Abbey of Sassovivo, 5 km (3 mi) to the east, with cloisters of 1229 with pairs of small columns supporting arches, and Cosmatesque decorations.

The name of Foligno was famous for a noteworthy school of painting in the 15th century: it is also recorded for the famous Raphael's Madonna of Foligno (now in the Vatican), painted by the Urbinate artist for the nobleman Sigismondo di Comitibus, and for the first printed edition of Dante's Divina Commedia, printed on April 5 and 6 1472 in the Orfini Palace by Johannes Neumeister and Evangelista Mei.

The city is also notable for its association with the Bl. Angela of Foligno.

[edit] Quarters

The historical center of Foligno is traditionally divided into twenty rioni ("quarters"). Only ten of them are officially recknowed and can take part to the Giostra della Quintana. These are:

Ammanniti
Badia
Cassero
Contrastanga
Croce Bianca
Giotti
La Mora
Morlupo
Pugilli
Spada

The "dead" rioni which had been absorbed within the former ones are: Borgo, Fonte del Campo, Cipischi, Croce, Falconi, Feldenghi, Franceschi, Menacoda, Piazza Vecchia, Spavagli.

[edit] Frazioni

Abbazia di Sassovivo, Acqua Santo Stefano, Afrile, Aghi, Ali, Annifo, Arvello, Ascolano, Barri, Belfiore, Borgarella, Borroni, Budino, Camino, Cancellara, Cancelli, Cantagalli, Capodacqua, Caposomigiale, Cappuccini, Cariè, Carpello, Casa del Prete, Casa Pacico, Casale del Leure, Casale della Macchia, Casale di Morro, Casale di Scopoli, Cascito, Casco dell'Acqua, Casenove, Casette di Cupigliolo, Casevecchie, Cassignano, Castello di Morro, Castretto, Cavallara, Cave, Cerritello, Chieve, Cifo, Civitella, Colfiorito, Collazzolo, Colle di Verchiano, Colle San Giovanni, Colle San Lorenzo, Colle Scandolaro, Collelungo, Collenibbio, Colpernaco, Colpersico, Corvia, Costa di Arvello, Crescenti, Croce di Roccafranca, Croce di Verchiano, Cupacci, Cupigliolo, Cupoli, Curasci, Fiamenga, Fondi, Forcatura, Fraia, Hoffmann, La Franca, La Spiazza, La Valle, Leggiana, Liè, Maceratola, Maestà di Colfornaro, Modonna delle Grazie, Montarone, Morro, Navello, Orchi, Palarne, Pale, Perticani, Pescara I°, Pescara II°, Pieve Fanonica, Pisenti, Poggiarello, Polveragna, Ponte San Lazzaro, Ponte Santa Lucia, Pontecentesimo, Popola, Rasiglia, Ravignano, Rio, Roccafranca, Roviglieto, San Bartolomeo, San Giovanni Profiamma, San Vittore, Sant'Eraclio, Santo Stefano dei Piccioni, Scafali, Scandolaro, Scanzano, Scopoli, Seggio, Serra Alta, Serra Bassa, Serrone, Sostino, Sterpete, Tesina, Tito, Torre di Montefalco, Treggio, Uppello, Vallupo, Vegnole, Verchiano, Vescia, Vionica, Volperino.