The Italian Catholic diocese of Città di Castello is in Umbria. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Perugia-Città della Pieve.[1]
In 550, Fantalogus, by order of the Ostrogothic king Totila, took and destroyed the city then known as Tifernum or Civitas Tiberina. Città di Castello was later rebuilt around a castle, giving origin to the name used today. During the persecution of Diocletian, St. Crescentianus, a Roman knight, and ten others suffered martyrdom at Tifernum.
The first-known bishop of this see was Ennodius, present at a Roman council (465) under Pope Hilary. At the time of the sack of the city by Fantalogus, the bishop was Florius, later a friend of Gregory the Great. In 711 Lombard Arians put to death the bishop of the city, Albertus, and his deacon Britius.
By the Donation of Pepin (752), it became subject to the Holy See. In 1375 Città di Castello joined in the insurrection of other cities of the Papal States. Cardinal Robert of Geneva (later antipope as Clement VII), undertook to recapture it with Breton mercenaries, but was repulsed. Under Pope Martin V, however, it was taken by Braccio da Montone (1420). Later, Nicolò Vitelli, with the help of Florence and Milan, became absolute ruler.
In 1474 Pope Sixtus IV sent there his nephew, CardinalGiuliano della Rovere (later Pope Julius II). After fruitless negotiations he laid siege to the city, but Vitelli did not surrender until he learned that the command of the army had been given to Duke Federigo of Urbino. The following year Vitelli tried unsuccesefully to recapture the city; fear of Cesare Borgia alone induced him to desist.[2]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.