Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: Fuligno) 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 south-east of Perugia, north-north-west of Trevi and south of Spello.
While Foligno is an active bishopric, one of its civil parishes, San Giovanni Profiamma, is the historical site of the former bishopric of Foro Flaminio, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see.
Foligno railway station forms part of the main line from Rome to Ancona, and is the junction for Perugia; it is thus an important rail centre, 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 rail 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 away from the centre of the city there is the Foligno Airport.
Etymology The name Foligno is traced to an Umbrian form, Fulginia, which became the Roman Fulginium and is linked to the cult of the goddess Fulginia.
In the 19th century, the scholar Adone Palmieri held that the city derived its origin from a founder identified as a Fulgineo, a captain of the ancient Umbrians, who was said to have established it in the time of Tyrrhenus in the year 2482 Anno Mundi.
History Antiquity The origins of Foligno are uncertain. The earliest mention appears in two fragments of Cicero's oration in favor of Lucius Varenus, in which the municipium and prefecture of Fulginia are recalled. Appian mentions Fulginiae in connection with the Perusine War, and Pliny includes it among the cities of Umbria; it is also listed in the Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum. The poet Statius praises its fields. Some historians attributed its foundation to the Celto-Ligurians, while others assigned it to the Umbrians, with the name derived from Fulginio or Fulcinio, regarded as its founder.
The city developed at a strategic site, at the fork of the Via Flaminia and at the point where the Topino River reaches the valley floor. Its urban layout is characterized by straight, grid-like streets with right-angle intersections, a pattern connected to four surviving Roman bridges on the old bed of the Topino.
In the city was taken by the Romans together with Umbria and Etruria. It was raised first to the rank of prefecture and then to that of municipium, becoming one of the 15 Umbrian cities confederated with Rome.
When Foligno, together with other Umbrian cities, waged war against Rome, it was sacked and destroyed by the victorious Roman forces under the consul Fabius Maximus. Further destruction followed in when the inhabitants allied themselves with the Senonian Gauls and the Samnites against Rome.
In Hannibal, after defeating the Roman army and killing the consul Gaius Flaminius, marched on Foligno on his way to Rome and dismantled and devastated it and its territory after it had resisted. The city was later restored by Scipio Africanus.
Gaius Flaminius (consul 187 BC) restored the walls of Foligno and paved the road named after him, the Via Flaminia, which had originally been begun from Rome by his father.
In Foligno joined the Marsi and other Umbrian cities in the Social War against Rome and suffered heavy damage from Lucius Porcius Cato. In the inhabitants were enrolled in Roman citizenship and assigned to the Cornelia tribe.
During Sulla's civil war it supported the party of Marius against the Sullan faction, sided with Pompey in , and subsequently followed Mark Antony.
No further historical record appears until the barbarian period, when the city suffered serious damage at the hands of Alaric, king of the Visigoths, in 412, of Genseric, king of the Vandals, in 452, of Attila in the following year, and of Odoacer in 476.
Early Middle Ages Totila seized the city in 546, but it was recovered for the Empire by Belisarius four years later.
When Alboin, king of the Lombards, occupied Umbria in 571 and founded the Duchy of Spoleto, Foligno was included within it and governed by a judge and lieutenant. Liutprand later sacked both Foligno and Forum Flaminii during his war against the duke of Spoleto, Thrasimund. The inhabitants of Forum Flaminii, left without shelter, took refuge in Foligno, considerably increasing its population. The rebuilding of Foligno took place around the middle of the 8th century.
The city suffered further from Saracen incursions in 840 and Hungarian invasions in 915 and 924.
High Middle Ages Around 1160, during the reign of Frederick I, the city was expanded with the addition of a suburban district known as Nova Civitas Fulginei or Nova Civitas Abbatiae, named after a Benedictine church.
Under Pope Innocent III, Foligno, together with much of Umbria, passed under the authority of the Church, and from that time the Duchy of Spoleto was governed by a rector who sent a lieutenant to administer Foligno.
In 1211 a municipal privilege was issued for the Benedictine Abbey of Sassovivo. By that time the city is associated with civic institutions including a consilium populi, a chamberlain, and a Captain of the People.
In 1227 the city was occupied by Conrad Guiscard, captain of Frederick II, who became its lord and expelled the Guelph faction. The following year Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, legate of Gregory IX, at the head of papal forces and assisted by the exiled Guelphs led by Trincia di Berardo Trinci, expelled Conrad and restored the city to the Church. In 1235 Frederick II again occupied Foligno, leaving Conrad as his vicar and prefect.
A renewed Guelph attack expelled the imperial vicar once more and returned the city to Pope Gregory IX, but in 1240 Frederick II entered Foligno with great honors, appointed Count Thomas of Aquino, count of Acerra, as his vicar and captain general, and expelled Trincia di Berardo. In June 1254 the city was retaken from the Imperial party by Bonifacio Fogliani, papal rector of the Duchy of Spoleto, aided by the Perugians, Trincia Trinci, and other Guelphs; Trincia was then appointed vicar.
A strong Ghibelline reaction followed. Anastasio di Filippo Anastasi of Foligno, placing himself at the head of the Ghibellines with imperial support, retook the city in 1264 and governed it with the title of gonfaloniere of justice until his death in 1288. Between 1280 and 1281, under his rule, the city was embellished, expanded, and fortified with walls enclosing the external districts and quarters known as Ponte di Cesare, Pugilli, Castelvecchio, Todi, and Abbadia. He was succeeded by his son Corrado, who governed until 1303 together with his brothers Gerardo, Ermanno, and Filippo.
The Trinci family, supported by the Guelph faction, continually opposed them, and eventually freed the city from the Anastasi, becoming gonfaloniere and captain of the people with full authority over the city and its territory in 1305.
Between 1280 and 1291 new stone walls were constructed.
Late Middle Ages
Nallo was succeeded by his son Ugolino II and then by Trincia II, who was confirmed as vicar of the Holy See by Cardinal Albornoz. Under the auspices of this cardinal a fortress was built, and the district in which it stood was called Cassaro. On 30 November 1367 Pope Urban V appointed Trincia II as vicar of Foligno and its territory for an annual tribute of a sparrowhawk. Gregory XI confirmed him in this office and also made him general of the Church and lord of Bevagna, Limigiano, and Giano. From this period dates the growing power of the Trinci family.
In 1377 Corrado II Trinci succeeded, and nine years later Ugolino III, eldest son of Trincia, assumed leadership. In 1392 he was appointed vicar of Foligno, Bevagna, Nocera, Trevi, Giano, Montecchio, and other places, on condition of paying an annual tribute of 1,000 gold florins to the Apostolic Camera.
Pope Boniface IX visited Foligno in 1393 to settle disputes between factions and was received with great honors; Ugolino, having promised assistance against Perugia, received from him the Golden Rose. Antipope John XXIII confirmed his vicariate and added Bettona, Montefalco, and the castles of Collemancio, Gualdo Cattaneo, and other fortresses; he also acquired Leonessa in Abruzzo from Ladislaus of Naples.
In 1435 Ugolino was succeeded by Niccolò Trinci, who expanded the family’s domains by acquiring Nocera and the castles of Melace and Polino. His rule, marked by cruelty and tyranny, led to his assassination together with his brother Bartolomeo by the inhabitants in the fortress of Nocera. Corrado III then came to power and acquired Piediluco with its lake. Having failed to support the Guelph cause and instead favoring the enemies of the Church, he provoked Pope Eugene IV to send an army of 7,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry under Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi, Rinaldo Orsini, Paolo della Molara, Niccolò Vitelli, and Count Everso dell'Anguillara. The papal forces occupied Bevagna, Nocera, and Trevi and besieged Foligno, which resisted for a long time.
The inhabitants, weary of the harsh rule of the Trinci, opened the gates to the papal legate and returned to papal authority, formalizing the submission in a capitulation preserved in the municipal archive. Vitelleschi had Corrado III Trinci and his sons executed, and all territories they had acquired returned to the Church.
Vitelleschi was appointed rector of Foligno and the Duchy of Spoleto, succeeded in 1440 by Mattia Fusci, bishop of Rieti, and in the following year by Lorenzo degli Atti of Todi. Later rectors included Troilo Verdilotti of Ascoli, Cesare Conti of Lucca, Pier Luigi Borgia, Giacomo Tolomei, and Nanno Piccolomini of Siena.
In 1488 Maximilian I came to Foligno at the request of Pope Innocent VIII to settle renewed factional disputes. In 1490 the same pope appointed his brother Maurizio Cibo as governor of Spoleto, Assisi, and Foligno, and Alexander VI confirmed to the city the fief of Gualdo Cattaneo. Subsequent popes continued to grant privileges and appoint governors directly.
18th and 19th century In 1782 Pope Pius VI passed through Foligno on his journey to Vienna to meet Emperor Joseph II.
Foligno experienced periods of French rule in 1798–1799 and again in 1809–1814.
On 6 July 1816, under Pope Pius VII, Foligno was listed as a seat of district government, placed under the Perugia Delegation. In 1817 the community of Spello was attached. This administrative arrangement continued until Italian unification. In 1857 Foligno was listed as a municipality in the Papal States' territorial division.
The city was heavily affected by an earthquake in 1832.
In the mid-19th century, Foligno had a population of 16,317 inhabitants, of whom 13,117 lived in the town and 3,200 in the countryside. In 1860 it joined the newly unified Italian state, and became a seat of district administration.
Modern history During World War II Foligno had an important airfield, barracks, military schools and weapons industries, especially connected with aviation. The city was subjected to numerous Anglo-American bombing raids, with about 80% of it destroyed. It was awarded a Silver Medal for Civil Valor in recognition of the resilience of its civilian population.
The earthquake of 1997 caused very serious damage to the city and to mountain hamlets, some of which were almost totally destroyed.
Geography