Civita Castellana

History

Civita Castellana was settled during the Iron Age by the Italic Falisci, who called it "Falerii". After the Faliscan defeat by the Romans, the Romans built a new city, about away, "Falerii Novi." The abandoned city was repopulated beginning in the early Middle Ages, with the new name of Civita Castellana 'City of the Castle' first mentioned in 994. In the following centuries the city was a flourishing independent commune, often disputed between the Pope and the Holy Roman Empire. Captured by Pope Paschal II at the beginning of the 12th century, the city was given as a fief to the Savelli by Gregory XIV. Sixtus IV assigned the city to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, the future Pope Alexander VI, who started the construction of the Rocca ("Castle"), which was completed under Julius II. Civita Castellana became an important road hub with the connection to the Via Flaminia (1606) and the construction of Ponte Clementino sometime after the Battle of Civita Castellana, a French Army victory against a Neapolitan Army here on December 5, 1798 while this community was still part of the 1798–1799 Roman Republic after the fall of the 754–1798 Papal States but before the return of the 1799–1809 Papal States.