THE UMBRIAN ORIGIN AND THE ROMAN PERIOD
The oldest remains of the town were found on the current hill of S. Valentino, east of the city, which has traces of cemeteries and dwellings.
Throughout the Middle Ages this settlement was known as “Civitavecchia,” (old city) to distinguish it from a subsequent inhabited center (the current one) that originated as a commercial center downstream along the Topino River.
The name of the city calls to mind the deities, Supunna and Fulginia, venerated in the area before the arrival of the Romans.
In the twelfth century the town was known as castrum sancti Feliciani (holy town of Feliciano) in honor of the bishop saint martyred in 251. Its name was then changed to civitas nova Fulginii from which the modern name of Foligno evolved.
In his writings Naturalis Historia, Pliny the Elder mentions the Fulginate people who supposedly founded the city. Whatever the true origin, the position of the thriving center of commerce, downstream of the rivers Topino and Menotre, naturally defended by the surrounding hills, must have made the Romans so envious that they attempted to conquer it on several occasions often clashing with the hostility of the inhabitants.
Together with nearby Spoleto, Foligno was the only city to slow down the rapid Roman conquest of the Umbrian-Etruscan territories. The city fell into the hands of the conquerors only at the end of the third century BC with the battle of Sentino.
From 295 BC, Foligno became part of the Roman State with the title of praefectura and experienced an important phase of expansion in the Augustan period following the deviation of the Via Flaminia.
In the second century, as had happened previously with the Roman conquest, the spread of Christianity suffered a strong arrest near the town that remained for a long time faithful to idolatry and pagan superstition until the fifth century when the new town was formed near the tomb of the bishop Feliciano, near the current Cathedral in Piazza Repubblica.
Saved from the advancement of the Lombards in the fifth century, the town was sacked by the Saracens in 881 and devastated by the Hungarians twice in 916 and in 925, causing a period of crisis and oblivion for the community.
MIDDLE AGES AND MUNICIPAL AGE
Sources attest to the presence of the podestà (presence of high officials) beginning in the 11th century
In 1240, Emperor Federico II, who was baptized in Assisi but grew up within the walls of Foligno, made his triumphal entry into the city accompanied by his court. The imperial favor brought prosperity to the city for a few years until it clashed with the pro-papal town of Perugia that besieged it in 1253. The people of Foligno showed up barefoot on the opponent’s field, with ropes around their necks and knives pointing downwards, asking for forgiveness and declaring that they had been subjugated by the emperor; but the response of Perugia was very harsh and the people had to destroy the walls, fill in the defense ditches and give the winners the keys to the city and the city banner.
The hard blow did not prevent the inhabitants from rising up again, so much so that the 13th century was the period of maximum splendor and urbanization and architectural development in Foligno. In 1284 the city even managed to rebuild the walls that are still visible today.
FROM THE TRINCI FAMILY RULE TO MODERN TIMES
In 1305, the citizens of Perugia and Spoleto again took up arms against Foligno to help the Guelph party. After having forced the head of the Ghibellines Anastasi to seek refuge in Todi, the invaders penetrated into the city and succeeded in conquering the Town Hall and in electing Nallo Trinci as leader of the people.
From this moment on, the rule of this family began, which, between high points and low points, governed the city until 1439.
In that year, in fact, urged by the citizens who had asked the Pope for help against the despotic politics of Corrado Trinci III, Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi gathered troops in Orvieto and besieged Foligno taking over the city’s government in the name of the Church.
Even the cardinal, however, had little luck and not even a year later he was captured and killed in Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome.
The city government passed into the hands of Ludovico Scarampi and numerous local lords who progressively took away municipal freedom from the citizens. Foligno, while sharing the fate of all Italian municipalities, managed to maintain a certain independence thanks to the agricultural, industrial and commercial vitality that characterized it.
Between 1798-99 and 1809-14 the city fell into the hands of the French government before being definitively incorporated into the newly forming Italian state in 1860.
Because of heavy bombing suffered during World War II and the strong earthquake of 1997 that profoundly changed the urban layout, today Foligno preserves only in part the ancient and famous “ovata” shape that had characterized it for centuries. The suburban expansion, made possible by the flat plain on which it stands, is a clear sign of the strong commercial activity of the city which is one of the most active centers in the Umbrian territory.