Civitella d'Arna

Civitella d'Arna is a frazione of the comune (municipality) of Perugia in central Italy.

What was once an important town but now only a village of some 350 inhabitants stands atop a small hill (333 metres above sea level) about 9 kilometres east of the city of Perugia, the capital of Umbria. On one side, it provides a view of that city along its main axis from the bell towers of San Pietro and San Domenico, to the Rocca Paolina fortress, the bell tower of the Palazzo dei Priori, the gateway of Porta Sole, and the Convent of Monteripido. On the other side, it looks towards Assisi, Spello, Trevi, Bastia, the dome of Santa Maria degli Angeli, and beyond them to Foligno, Bevagna, Montefalco, and as far as the Rocca (castle) of Spoleto.

History

Civitella d'Arna boasts of Umbrian origins, but it was the Etruscans who were chiefly responsible for its development in the 4th century BC. The name "Arna" in the Etruscan language meant "river current" and probably referred to its position between the rivers Tiber and Arno. Under Roman rule, it continued to be important and was the seat of a bishop by the end of the 5th century AD, in the last decade of which a Bishop Vitalianus held the see.[1] The barbarian hordes of Totila devastated it in 548–549 and it ceased to be an episcopal see. The centuries-long struggles between Byzantines and Lombards brought further decline to the town. Only in the 13th century was the building of its hilltop castle completed.

In 2004, at the request of the then Archbishop of Perugia, the Holy See acknowledged the former existence of the residential bishopric of Arna, by inserting its name among the titular sees recognized by the Catholic Church.[2]

Sights

Many archaeological finds from the area are on display in the Archaeological Museum of Perugia. However, a bronze head of Hypnos (the god of sleep), perhaps a 1st or 2nd-century AD copy of a Hellenistic original, was found at Civitella d'Arna in the early nineteenth century and is now part of the Castellani Collection in the British Museum.

References

  1. Francesco Lanzoni, Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604), vol. I, Faenza 1927, p. 480
  2. It is listed in Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 839

External links

Coordinates: 43°07′41″N 12°29′13″E / 43.128°N 12.487°E / 43.128; 12.487

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