Umbria History

Nestled in the heart of central Italy, Umbria has been at the crossroads of Italian history since pre-Roman times.  The constant procession of merchants, pilgrims and invading armies has left behind a fascinating historic legacy.

The region takes its name from its earliest recorded inhabitants, the Umbri, who were reported to be living in the region by Greek writers in the 7th century BC.  During this time, the Etruscans also began to make significant inroads into the area.  By the 4th century BC, Perugia had become one of the twelve city-states of the powerful Etruscan League.  Numerous Etruscan tombs uncovered in this city highlight its wealth and sophistication during these times. 

With Rome only 100 miles down the Tiber River Valley, the people of this region were unable to avoid a conflict with this expanding city-state.  In 295 BC, the Roman legions smashed an allied army of Gauls, Umbri and Samnites just east of Umbria’s present borders at Sentinum.  This victory brought Umbria under Roman control while the construction of the Via Flaminia in 220 BC further cemented the region to Rome. 

During the golden years of Roman rule, cities like Spoleto, Gubbio, Spello and Perugia prospered due to Roman building projects including aqueducts, walls, amphitheaters and bridges that can still be seen today.  In the countryside, Roman aristocrats, like Pliny the Younger, developed sprawling estates to take advantage of the region’s fertility and natural beauty. 

As Roman power crumbled in the 5th century, Umbria, along with the rest of Italy, fell under the rule of the invading Ostrogoths.  While the region weathered this initial conquest in relatively good shape, the ensuing war between the Goths and Byzantines finally plunged it into the Dark Ages. 

Due to its proximity to Rome and location on the Via Flaminia, Umbria had been Christianized by missionaries during Roman times.  After centuries of political fragmentation, much of the region was given to the Pope by Charlemagne in 774, who had intervened in Italian politics on the pontiff’s behalf.  While Papal control of the region would last into the 19th century, the extent of the Pope’s influence ebbed and flowed over the centuries with the vagaries of Italian politics.

In the Middle Ages, city-states like Perugia remained fiercely independent of papal rule, following a line of development closer to their Tuscan neighbors like Siena and Arezzo.  Artists like Perugino gained fame across the peninsula for their prized frescoes, while St. Francis, from the prosperous town of Assisi, is credited with singlehandedly reviving popular enthusiasm for the Church in the 1200’s. 

Following the annexation of the Papal States by the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861, Umbria stumbled into the 20th century, an isolated and undeveloped black spot in an otherwise rapidly growing northern Italy.  The region was only officially created under Mussolini in 1927 and has escaped much of the ugly industrialization that mars the landscape of much of the north.  In recent years, Umbrians have taken advantage of their untouched countryside and medieval cities to attract visitors from around the world.  The annual music festival in Spoleto and international university in Perugia are the most prominent examples of this trend.