Gualdo Tadino (Latin: ''Tadinum'') is an ancient town of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in the

province of Perugia The province of Perugia () is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The province covered all of Umbria until 1927, w ...

in northeastern

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

, on the lower flanks of Monte Penna, a mountain of the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...

. It is NE of

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

History

Gualdo has a long history and was originally an

Umbrian Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Within the Italic languages it is closely related to the Oscan group and is therefore associated with it in the group of Osco-Umbr ...

village known as Tarsina. Conquered by the Romans in 266 BC and re-christened Tadinum, it was a station on the

Via Flaminia The Via Flaminia () was an ancient Roman roads, Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans had f ...

. In 217 BC, it was destroyed by

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

's troops. A similar defeat was inflicted on it in 47 BC by

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

and in 410 AD by Alaric's

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

. In 552, the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

general

Narses Narses (also spelled Nerses; ; ; ; c. 478–573) was a distinguished Byzantine general and statesman of Armenian heritage, renowned for his critical role in Emperor Justinian I’s military campaigns. Alongside the famed Belisarius, Narses was ...

briefly restored Italy to the empire by defeating the

Ostrogoth The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

king Baduila in what is now known as the

Battle of Taginae At the Battle of Taginae (also known as the Battle of Busta Gallorum) in June/July 552, the forces of the Byzantine Empire under Narses broke the power of the Ostrogoths in Italy, and paved the way for the temporary Byzantine reconquest of the It ...

, the exact site of which is not known, but thought by most scholars to be a few kilometers from the town, in the plain to the west at a place called Taino. This suspicion may have received confirmation in 2004. The ancient city survived that war, only to be destroyed in a later war at the instigation of the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was c ...

in 966. It was later rebuilt, only to be destroyed a second time by fire in 1237. Finally, the Emperor Frederick II ordered the city rebuilt for a third time in 1239, and it is this incarnation which survives today. Gualdo Tadino sister cities are: West Pittston, PA (USA) and Audun-le-Tiche, France

Monuments and sites of interest

Religious architecture or sites

*'' Gualdo Tadino Cathedral'': Church of St Benedict with an external fountain attributed to Antonio da Sangallo the Elder (16th century). *'' San Francesco'': 13th-century church housing frescoes by Matteo da Gualdo. *''Santa Chiara'': 13th century church *''San Donato'': 13th-century church *''Santa Maria dei Raccomandati: 13th century oratory with traces of ancient frescoes *'' San Facondino, Gualdo Tadino'': 11th-century pilgrimage church

Secular architecture or sites

* Rocca Flea, a 12th-century castle which is now the main monument of the town. *''Palazzo del Podestà''. *''Torre Civica'' (Town Tower). *Civic Gallery, with works by Matteo da Gualdo and others.

Economy

The city was famous in the Middle Ages for the manufacture of

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

ware; in the late 20th century, the ceramic industry was revived, and Gualdo is now an important center for the manufacture of industrial ceramics and bathroom fittings.

Transportation

Gualdo Tadino has a railway station on the line from

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The journey time to Ancona is typically one hour and 45 minutes, and to Rome two hours.

''Frazioni''

Boschetto, Busche, Caprara, Cerqueto, Corcia, Crocicchio, Gaifana, Grello, Palazzo Mancinelli, Petroia, Piagge
Pieve di Compresseto
Poggio Sant'Ercolano, Rasina, Rigali, Roveto, San Lorenzo, San Pellegrino, Vaccara

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control Hilltowns in Umbria Roman sites of Umbria