Foligno
Foligno is unusual among the cities of Umbria in that it is built in the plain. Indeed, the local people travel around it on bicycles!! The city was badly hit in the earthquake of 1997 and is still to emerge fully from the scaffolding. Nevertheless, there is much to see here.
Foligno enjoys superb rail and road links. Day trips are easily possible by train to Spoleto, Assisi, Spello and Perugia and by bus to Nocera Umbra, Trevi, Bevagna and Montefalco. I have enjoyed staying at Hotel Italia and Albergo le Mura. There are two excellent bars in the main square, Piazza della Repubblica, both of which have good kitchens:
Antico Caffé della Piazza; and
Central Bar.
The most talked-about restaurant in the city is Il Bacco Felice in Via Garibaldi. I also like Broseccheria ( also in Via Garibaldi) and Marechiaro (in Via Piermarini), but my favourite is Hostaria Sparafucile (opposite the main facade of the Duomo), with its excellent chef Nazzareno Brodoloni.
Finally, if you need to order books on art or on local history, be sure to visit the website of Editoriale Umbra. Their office is above the book shop in Via Pignattara.
Historical Background
In ancient times, the site of modern Foligno was probably under the Lacus Umber, which the Romans drained in ca. 220 BC to
facilitate the construction of Via Flaminia. The local people, who belonged to the Umbri, seem to
have gravitated to this reclaimed land. They built a settlement to the east of the modern city (near the place from which the picture above was taken) that the Romans called Fulginiae, Fulginia or Fulginium .
St Felician, the bishop of nearby Forum Flaminii, died just outside Fulginiae in 251 as he was being taken to Rome in chains. He was was buried near Ponte Cesare (see Walk I), a Roman bridge across the Tessino river, on the site of the present Duomo. The Atti family subsequently built the Castrum Sancti
Feliciani here. When Fulginiae was attacked and plundered by Saracens in 881 and by Hungarians in 915 and 924, its inhabitants began to move to the castrum for protection. The newly
important settlement, now the episcopal seat, became known as "Civitas Sancti Feliciani" and subsequently as Foligno.
Foligno enjoyed the favour of the Holy Roman Emperors from at least the time of the Emperor Frederick I, Barbarossa. It was a traditional enemy of Perugia throughout the latter part of the 13th century. The Trinci family emerged as the most important family in the city in the 14th century, first under the auspices of Perugia and then (from 1355) under direct papal control. They took advantage of papal weakness in the early 15th century by allying with Braccio Fortebracci, Lord of Perugia and taking direct control of much of the surrounding area. Corrado III Trinci managed to retain control of Foligno after Braccio's death in 1424 but he finally succumbed to the power of the papacy in 1439.
Palazzo Trinci survived the demise of the Trinci lords with the beautiful frescoes of its piano nobile in tact. (This is in stark contrast, for example, to the palaces of the Baglioni lords of Perugia, which were destroyed to make way for the papal fortress of Rocca Paolina). Foligno subsequently became an important centre of Renaissance art, many examples of which survive within the city. The most important of the local artists was Nicolò di Liberatore, l' Alunno. It is possible to visit the house in which he lived and worked and to see the graffiti on the walls that documents his everyday life.
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