History d'Ombrie

The first traces of the Etruscan civilization appear and reach their peak in the 6th century BC. The ancient territory of Etruria, composed of city-states, corresponds to the region of present-day Tuscany and a substantial part of Umbria, including Perugia. The Etruscans also settled in Rome for a century and transformed it into a real city.

In the heart of the Italian peninsula, the Umbri tribe named their territory Umbria. The Etruscan invasions seem to push the Umbrians towards the Apennines.

In 387 BC, a Greek colony from Syracuse founded Ankon, the present-day Ancona.

Battle of Sentinum lost by the Umbrians. This marked the beginning of the Roman Empire's advance into their territory. The Romans dominated the Marche region for nearly 700 years.

Construction of the Via Flaminia in Umbria, an essential road for the development of Roman influence in the country.

Perugia is the scene of a Roman civil war led by Mark Antony against Octavian. The city was destroyed.

The Roman Empire fell and city-states appeared. The latter did not stop fighting. Very soon the Guelphs, who supported the papacy, and the Ghibellines, who wanted to see the region dominated by a king (supporters of the supremacy of the Germanic emperor in Italy), clashed.

Umbria was divided between the Byzantine domination and the Duchy of Spoleto founded by the Lombards. The latter remained in the region until the 13th century, but did not dominate continuously.

Florence and a large part of Tuscany and Umbria became part of the Carolingian Empire. Some territories were offered to the Pope. Charlemagne visited the region.

Perugia became the property of the popes with the agreement of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious.

The name "Marca" appears with the imperial dynasty of the Othons. The Marches were then at the heart of the struggles between the Empire and the Papacy.

Birth of Saint Francis in Assisi. Umbria will gradually give the image of a place of peace and serenity, an image conveyed in particular by painters. Saint Francis of Assisi died on October 3, 1226.

Birth in Florence (Tuscany) of the first great Italian-language poet, Dante Alighieri. He is the author of The Divine Comedy, the first poem written in Tuscan dialect, not in Latin.

Umbria enters a period of important changes. New settlements were developed in the region, the fortified villages (the castra) were connected by a system of roads. The old Roman cities were abandoned and rebuilt on the heights, such as Gubbio or Trevi.

A series of disasters takes place in Umbria. First, half of the populations of Tuscany and Umbria disappeared because of plague epidemics. In addition to this devastating infectious disease, more than a dozen earthquakes destroyed many inhabited places during this period.

Domination of the Montefeltro family, to whom Pope Eugene IV confers the ducal dignity.

Federico III of Montefeltro (Federico da Montefeltro) was born in Gubbio on 7 June 1422. Duke of Urbino and Count of Montefeltro from 1444 to his death, he was a famous Renaissance man of war and patron of the arts(condottiere). The city of Urbino in the Marche region owes its taste for refinement and culture to him. The ducal palace of Urbino is undoubtedly one of the emblems of this prosperous period under his reign. Frederick III of Montefeltro brought in the most talented artistic figures of the Quattrocento. Among them: Luciano Laurana (architect from Dalmatia, 1430-1502), Francesco di Giorgio Martini (architect from Siena, 1439-1502), Piero della Francesca (from Sansepolcro, 1415-1492), Paolo Uccello (from Florence, 1397-1475). He may even have brought Botticelli (from Florence, 1445-1510) and Melozzo da Forlì (1438-1494) as well as humanists such as Vespasiano da Bisticci, an Italian Renaissance bookseller and writer. It was also in Urbino that Bramante, one of the most important architects and painters of the Renaissance (1444-1514), and Raphael (1483-1520), son of the painter Giovanni Santi (or Sanzio), were trained. The walls of the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino thus became a bustling cultural centre where a large library (said to be "the largest in Italy after the Vatican") was built on the initiative of Frederick III of Montefeltro to bring together intellectuals and humanists. A city of art, Urbino still keeps the traces of this cultural past with, among others, its Faculty of Arts, its artistic high school "Scuola del libro" ("School of the book"), the ISIA (Higher Institute of Artistic Industries) and the Academy of Fine Arts. The atmosphere is young, very student-like.

Raphael, Italian Renaissance painter and architect, was born in Urbino. His birth name is Raffaello Sanzio (also named Raffaello Santi, Raffaello da Urbino, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino).

The nobility reappropriated the abandoned cities... Palaces, chapels, theatres and monasteries were renovated and rebuilt, the portals were surmounted by the family coat of arms, the plasterwork was redone according to the criteria of the Middle Ages..

Gioachino Rossini was born in Pesaro.
The Barber of Seville is probably the most famous of Rossini's operas. The Italian in Algiers and Guillaume Tell are also well known works in his operatic repertoire. Born on February 29, 1792 in Pesaro in the Marches and died on a Friday, November 13 in Paris in 1868, the composer innovated in orchestral writing. He had a profound impact on the history of 19th-century opera while leading a very eventful life. Also known as a great gourmet, he liked to enhance his dishes with foie gras and truffles!

Umbria fell under the domination of Napoleon until 1814.

Re-established by the Congress of Vienna, the Papal States occupied a large part of central Italy, including Umbria and the Marches. The States of the Church had two major maritime entrances: Ancona on the Adriatic and Civitavecchia on the Mediterranean.

The Marches are occupied by the Austrian army.

The Battle of Castelfidardo took place, as its name suggests, in the small town of Castelfidardo, located south of Ancona in the Marche region. The Piedmontese troops who were leading the war of Italian unification, an idea defended by Giuseppe Mazzini, won the victory over the Papal troops. The Marches and Umbria thus became part of the Kingdom of Italy, joining forces with Garibaldi's troops who had just conquered the entire south of the peninsula. Florence became the capital of the country in 1865, until the conquest of Rome five years later. King Vittorio Emanuele II then moved to the Palazzo Pitti.

A revolutionary and patriot, he worked hard for Italian unity. Some streets, squares and large avenues bear his name. In 1870, he chose Sicily as the territory to see the birth of the Italian Republic, while King Victor Emmanuel II had just completed the unification of Italy. He was arrested, locked up and then exiled. A few months before his death, he managed to return to Pisa using a false identity.

Probably the best known of the Italians of French origin, since he was born in Nice. Although he was naturalized French at the age of 7, when Nice was returned to the Savoy, he always felt Italian. In 1833, while captaining a ship heading for the Black Sea, he discovered Giuseppe Mazzini's "Young Italy" movement, which he vigorously joined a few years later. He is considered one of the founding fathers of Italy.

The Marches and Umbria fall under the control of Mussolini's fascist regime. The Marches is on the "Gothic Line" that separates German and Allied troops. Umbria is known to have always been a pocket of active resistance during the Second World War. In Foligno, for example, nearly 3,000 people were deported to Germany.

The current borders of Umbria are fixed with the creation of the province of Terni, while the province of Rieti is incorporated into the Lazio region.

Mussolini and his ministers are executed.

The Italians choose the Republic for their country.

Treaty of Rome: creation of the Common Market.

Two earthquakes shook Umbria and the Marches a week apart. With a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale, the earthquake caused the death of 12 people and injured over 110. Several mountain villages were devastated and historical buildings damaged, including the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, where four people were killed when a vault fell.

Adoption of the euro

The unsinkable Silvio Berlusconi and his right-wing allies win the national elections after the fall of Romano Prodi's government. At 71, Berlusconi became president of the Council for the third time. But the "Silvio" edifice began to crack: scandal after scandal culminated in the "Ruby gate" affair involving a minor, while the Constitutional Court annulled the law protecting him from prosecution during his term of office.

150th anniversary of Italian unification. In November, following Berlusconi's resignation, the economist Mario Monti became President of the Council. Despite the austerity plan and demonstrations against his austerity policy to counter the economic crisis, Monti managed to stay the course. "Super Mario", as he is known to journalists, launches a pension reform, implements a policy against tax evasion and asks the Church to pay a property tax.

The left-wing coalition wins the general elections. Enrico Letta succeeds in forming a coalition government after two months of deadlock.

On the night of 23-24 August 2016, a powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck central Italy. Nearly 300 people died under the rubble and nearly 400 were injured. Villages in the Lazio and Marche regions were hit hard, causing considerable damage, particularly in the province of Ascoli Piceno where the small village of Pescara del Tronto was totally destroyed. In Umbria, the municipalities of Norcia and Preci were destroyed.

Large victory of the "no" in the Italian referendum. With almost 60%, Italians rejected on December 4, 2016 the constitutional reform carried by Matteo Renzi who, in the wake, announced his resignation.

Legislative elections: victory for anti-European forces. In June 2018, Italy has a new government under the leadership of Giuseppe Conte, resulting from the unprecedented coalition between two anti-system parties, the 5-Star Movement and the League.

A coalition was finally formed between the League (sovereignist right) and the 5 Star Movement.

The Conte II government was sworn in on Thursday 5 September. A new coalition is formed between the 5-Star Movement and the Democratic Party.

The Italian government decides to place the entire country under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.