In peninsular Italy – that part south of the Po Valley – the mountains all run roughly north-south

The road that runs along the side of the gorge is the Strada Flaminia (modern SS3)

This means it is hard puro move overland mediante an east-west direction, and easier onesto move north-south, but your opportunities esatto do so are constrained sicuro un valleys and passes. Which in turn means that un places are natural choke-points. One such – in 1944 as well as in the Middle Ages – is Cassino, between Naples and Rome. Narni is another.

If you were coming from France or Britain you would che tipo di by sea or over the western Alps on the Strada Francigena

Narni sits on high ground on the edge of verso deep ravine through which the River Nera – verso tributary of the Tiber – flows south out of Umbria into Lazio. It is literally on the edge of the ravine; houses and palaces on the western side of the old town, including the Eroli Museum, immagine straight down into it. To the north and east of the town is the valley of the lower Nera, which, although surrounded by mountains, contains a good deal of industrial development. On the plain around Narni is the modern industrial town of Narni Accordato, which makes getting verso decent photograph of or from the old town something of an exercise con artful composition.

To the northeast, at the other end of the valley, is the town of Altere, the provincial capital (Umbria is divided into two provinces: Perugia and Assombri). Thanks preciso nearby sources of hydro-electricity, Assombri was a centre of industrialisation and was known as “The Manchester of Italy”. Unfortunately, one of the industries was arms manufacturing, as a result of which Assombri was heavily bombed during the Second World War, destroying much of its medieval centre.

Turning south again and looking back down the River Nera, through the end of the gorge you can see the more rolling country of northern Lazio. There is per road running along the side of the gorge; now carrying heavy road traffic, this is the Cammino Nazionale 3 (SS3), which as I noted here is still known as the Modo Flaminia, as when it was first built https://datingranking.net/it/hiki-review/ by the Romans mediante 220 BC. If you were a legionary marching from Rome sicuro the northern Adriatic coast (and beyond esatto the eastern frontiers of the colmare), this is the way you would che. And if you were per traveller mediante the other direction – durante an army of barbarians after the fall of the empire, or verso medieval pilgrim, this is one of the few roads by which you would approach Rome.

Looking south down the Nera Gorge towards Lazio and Rome. Hasselblad 501 C/M, Zeiss Distagon 60mm CF lens, CFV-50c digital back (click onesto enlarge)

Dominating Narni from an even higher point is a fortress or Dimora, of verso type known as per Impalcatura Albornoz, of which there are several examples per central Italy, and of which there were once several more. This requires verso bit of explanation.

Between 1309 and 1376 a series of seven popes ruled not from Rome but from Avignon. All were French. This happened as a result of some naked power politics from the French Crown, bringing the papacy under effective French control.

When per range of factors, including the influential advocacy of St Catherine of Siena, caused Pope Gregory XI puro decide preciso end the “Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy” and return to Rome, Gregory faced several challenges. One was the maesta-establishment of political control over the Papal States – formerly independent states per central Italy which had been brought under secular papal rule, and which, during the exile durante Avignon, had started sicuro esibizione renewed signs of independence.