Civita Castellana is an Italian town of 15 991 inhabitants in the province of Viterbo in Lazio. It is known to have been the main Faliscan city, Falerii (Veteres) in pre-Roman times. Pope Gregory V gave it the name of civitas (city - citizenship), hence "Civita". "Castellana" refers to the dominion that the place had over the surrounding castles. Civita Castellana is also known by the name of Massa Castellania.
Civita Castellana preserves a remarkable artistic and archaeological heritage, in fact Falerii Veteres turns out to be one of the main sites of the Iron and Bronze Ages. It is rich in temple areas, necropolis and sanctuaries.
Archaeological area of Vignale;
The necropolis of via Amerina
(together with the neighboring municipalities of Fabrica di Roma,
Castel Sant'Elia and Nepi);
Necropolis Coste di Manone, Tiber
valley
The cathedral, built by the
Cosmati with a 12th century facade and a large central arch portico
from 1210 (enriched with polychrome mosaics in the Cosmatesque
style) and with a large crypt from the 7th and 8th centuries;
The
church of Santa Maria del Carmine formerly Santa Maria dell'Arco
from 1100 with a mullioned bell tower with 3 naves with different
columns and capitals and the monastery of the Poor Clares of San
Damiano with cloister.
Church of San Francesco (formerly San
Pietro) from the 13th century, with a table by Antoniazzo Romano
from the 15th century and an altarpiece from 1531. Cloister with
frescoes.
The abbey of Santa Maria in Faleri; (located in the
territory of Fabrica di Roma in the Faleri hamlet) of 1200
Cistercian with five apses.
Church of San Gregorio XIII century
with 3 naves with remains of fifteenth century frescoes and bell
tower with single and mullioned windows.
Church of Sant'Antonio
Abate with Renaissance frescoes.
Church and convent of Santa
Susanna from the 13th century with a portico towards the hamlet of
Borghetto.
Church of Santa Maria delle Piagge of medieval origin,
preserves a Madonna with child celebrated on Sunday in Albis near
Porta Lanciana.
Church of the Madonna delle Rose from the 16th
century on pre-existing medieval buildings between via ponte ternano
and Largo Roma.
Church of San Benedetto in front of the former
church of San Giovanni Decollato with a mullioned bell tower today a
florist.
Aedicule Madonna delle nevi from 1718 with a 17th
century fresco in piazza dei martiri delle fossa ardeatine.
Aedicule with St. George and the 12th century dragon in via Corsica,
30.
Fresco of Madonna with Child from the end of the 17th century
in via Garibaldi, 4.
Former church of San Giorgio today a museum
of ceramics.
Former Church of Santa Chiara formerly of the nuns
with elegant rose window on the facade in via Ferretti today
hospital for chronic.
Former Church of the Holy Sacrament of the
Franciscan Poor Clares, today a private nursery and primary school,
in front of the Church of the Carmine.
Rock church of San Cesareo deacon and martyr, environment dug
into the tuff that overlooks the north-western side of Colle del
Vignale, south of Civita Castellana. The toponym is to be considered
of medieval origin: an epigraph recalls that in 1210 the bishops of
Sutri, Nepi and Civita Castellana met in this church on the occasion
of the consecration of two altars. The ancient cult of San Cesareo
martyr of Terracina was brought by the Benedictines; ecclesia beati
Caesarij was very close to the road that once connected the city
with the via Falisco-Latina.
In the historic center there are two
other churches, deconsecrated, today private homes.
Onorati Palace 1745
Palazzo Petroni-Trocchi from
1544 by the brother of Sangallo with two ashlar portals and coats of
arms. Several famous people stayed there
Palazzo Baroni with
frescoes by the Zuccari
Palazzo Montalto XVI century with
frescoes
Town Hall XVI century
Morelli Palace from 1740
Clementino Bridge;
Ponte Felice;
Former Marcantoni factory,
today it has become Piazza Marcantoni.
Fort Sangallo, where inside you can visit the national museum of
Agro Falisco, inaugurated in 1977, which collects materials from the
ancient Falerii Veteres and the surrounding areas. Fort San Gallo
was built by Alessandro VI Borgia on a previous medieval building.
The project was entrusted to Antonio da Sangallo the Elder and
completed by his nephew, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, under the
pontificate of Pope Julius II. The octagonal keep, the well of the
main courtyard and the entrance door to the fortress date back to
that period. There were restoration and embellishment interventions
with the successive popes. The fort was not only a military
architecture, but also a papal residence; this until the nineteenth
century. On the other hand, some finds dating back to the VIII - XII
century, coming from cellars and city wells, are an exception.
Others come from the area of the sanctuary of Juno Curite (first
half of the 6th century BC), while in the early 5th century BC. the
materials of the Temple of Mercury and two other temples located on
the Colle del Vignale belong. The new museum has been enriched with
new works donated by private individuals and artistic ceramics from
the state institute of art.
Borghetto Castle where there was the
medieval church of San Leonardo
Gate of Jupiter;
(located in the territory of Fabrica di Roma in the Faleri district)
Porta Borgiana on the road to Castel Sant'Elia
Via del Rivellino
with medieval gate;
Medieval old town with houses and towers;
Fountain of the Dragons 1585
Sundials and palaces with mullioned
windows;
Monument to the Victory by Silvio Canevari;
Monument
to the fallen of the sea;
Monument to the potters;
Monument to
the fallen in Africa;
Topography and Terrain
The town occupies a dramatic, naturally
defensive position on a volcanic tuff (tufo) spur or plateau perched
between deep gorges carved by tributaries of the Treja (or Treia) River
(including the Rio Maggiore). This bluff-like setting features steep
cliffs and precipitous rock faces formed by fluvial erosion of the
relatively soft volcanic bedrock.
The broader comune spans a varied
topography with elevations ranging from about 30 m in the river valleys
to 213–290 m on higher plateaus and ridges (average around 122–156 m).
The terrain combines flat-to-gently sloping agricultural plateaus with
deeply incised valleys, narrow gorges, and eroded ravines—creating a
highly dissected landscape typical of the Tuscia volcanic region. The
tuff plateau provides commanding views and historical defensibility,
while the surrounding lowlands transition into the broader Tiber Valley
floodplain and adjacent hilly areas.
This morphology results from
intense erosion of volcanic deposits, producing “plastic” and fractured
landforms with steep walls, clay-rich ravines, and occasional landslides
or subsidence risks due to underlying cavities in the tuff.
Geology
Civita Castellana lies within the Roman Volcanic Province,
specifically influenced by the Vico and Sabatini volcanic complexes
(active roughly 700,000–40,000 years ago). The dominant rock is red tuff
(tufo rosso)—a pyroclastic ignimbrite deposit that filled ancient
valleys and inverted topography, forming resistant yet erodible
plateaus.
These volcanic layers overlie older marine sediments and
are highly porous and fractured, leading to:
Subsurface cavities.
Groundwater flow.
Localized instability (e.g., collapses noted in
recent geophysical studies using ERT, GPR, and InSAR).
The area
forms part of the middle Tiber Valley’s geological setting, with fluvial
terraces and palaeovalleys shaped by the Tiber and its tributaries
during the Pleistocene.
Hydrology
The Treja River (a tributary
of the Tiber) and its tributaries dominate the local drainage, carving
the deep gorges that isolate the town’s plateau. The river system
features narrow valley bottoms, steep gorge walls, and occasional
waterfalls, with riparian zones supporting lush vegetation.
In the
urbanized core, historical and modern modifications—including culverted
or diverted streams, artificial canals, and anthropogenic backfill—have
altered natural hydrography, burying some original watercourses and
increasing risks of localized flooding or subsidence. The broader region
belongs to or borders the Parco Naturale Regionale Valle del Treja,
which protects the river’s gorges, riparian forests (poplars, willows),
and biodiversity.
Climate
Civita Castellana has a classic
Mediterranean climate (Köppen-Geiger Csa): warm and temperate, with hot,
dry summers and milder, wetter winters. The average annual temperature
is about 14.7°C (58.4°F), with a seasonal variation of around 19.4°C.
Summer (June–September): Hot and dry; August peaks at ~24.9°C
(76.8°F) average, with July as the driest month (~28 mm / 1.1 in
precipitation) and maximum sunshine (~12.6 hours/day).
Winter
(December–February): Cooler and wetter; January averages ~5.5°C
(41.9°F), with November the wettest month (~154 mm / 6.1 in) and higher
humidity (up to 84% in December).
Annual precipitation totals
~1,027 mm (40.4 in), concentrated in autumn and winter, supporting
agriculture (cereals, wine, olives) on the plateaus. The volcanic
terrain and river valleys moderate local microclimates, with cooler,
moister conditions in the gorges.
Surrounding Landscape and
Environment
To the southeast (~10 km) rises Mount Soracte (or
Soratte), a prominent limestone ridge visible from the town and
historically noted in literature (including by Goethe, who described the
area’s fractured volcanic scenery). Nearby are the Monti Cimini volcanic
group to the north/northwest.
The landscape blends cultivated
plateaus (supporting cereals, vines, and ceramics industries using local
tuff) with protected natural valleys rich in biodiversity,
Etruscan/Faliscan archaeological sites, and dramatic gorges. The
combination of soft volcanic rock, active river erosion, and human
modification creates a dynamic, scenic environment that has shaped
settlement patterns for millennia—from ancient Faliscan times to the
present.
Legend
According to the legend, the founder of Falerii Veteres
was the Greek Halaesus or Aleso. Son of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae,
and of the beautiful war slave Briseide, already deeply loved by
Achilles and forcefully stolen from him for Agamemnon, he fled after
the killing of his father, landed on the Tyrrhenian coasts and went
up the Tiber up to Falerii Veteres .
Virgil in the Aeneid,
his posthumous commentator Servius Mario Onorato, and others still
leave testimonies of this great Greek hero.
Falisci
The three-thousand-year history of Civita Castellana begins with
that of the Falisci, a population speaking a language similar to
Latin, but in Etruria, and therefore between the civilization of the
Etruscans, that of Capenate and that of the Romans. The Etruscan
influence on the Faliscan civilization is therefore fundamental. A
clear example is the writing of the Faliscan language, of Etruscan
origin.
The first traces of this civilization come from the
excavations of the ancient Falerii Veteres, which had commercial
relations with the whole Mediterranean basin. Most of the finds of
great value are found in the Etruscan national museum of Villa
Giulia in Rome and in the archaeological museum of Agro Falisco in
Civita Castellana which also collect the finds found in the Faliscan
area surrounding the city. Finds from the Faliscan territory also in
other great museums such as the Louvre in Paris. A warrior people,
that of the Falisci, which inevitably clashed with nearby Rome.
Defeated, the Falisci were literally driven out of the fortified
site of Falerii Veteres and forced to found another city on a plain
five kilometers away. The new city was called Falerii Novi.
Middle Ages
After a period of neglect, the city returned to be
inhabited, following the Gothic wars and the Lombard invasions,
giving rise to an urban development that still retains its medieval
fabric. Falerii Veteres thus became Civita Castellana. Over the
following centuries Civita will be the place where popes like
Clement III and Hadrian IV will find refuge in situations of extreme
danger.
At the end of the 12th century it was the lordship of
Giovanni dei Papareschi Senator of Rome and during the period of the
Late Middle Ages there were fights between two families: the
Prefects of Vico and the Savellis, until, in 1426, the Holy See
reaffirmed its jurisdiction. .
Renaissance
From that
moment the city followed the fate of the Papal State and many were
the popes who over the years visited and stayed there. Among these
Alexander VI, Julius II, Pius VI. It was under the pontificate of
Alexander VI Borgia that work began in the Sangallo fort. It was the
year 1494.
The most important event of the sixteenth century,
on the other hand, was the attack that the Lanzichenecchi launched
on Civita Castellana in 1527. They tried twice to take possession of
it, having understood its strategic importance. The city, however,
managed to resist. It was on this occasion that the city archive was
burned.
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were
centuries of peace and so some public works were taken care of. In
1589 the Felice bridge was built, in 1609 the variant of the Via
Flaminia, in 1709 the Clementino bridge; the connection between the
Cassia and the Flaminia wanted by Pope Pius VI dates back to 1787.
Modern era
The ideas of the French Revolution soon spread
throughout Europe, including Italy. The French territorial
expansionism that followed also reached Civita Castellana so much so
that on 5 December 1798 the French troops, led by General MacDonald
and part of General Championnet's army, defeated the Neapolitan
troops led by General Mack in battle. The following year the Aretini
joined the other enemies of the French and attacked Civita
Castellana, taking it on 25 August 1799. The French soon regained
possession of the city, but in 1799 it returned to be part of the
Papal State. It fell under French rule again in 1809 when Rome and
Lazio were annexed to the Empire and remained under French control
until 1814.
In 1831 it was the base from which the papal soldiers arrested
the patriots of General Giuseppe Sercognani originally headed to
Rome, with clashes in Otricoli, Ponte Felice and Borghetto. In 1867
the Garibaldians, directed to Mentana, used the railway in the
valley below, but did not go up to the city. On 13 September 1870
the city was attacked by two of the five Italian divisions aimed at
taking Rome. Civita Castellana was defended by a company of papal
Zouaves and a company of discipline, for a total of just over 200
men. Two battalions of bersaglieri were sent to circumvent the city
to cut off the retreat from the Pontiffs, then, at 9 am on 13
September, the field artillery of the Italian IV Corps opened fire
on the fortress and walls. Meanwhile, a company of the XXXV
Bersaglieri forded the Treja and climbed up to the city, reaching
the square, followed by a battalion of the 39th Infantry. Fanti and
Bersaglieri slipped into the houses adjacent to Forte Sangallo and
began shooting from the windows. After a while the fort raised the
white flag and sent an MP. An agreement was reached immediately and
the commander of the square, the captain Count Papi, surrendered
with the entire garrison. The Pontiffs had no losses; the Italians
seven wounded, one of whom died in the night. Having taken the city,
the Italians continued to Nepi, Monterosi, La Storta and Rome,
putting an end to the centuries-old power of the Church and annexing
Civita Castellana to the Kingdom of Italy.
It was in the
nineteenth century that an economic change began in Civita
Castellana thanks to Giuseppe Trevisan, a Venetian entrepreneur who
set up the first ceramic factories there. That of ceramics is an
ancient vocation, also due to the easy availability of the clay
present in the place. Over the years, alongside the artistic sector,
the industrial sector also develops, which will have its peak after
World War II. The production sectors are sanitary ware, followed by
tableware. The industrial district is born, which also includes the
neighboring countries.