Roman States

The central portion of the peninsula, on both sides of the Appenines. These provinces represent the core of ancient Latium, together with the districts controlled by the Papacy during the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early modern eras.

Contains: Alba Longa, Ancona, Ariccia, Bologna, Camerino, Cesena, Fabriano, Faenza, Ferrara, Foligno, Forli, Imola, Lavinium, the Marsi, Matelica, the Papacy, Perugia, Pesaro, Ponte Corvo, the Pontifex Maximus, Ravenna, Rimini, Rome and the Papal States, San Marino, San Severino, Spoleto, Tivoli, Tusculum, Urbino, and Viterbo.

 
ANCONA An Adriatic seaport located in central Italy, equidistant between Pescara and Ravenna.


ARICCIA A town in Latium, 16 miles (25 km.) southeast of Rome. It has long been known for its excellent wine. The town, which dates back to the ninth century BCE, is located on the shores of Lake Nemi. Not far away was a grove and sanctuary sacred to the goddess Diana, which was presided over by a priest known as the "Rex Nemorensis" ("King of Nemi"). Numerous Roman writers reported a practice of ritual sacrifice, as each Rex Nemorensis engaged his predecessor in ritual combat and killed him before taking his place. The phenomenon was explored at length in Frazier's "The Golden Bough".


BOLOGNA An important provincial town in northern Emilia-Romagna.


CAMERINO A town in central Italy, 8 miles (13 km.) southwest of San Severino.


CESENA A town on the Savio River, south of Ravenna. A significant garrison along a major road since Roman times, mention might be made of the heroic (but ultimately unsuccessful) defense of the town by Cia, wife of the Lord of Forli, against beseiging Papal troops in 1357. Toward the end of that Papal occupation, the town revolted (1377). Recaptured by troops of Sir John Hawkwood (an English mercenary and Condottiere who had recently seized and then sold the city of Faenza) under the command of Cardinal Robert of Geneva (late Anti-Pope Clement VII), the place was savagely plundered and thousands killed; the massacre became notorious as the Cesena Bloodbath.

FABRIANO A town in the interior of the March of Ancona; it is some 35 miles (56 km.) southwest of Ancona, and 30 miles (48 km.) northeast of Perugia. It's chief industry since the Middle Ages has been paper making.

FAENZA A town in northern Emilia-Romagna, located between Bologna and Ravenna. An ancient community, predating the Roman Empire, it is best known for it's ceramics and glassware industry; Faience techniques are named for this place.


FERRARA In north-central Italy, northeast of Bologna.

FOLIGNO A city in the Region of Umbria, 18 miles (30 km.) southeast of Perugia and 14 miles (22 km.) north of Spoleto. Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis, is 8 miles to the northwest, on the road to Perugia, and Foligno figures in the Saint's early career - it was to Foligno in c. 1206/7 that Francis journeyed when, in response to a vision, he took cloth and a horse from his fathers shop and sold them to give the proceeds to the church; his infuriated parent brought him before the bishop, whereupon Francis revealed his newfound Vocation as hermit and confessor by silently removing his own clothing and giving it to his father, leaving himself in nothing more than a hair-shirt.

FORLI An ancient town in Emilia-Romagna, founded in the 2nd century BCE as Forum Livii.


IMOLA A town in Emilia-Romagna, about 20 miles (33 km.) west of Ravenna. A County in 920, it reverted to a Lordship after 1010.


LATIUM, ROME, and the PAPAL STATES The first series listed is taken from Livy's history of early Rome, and should be looked upon with considerable skepticism. Nevertheless, it is a fair record of what people in Imperial times believed regarding the origins of the state, and as such, it very likely preserves some genuine recollection of early tribal rulers. It commences with the aboriginal King Latinus, and continues with the Trojan refugee Aeneas and his descendents, a gens and dynasty called Silvius from the time of Latinus II. For any visiting this section from other pages in this archive, here is an express back to where you were before...

Achaea, Aegina, Aegion, Aetolia, Agrigento, Albania, Algeria, Anatolia, Andros, Antioch, Aquitaine, Arcadia, Argos, Armenia, Athens, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Catania, Cephalonia, Corfu, Corinth, Corsica, Cos, Crete, Crotone, Cyprus, Dalmatia,Delphi, Durres, Elea, Epirus, Euboea, France, Genoa, Greece, Ipati, Italy, Kosovo, Lebanon, Lemnos, Lentini, Lesbos, Leucas, Libya, Locria, Macedonia, Maina, Malta, Megalopolis, Megara, Messinia, Milan, Modena, Morea, Mycenae, Naples, Naxos, The Netherlands, Normandy, Orchomenos, Padua, Patras, Pheres, Phokis, Phthia, Pylos, Pontus, Portugal, Provence, Rhodes, Salamis, Samos, Sardinia, Segesta, Serbia, Sicily, Spain, Sparta, The Sporades, Switzerland, Sybaris, Syracuse, Syria, Taranto, Thebes, Thera, Thessaly, Tinos, Tunisia, Tuscany, Zante.



The MARSI An Oscan-speaking tribe living in central Italy, east of Latium. They were known for their devotion to Angitia, an ancient Italian snake goddess, and their cult was centered on serpents as symbols of wisdom.


MATELICA A small town in central Italy, 8 miles (13 km.) west of San Severino and 35 miles (56 km.) southwest of Ancona.


The PAPACY For the full list of Popes (as well as a list of Papal Secretaries of State), go to the Papacy file in the Ecclesiarchs site. For secular rulers of the city, see Latium.


PERUGIA A town in central Italy, about 30 miles (48 km.) northwest of Spoleto and about 12 miles (19 km.) west of Assisi, in northern Umbria.


PESARO A seaside resort and port on the Adriatic, not far from Rimini. Best known, perhaps, for it's majolica-style pottery.


PONTE CORVO A small town on the Liri River in southeastern Latium, about 60 miles (100 km.) from Rome, 53 miles (85 km.) from Naples, and about 7 miles (10 km.) west of Monte Cassino Abbey.


PONTIFEX MAXIMUS For these ancient Roman priests, see now the list in the Ecclesiarchs site.


RAVENNA An important city near the northwestern coast of the Adriatic. The capital of Byzantine Italy during the Dark Ages, even afterwards it was the preferred seat of successive Holy Roman Emperors during the early Middle Ages.


RIMINI An Adriatic port only a few miles northeast of San Marino. The town was bitterly contested between Guelph (Papal) and Ghibelline (Imperial) factions during the Middle Ages.


SAN MARINO A small free city located on an isolated mountain not far from the Adriatic port of Rimini.


SAN SEVERINO A town in central Italy, east of the Apennines, about 30 miles (48 km.) southwest of Ancona.


SPOLETO A strategically placed town about 50 miles (80 km.) north of Rome, and Roman territory from 241 BCE; the site of a Lombard Duchy during the Dark Ages.

TIVOLI (Latin Tibur; Gk. Tibourinon) An ancient town in Latium, situated about 20 miles northeast of Rome. According to Dionysios of Halicarnassus, it was founded by the Siculi, one of the ancient tribes of Sicily. It later was a major Roman town and a medieval commune.

TUSCULUM Ancient city of Latium, situated in a commanding position on the north edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano. Many famous Roman families, including the gentes Mamilia, I Fulvia, Fonteia, Juventia and Porcia (the family of the Catos), were of Tusculan origin. The ruins of this city are near modern Frascati, 15 mi (24 km) SE of Rome, Italy.


URBINO A County from c. 1236, created a Duchy in 1474.


VITERBO A community in central Italy, northwest of Rome. Long associated with the Papacy, it has been a Papal residence at times, and several conclaves have been held here. The best-known one was the Sede Vacante of 1268-1271 in which, after a better than two year delay in electing a successor, the citizens of Viterbo sealed the palace, removed the roof, and restricted food supplies to bread and water in order to force the 17 cardinals to a decision.


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