Norcia (), traditionally known in English by its Latin name of Nursia ( ), is a town and (municipality) in the province of Perugia in southeastern Umbria, Italy.
Unlike many ancient towns, it is located in a wide plain abutting the Monti Sibillini, a subrange of the Apennines with some of its highest peaks, near the Sordo River, a small stream that eventually flows into the Nera. The town is popularly associated with the Valnerina (the valley of the Nera). It is a member of ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
The area is known for its air and scenery, and is a base for mountaineering and hiking. It is also widely known for hunting, especially of the wild boar, and for sausages and ham made from wild boar and pork. In Italian, such products have been named after Norcia, and are known as .
Etymology The name Norcia has been connected with several ancient traditions. According to Adone Palmieri, it has been linked to a King Urso Nursino, while another tradition derives the name from the goddess Nortia, identified with Fortuna, who was venerated there by the Etruscans.
History Pre-Roman period Norcia, ancient Nursia, was a city of the Sabines, although situated very close to the territory of the Umbrians, as attested by classical writers including Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius, Pliny, Silius Italicus, and Ptolemy.
In early times several Sabine settlements or pagi arose in the territory of Norcia. Their existence is attested by numerous tomb discoveries containing funerary objects of distinctly Italic type.
Particularly notable were the discoveries of a necropolis at Ancarano (a frazione of Norcia), where one such settlement stood. Traces of a temple built of roughly squared stones were found there, together with Etruscan and Campanian terracottas and remains of an ancient defensive wall composed of irregular natural stones laid without mortar. Among the most remarkable finds were bronze objects including Italic swords, shield disks worked in relief and decorated with studs and bosses, fibulae, rings, and other items dating to the 7th century BC.
Another necropolis existed near the town itself, in the plain known as Santa Scolastica.
According to the historian Giacomo Lauro, Norcia was a powerful Sabine city when the Sabine territory was divided for a long time into four prefectures: Norcia itself, Rieti, Cures, and Nomentum. Under King Songo it was regarded as the capital of Sabina. Homer and Virgil recount that many centuries before the founding of Rome the warriors of Norcia took part in the siege of Troy and later received Roman citizenship.
Roman era In later times the town was placed within Picenum. Like the other Sabines, the inhabitants of Norcia became Roman citizens toward the end of the 5th century of Rome (mid-3rd century BC); however, they did not obtain the full rights of citizenship until after the Social War, and only later did Nursia attain the status of a municipium.
The earliest historical mention occurs during the Second Punic War in 205 BC, when Norcia was among the cities that voluntarily supplied soldiers for the army of Scipio. On that occasion only three Sabine cities were named: Norcia, Rieti, and Amiternum. Later the citizens of Norcia were punished by Octavian for providing assistance to Lucius Antonius during the Perusine War.
The city stood in a mountainous region with a very cold climate. Virgil referred to it as frigida Nursia, while Silius Italicus described it as a place "inhabited by frosts". Because it lay far from the principal Roman consular roads, it was not included in the ancient itineraries.
Ancient authors recorded that the countryside around Norcia was famous for the quality of its turnips, a product also mentioned by Martial. Numerous inscriptions discovered in the territory of Nursia indicate that the city was enrolled in the Quirina tribe and that its municipal magistrates included officials with duumviral and aedilician authority, as well as seviri augustales.
Christianity is commonly believed to have been introduced into Norcia in the 3rd century through the work of Saint Felician, bishop of Forum Flaminii near Foligno. He is said to have abolished the cult rendered by the inhabitants to the goddess Nortia, whose temple was converted into a Christian church. An episcopal see appears to have been established in Norcia only in the 5th century; it later disappeared for a long period and was restored in 1820.
Early Middle Ages During the later Roman Empire Norcia declined, and it was subsequently devastated by the Lombards, who subjected it to the gastald of Ponte, a castle that governed a large Lombard administrative district. Paul the Deacon referred to the territory of Norcia as extensive.
Pope Gregory I, speaking of Saint Benedict, whose mother Abundantia was the daughter of Milleo and Diana, counts of Norcia, referred to him as born in the province of Nursia. Letters of Pope Gregory I also show that the Holy See possessed an estate in the area, administered by a trusted cleric of the Roman Church with the title of defender or rector.
During the Carolingian period, in 821, an important judicial assembly was held at Norcia by Count Alessandro together with Adelard and Leo, envoys of Emperor Louis I. The assembly dealt with the restitution of properties belonging to Farfa Abbey that had been usurped by Winigis, duke of Spoleto, and incorporated into the royal fisc. Present at the assembly were the duke himself, Gerardo duke of Camerino, four bishops of the Duchy, and two abbots.
When Otto I was crowned in Rome in 962 and confirmed the domains of the Roman Church, he also granted seven cities situated partly in Abruzzo and partly in Umbria, among which was Norcia.
High Middle Ages Norcia formed as a free municipality in the 13th century. In the 14th century it grew through alliances, including with Visso, and emerged as the leading municipality of the Sibillini Mountains. In this period the town walls were built, and the area was also struck by plague.
Pope Boniface IX, by a special brief, granted to the municipality of Norcia in 1398 the castle of Mevole with full jurisdiction and the title of marquisate, together with Riofreddo and other neighboring places.
In the 15th century Norcia was a Guelph municipality. It experienced clashes with nearby castles and became involved in long-running conflicts with the papal legates of Spoleto.
Norcia fought numerous wars with neighboring cities, sometimes forming alliances against others and at other times rebelling against the popes according to the circumstances of the time. In 1447 Pope Nicholas V absolved the inhabitants of Norcia from the charge of lèse-majesté into which they had fallen after destroying the settlement of Cerreto. In 1450, during wars between Spoleto and Norcia, the same pope approved a truce between the two cities and entrusted its enforcement to Nicholas, bishop of Tivoli.
Further civil unrest occurred in the 15th century. The rebel leader Everso, count of Anguillara, supported by factions from Spoleto, Cascia, and nearby towns, attempted to attack Norcia. The city appealed to Pope Nicholas V, who ordered Everso to abandon the attack and sent the apostolic protonotary Giorgio Cesarini. Despite this, Everso attacked Norcia, but Giorgio Cesarini resisted and forced him to lift the siege and withdraw. After returning to his fief of Anguillara, Everso gathered new forces and continued incursions until Cardinal Barbo ended the conflict and compelled him to submit to the pope.
In 1484 Norcia was placed under the Papal Legation of Perugia.
Early Modern era
In the 16th century a papal commissioner replaced the chief magistrate. During this period Preci rebelled and was razed. After violent unrest, the Castellina was built as the fortified residence of the papal governor, designed by Vignola. In 1569 Pope Pius V founded the Prefecture of the Mountain, which oversaw the municipalities of a wide surrounding territory.
In the early 17th century Norcia underwent a major renewal in building and the arts. The town had numerous religious institutions, including several parishes, convents, and nunneries, as well as hospitals and lay brotherhoods. Its civic and economic life was organized through craft guilds, while eight inns provided lodging. Norcia also maintained public schools and a theatre, and supported musical life and a literary academy.
On 12 May 1730 a devastating earthquake almost completely destroyed Norcia and caused the death of many inhabitants. Pope Clement XII directed extensive efforts to assist the afflicted city and provided substantial financial aid. The earthquake prompted many residents of Norcia to emigrate.
Contemporary period
In 1798 French Jacobins arrived, but local inhabitants, supported by pro-Austrian troops, drove them out. In 1809 Norcia became part of the French Empire. In 1820 papal rule was restored and the old bishopric was reinstated.
In 1837 the later bishop of Senigallia, , opened a carriage road from Spoleto to Norcia and onward to the frontier of Ascoli, known as the Provinciale Norcina, intended to connect with the Ascolana road. The work was later completed by Monsignor Tancredi Bellà.
In 1839 Monsignor Camillo Amici, minister of commerce and agriculture, discovered noble remains of monuments of the ancient city of Vespasia at a site called Vespa.
In the mid-19th century, the city of Norcia had 9,280 inhabitants. Of these, 8,380 persons lived within the built settlement and about 900 in rural houses of the surrounding countryside.
A devastating earthquake in 1859 left 676 houses ruined, with only 76 still standing. The earthquake caused enormous damage, leaving so little of the ancient structures standing that scarcely anything of old Norcia remained.
On 18 September 1860 a plebiscite ended papal power in Norcia and approved union with the Kingdom of Italy.
21st century
On 24 August 2016, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake and numerous strong aftershocks struck near Norcia, causing major damage to the towns in the region. The people in the town of Norcia were not injured. Though many citizens were displaced, the town itself only suffered structural damage. However, several small surrounding towns received heavy damage and many collapsed buildings.
On 30 October 2016, another magnitude 6.5 earthquake rocked Norcia, causing heavy damage to the city: among other buildings, the nave of the Basilica of St. Benedict was destroyed.
Geography
Norcia lies in the most mountainous part of Umbria, near the central Apennine chain and close to the Sibillini Mountains. The climate is harsh, and vegetation develops late and remains limited.
The town stands at an elevation of above sea level in the middle of a plateau, on a plain with a fairly wide horizon.
The climate is cold and subject to snow. North winds prevail in winter and west winds in summer. A river runs near the city, while the nearest stream is called Patino. Nearby woods include Opaco, Madonna di Capregna, and Patino. Many areas are covered by oak woods producing acorns.
Nearby mountains include Monte Fuscello, Monte Burbero, and Monte Tetrico. About to the north, at the summit of the Apennines at the pass of the Grotta della Sibilla, lies a small lake known as the Lago di Norcia with a circumference of about . Its small emissary forms a stream that flows into the Tresdera.
Subdivisions The municipality includes the localities of Agriano, Aliena, Campi, Capo del Colle, Casali di Serravalle, Castelluccio, Cortigno, Fontevena, Forsivo, Frascaro, Grotti, Legogne, Norcia, Nottoria, Ocricchio, Ospedaletto, Paganelli, Pescia, Pie' del Colle, Pie' la Rocca, Piediripa, Popoli, San Marco, San Pellegrino, Sant'Andrea, Sant'Angelo, Savelli, Serravalle, Valcaldara, Villa di Serravalle.
In 2021, 593 people lived in rural dispersed dwellings not assigned to any named locality. At the time, the most populous locality was Norcia proper (2,728).