ANCIENT DREAM - HAMLET

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Urbisaglia

Suggested length
of stay: one day

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Urbisaglia is an enchanting borgo of Medieval origins that rises on a hill between the river Fiastra and its tributary Entogge. Towering over the nucleus is the mighty, picturesque castle dating back to the XII century which dominates a panorama of gentle hills in a well-preserved, unspoilt, natural environment.
Its history began with the founding of the city Urbs Salvia, city of Regio V (Picenum), which sprang up in the first half of the 1st century B.C.. This settlement owes its growth to the presence of the nearby crossroad of two important routes, the one that joined Firmim (Fermo) and Septempeda (San Severino Marche) and the one that led to Asculum (Ascoli) through Ricina (Villa Potenza) to Auximum (Osimo).
In the Republican era it became a “Municipium”, then transformed into a colony in the late Agustea era or the beginning of the Tiberian princedom and ascribed to the Velina tribe.
Around about the first half of the first century B.C., thanks to the contribution of important families having reached elevated positions in Romala city's magistrature, the township was given a sturdy push towards its monumental development.
The history and the fame of this township concluded at the beginning of the V century A.D., when Alarico, King of the Visigoths, destroyed it; it was then refounded for defensive purposes on the hilltop, so giving origin to “Castro di Orbesallia”.
Near Urbisaglia in the XII century an important religious, economical and cultural pole arose; it was the Cisterian Abbey of St. Maria di Chiaravalle di Fiastra which exercised strong power over the whole valley del Fiastra and the surrounding territories.
Still in the XII century the city fell into the hands of the Abbracciamonte. A member of the family, Gualtiero Abbracciamonte, ceded Villamagna to Matteo and Forte Offone in 1195. This cession later became the main cause of all the township's ills.
After four years it was passed on to Tolentino. In 1213, Gualtiero Abbracciamonte ceded to Tolentino even his rights of the Castle of Urbisaglia; again and again, within half a century, the Abbracciamonte family had given away all rights over Urbisaglia Castle to Tolentino.
For almost a century, the population of Urbisaglia had to endure a continuous tyranny from Tolentino. An illustrious witness of this decline was Dante, the divine poet, who expressed himself thus in his XVI canto from “Paradiso”:

If Luni thou regard, and Urbisaglia,
How they have passed away, and how are passing
Chiusi and Sinigaglia after them, to hear how races waste themselves away,
Will seem to thee no novel thing nor hard,
Seeing that even cities have an end

The people's suffering only concluded around the year 1436 when Urbisaglia was placed under the noblewoman Elena Tomacelli, niece of Bonifacio IX, wife of Taliano Furlano, troop leader. Concluding in the Marche, the noble Francesco Sforza, of whom Furlano was troop leader, Urbisaglia, by Papal decree of Pope Eugenio IV, returned under the power of Tolentino. This submission continued throughout various vicissitudes until 1569 when the noble Maceratese Giulio Fedele was able to take possession of Urbisaglia in the name of the Apostolic Chamber.
It was in 1696 that a definitive peace was reached between the Urbisagliese and Tolentines. During the period of Pontifical government, the first excavations of the Roman city began, while after after unity of Italy a better standard of living for the population was created thanks to its industrial development which saw the growth of industries such as soap and stockings.

Monuments

Inside the borgo...
La Rocca
Collegiata di San Lorenzo
Chiesa dell’Addolorata
Museo Archeologico

In the outskirts...
Parco Archeologico di Urbs Salvia
Abbazia di Fiastra e la Riserva Naturale
Chiesa di S. Maria del Massaccio
Museo delle armi-Chiesa di San Biagio
The borgo of Colmurano
The borgo of Petriolo