Spoleto Italy

Описание

Spoleto appears to have been an important town to the original Umbri tribes, who built walls around their settlement in the 5th century BCE. Under the Lombards, Spoleto became the capital of an independent duchy. In 774 it became part of Holy Roman Empire. Together with other fiefs, it was bequeathed to Pope Gregory VII by the powerful countess Matilda of Tuscany, In 1155 it was destroyed by Frederick Barbarossa. In 1213 it was definitively occupied by Pope Gregory IX. During the absence of the papal court in Avignon, it was prey to the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, until in 1354 Cardinal Albornoz brought it once more under the authority of the Papal States. After Napoleon's conquest of Italy, in 1809 Spoleto became capital of the short-lived French department of Trasimène, returning to the Papal States after Napoleon's defeat. In 1860, after a gallant defense, Spoleto was taken by the troops fighting for the unification of Italy.