Civita Castellana (a town of approximately 17,000 inhabitants in the province of Viterbo. 60km north of Rome, 25km south of Viterbo, on the volcanic tufo plateau above the Treja river gorge): the most archaeologically significant single Viterbo province town that the standard tourist circuit ignores, the specific Civita Castellana identity (the site of the ancient Falerii Veteres (the "old Falerii"), the capital of the Faliscan civilization (the Italic people culturally and linguistically related to the Latins but politically independent until the 241 BC Roman conquest) whose specific archaeological remains (the pre-Roman temples, the Etruscan-influenced painted terracottas, and the specific Faliscan pottery tradition) fill the Museo di Villa Giulia in Rome and the Museo Nazionale Etrusco in Civita Castellana with the primary documentation of the Faliscan culture): the town whose specific historical depth (the 3,000 years of continuous human settlement on the same tufo plateau) makes it the most time-layered single settlement in the Lazio north.
The Faliscan connection: the Falisci (the specific Italic people of the Ager Faliscus, the ancient territory between the Tiber, the Nepi hills, and the Viterbo border): the specific Faliscan culture (the Italic people who spoke Faliscan (a Latin-related Italic dialect), used the Etruscan alphabet and the Etruscan artistic conventions, but maintained political independence from both the Etruscans to the north and the Latins to the south until the 241 BC Roman conquest that destroyed Falerii Veteres and forced the population to relocate to the new Falerii Novi (the grid-plan Roman town at Santa Maria di Falleri, 6km west, the most completely surviving early Roman planned city in Italy, with 2km of walls still standing)): the Faliscan archaeological material (the specific painted terracottas from the Faliscan temples, the Juno Curitis sanctuary finds, the Minerva Capta sanctuary finds, and the Apollo temple finds) is distributed between the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome and the Civita Castellana museum.
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Civita Castellana: Cathedral, Forte Sangallo, and Gorge
The Duomo and Cosmati Portico
Duomo di Civita Castellana (the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore, the specific 12th-century cathedral whose portico (the external colonnade porch facing the piazza) is the finest surviving example of the Cosmatesque decorative program applied to a cathedral portico in Lazio outside Rome): the Cosmati family (Jacopo di Lorenzo and Cosma di Jacopo (the father-and-son workshop who signed the Civita Castellana portico in 1210), the specific Cosmati program (the geometric marble inlay in the Cosmatesque tradition, the twisted columns with the gold mosaic inlay, and the specific cosmological iconography of the portico frieze)): the Civita Castellana portico (the most completely preserved single Cosmati workshop commission outside Rome, superior in completeness to the Anagni cathedral portico and comparable in quality to the major Rome Cosmati works (the Santa Maria Maggiore ciborium, the San Lorenzo fuori le Mura portico)).
Forte Sangallo and Museum
Forte Sangallo (the 15th-century papal fortress at the entrance to the Civita Castellana historic center, the Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio design for Pope Alexander VI (1494-1500), the specific pentagonal fortress plan that anticipates the artillery-era fortification theory that Sangallo the Younger then developed): the fortress houses the Museo Nazionale dell'Agro Falisco (the National Museum of the Faliscan territory, the archaeological collection from the Civita Castellana area including the specific Faliscan painted terracottas, the red-figure pottery, and the burial goods from the Faliscan necropoli): admission approximately €4. Open Tuesday-Sunday 8:30-19:30.
Q&A: Civita Castellana
Is Civita Castellana worth a day trip from Rome?
Yes, for the visitor interested in the pre-Roman Italic civilizations (the Faliscan civilization is one of the most interesting and least known of the ancient Italian cultures), in the Cosmati decorative arts (the Duomo portico is the finest accessible Cosmati work outside Rome), and in the specific Viterbo tufo landscape (the Treja gorge below Civita Castellana is comparable to the Bomarzo woodland in atmospheric quality): the specific Civita Castellana day trip value (the archaeological museum, the cathedral portico, the fortress exterior, and the gorge viewpoint, combined with a lunch in the town (the specific Viterbese cuisine, the acquacotta, the polenta con sugo di cinghiale, and the specific Falernian wine from the adjacent vineyard zone)): approximately 5-6 hours for the complete visit. By train: the Trenitalia line from Roma Flaminio to Civita Castellana (1 hour 10 minutes, approximately €4, the FL3 line from Roma Ostiense to Bracciano, then bus connection, or direct regional service on specific schedule: check trenitalia.com).
Internal Links
- I Falisci: La Civiltà Prima di Roma
- Cosmatesco: Il Portico di Civita Castellana
- Lazio Nord: Civita Castellana e il Territorio Falisco
- Fotografare Civita Castellana: Il Tufo e il Duomo
- Viterbo in Inverno: Civita Castellana Senza Turisti
- Civita Castellana da Roma: Treno FL3
- Cucina Viterbese: L'Acquacotta di Civita
