Foligno (; Southern Umbrian: Fuligno) is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clitunno river system. It is located south-east of Perugia, north-north-west of Trevi and south of Spello.
While Foligno is an active bishopric, one of its civil parishes, San Giovanni Profiamma, is the historical site of the former bishopric of Foro Flaminio, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see.
Foligno railway station forms part of the main line from Rome to Ancona, and is the junction for Perugia; it is thus an important rail centre, with repair and maintenance yards for the trains of central Italy, and was therefore subjected to severe Allied aerial bombing in World War II, responsible for its relatively modern aspect, although it retains some medieval monuments.
Of its Roman past no significant trace remains, with the exception of the regular street plan of the centre. Other resources include sugar refineries and metallurgical, textile, building materials and paper and timber industries.
After the war, the city's position in the plain and again its rail connections have led to a considerable suburban spread with the attendant problems of traffic and air pollution, as well as a severe encroachment on the Umbrian wetlands. Foligno is on an important interchange road junction in central Italy and away from the centre of the city there is the Foligno Airport.
Etymology
The name Foligno is traced to an Umbrian form, Fulginia, which became the Roman Fulginium and is linked to the cult of the goddess Fulginia.
In the 19th century, the scholar Adone Palmieri held that the city derived its origin from a founder identified as a Fulgineo, a captain of the ancient Umbrians, who was said to have established it in the time of Tyrrhenus in the year 2482 Anno Mundi.
History
Antiquity
The origins of Foligno are uncertain. The earliest mention appears in two fragments of Cicero's oration in favor of Lucius Varenus, in which the municipium and prefecture of Fulginia are recalled. Appian mentions Fulginiae in connection with the Perusine War, and Pliny includes it among the cities of Umbria; it is also listed in the Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum. The poet Statius praises its fields. Some historians attributed its foundation to the Celto-Ligurians, while others assigned it to the Umbrians, with the name derived from Fulginio or Fulcinio, regarded as its founder.
The city developed at a strategic site, at the fork of the Via Flaminia and at the point where the Topino River reaches the valley floor. Its urban layout is characterized by straight, grid-like streets with right-angle intersections, a pattern connected to four surviving Roman bridges on the old bed of the Topino.
In 2021, 3,339 people lived in rural dispersed dwellings not assigned to any named locality. Foligno was also one of the main centers for olive oil pressing and contained alcohol distilleries. The paper industry was located nearby at Pale and Belfiore.
The cathedral was erected on the ruins of a temple of Pallas. At the end of the 8th century it was destroyed by the Lombards and subsequently rebuilt and enlarged.
The precise location of ancient Fulginiae has long been debated. Archaeological discoveries within the historic center of Foligno are limited, consisting mainly of Roman imperial-era burials (notably cappuccina-type tombs) and reused squared stone blocks. At the end of 17th century there were four newspapers printed in Foligno. In the 18th century, both Foligno and nearby Spello produced the famous almanac Barbanera.
Several academies have existed in the town, including the Rinvigoriti, the Umbri, the Forti, and the Fulginea. Fra Umile da Foligno, Franciscan friar and painter; Mariano Armellino, Benedictine historian; and Liborio Coccetti, painter.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Foligno is twinned with:
- Gemona del Friuli, Italy
- La Louvière, Belgium
- Shibukawa, Japan