Canoscio is an Italian village and frazione (hamlet) of Città di Castello , Umbria .
42-765: It is home to the Shrine of the Madonna of Canoscio (Italian: Santuario della Madonna di Canoscio ), atop a hill overlooking the upper valley of the Tiber at 449 m. The church has its origins in a votive chapel dedicated to the Madonna of the Assumption that was built by a certain Giovanni di Jacopo in 1348, for having been spared during the Black Death . The chapel was enlarged in 1406. The present church in traditional Tuscan style celebrating
84-518: A beech forest 1,268 m (4,160 ft) above sea level . During the 1930s, Benito Mussolini had an antique marble Roman column built at the point where the river rises, inscribed QUI NASCE IL FIUME SACRO AI DESTINI DI ROMA ("Here is born the river / sacred to the destinies of Rome"). An eagle is on the top of the column, part of its fascist symbolism . The first miles of the Tiber run through Valtiberina before entering Umbria. The genesis of
126-547: A century later. The heavy sedimentation of the river made maintaining Ostia difficult, prompting the emperors Claudius and Trajan to establish a new port on the Fiumicino in the first century AD. They built a new road, the Via Portuensis , to connect Rome with Fiumicino, leaving the city by Porta Portese (the port gate). Both ports were eventually abandoned due to silting. Several popes attempted to improve navigation on
168-480: A god named Tiberinus , is shown with streams of water flowing from his hair and beard. 41°44′26″N 12°14′00″E / 41.7405°N 12.2334°E / 41.7405; 12.2334 Ostia Antica (archaeological site) Ostia Antica ( lit. ' Ancient Ostia ' ) is an ancient Roman city and the port of Rome located at the mouth of the Tiber . It is near modern Ostia , 25 km (16 mi) southwest of Rome . Due to silting and
210-457: A kind of swamp and river bank weed ( Typha angustifolia ), Iberian hydronyms Tibilis , Tebro and Numidian Aquae Tibilitanae . Yet another etymology is from *dubri-, water, considered by Alessio as Sicel , whence the form Θύβρις later Tiberis. This root *dubri- is widespread in Western Europe e.g. Dover, Portus Dubris. According to legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC on
252-407: A large plate for protection as they were being buried in a shallow pit, consist of six plates, two patens , three unmarked hemispherical chalices , a pyx with its cover, also unmarked, two strainers, a small ladle and nine spoons of purely domestic character. Not all the objects are in forms that can be related to the liturgy. Names of Aelianus and Felicitas, probably donors, are inscribed on one of
294-423: A law, the lex Gabinia , to allow Pompey to raise an army and destroy the pirates. Within a year, the pirates had been defeated. The town was then re-built and provided with defensive walls started under Marcus Tullius Cicero according to an inscription. The town was further developed during the first century AD under the influence of Tiberius , who ordered the building of the town's first forum . Due to
336-459: A more precise dating of Roman pottery types, the "Baths of the Swimmer", named for the mosaic figure in the apodyterium , were meticulously excavated, in 1966–70 and 1974–75, in part as a training ground for young archaeologists and in part to establish a laboratory of well-understood finds as a teaching aid. It has been estimated that two-thirds of the ancient town are as yet unexcavated. In 2014,
378-413: A naval base, and in 267 BC, during the first Punic war , it was the seat of the quaestor Ostiensis in charge of the fleet. During the 2nd century BC its role as a commercial port gradually became prevalent for the imports of grain for the city of Rome, and buildings began to spread outside the castrum. Ostia was a scene of fighting during the period of civil wars in the 80s BC. In 87 BC Marius attacked
420-475: A peak of some 100,000 inhabitants in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Ostia itself was provided with all the services a town of the time could require; a large theatre, many public baths (such as the Thermae Gavii Maximi, or Baths at Ostia ), numerous taverns and inns and a firefighting service. The popularity of the cult of Mithras is evident in the discovery of eighteen Mithraea . Ostia also contained
462-399: A small harbour on the Tiber , and then proceeded with establishing the new colony 10 km (6 mi) further west and closer to the sea coast. An inscription seems to confirm the establishment of the old castrum of Ostia in the 7th century BC. The oldest archaeological remains so far discovered date back to only the 4th century BC. The most ancient buildings currently visible are from
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#1732875872335504-558: Is chased with a Byzantine Cross with alpha and omega : below flow four rivers. At the side of the cross are depicted the hand of God and the dove of the Holy Spirit ; at the bottom there are two lambs facing each other. The larger of the two strainers is engraved with the labarum and alpha and omega, their outlines traced with tiny straining holes. Tiber river The Tiber ( / ˈ t aɪ b ər / TY -bər ; Italian : Tevere [ˈteːvere] ; Latin : Tiberis )
546-506: Is indicated by repairs on baths (26 remained in operation during the 4th century), public buildings, church construction, street repaving, residential and business expansion beyond the perimeter of the south wall (the presence of a small harbour, the Porta Marina on the sea, is attested). A huge 4th century villa east of the Maritime baths was built. The river port on the western edge of the town
588-589: Is referred to as "swimming the Thames " or "crossing the Thames". In ancient Rome, executed criminals were thrown into the Tiber. People executed at the Gemonian stairs were thrown in the Tiber during the later part of the reign of the emperor Tiberius . This practice continued over the centuries. For example, the corpse of Pope Formosus was thrown into the Tiber after the infamous Cadaver Synod held in 897. In addition to
630-753: Is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy , rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 km (252 mi) through Tuscany , Umbria , and Lazio , where it is joined by the River Aniene , to the Tyrrhenian Sea , between Ostia and Fiumicino . It drains a basin estimated at 17,375 km (6,709 sq mi). The river has achieved lasting fame as
672-519: The Battle of Ostia , was fought there in 849 between Christians and Saracens ; the remaining inhabitants moved to Gregoriopolis a short distance away. South of Ostia many rich villa-estates were developed from the Republican era along the coast road to Laurentum . Pliny described the route towards his villa there: “There are two different roads to it: if you go by that of Laurentum, you must turn off at
714-595: The Ostia Synagogue , the earliest synagogue yet identified in Europe. Although it used to be thought that the city entered a period of slow decline after Constantine the Great made Portus a municipality, indicated by some apartment blocks being replaced by houses of the rich, recent excavations show that the town continued to thrive. Numerous baths are recorded as still operating in the 4th and 5th centuries with major repairs of
756-610: The 3rd century BC, notably the Castrum (military camp); of a slightly later date is the Capitolium (temple of Jupiter , Juno and Minerva ). The opus quadratum of the walls of the original castrum at Ostia provide important evidence for the building techniques that were employed in Roman urbanisation during the period of the Middle Republic . Ostia probably developed originally as
798-590: The Pieve of SS. Cosma e Damiano, with medieval votive frescoes . Canoscio was the site where a 6th‑century paleo-Christian dinner service of 25 silver pieces came to light under the plough in 1935: the pieces in the Canoscio hoard, now displayed in the Museo del Duomo, Città di Castello, as Early Christian liturgical silver, may not all have been expressly designed for liturgical use. The pieces, found carefully stowed under
840-494: The Republican Period , were brought to light. These were interrupted when Italy became a major battlefield of World War II. In the post-war period, the first volume of the official series Scavi di Ostia appeared in 1954; it was devoted to a topography of the town by Italo Gismondi and after a hiatus the research still continues today. Though untouched areas adjacent to the original excavations were left undisturbed awaiting
882-512: The Tiber in the 17th and 18th centuries, with extensive dredging continuing into the 19th century. Trade was boosted for a while, but by the 20th century, silting had resulted in the river only being navigable as far as Rome. The Tiber was once known for its floods — the Campus Martius is a flood plain and would regularly flood to a depth of 2 m (6 ft 7 in). There were also numerous major floods; for example, on September 15, 1557
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#1732875872335924-431: The ancient port of Ostia Antica 6 kilometres (4 miles) inland. However, it does not form a proportional delta , owing to a strong north-flowing sea current close to the shore, due to the steep shelving of the coast, and to slow tectonic subsidence . The source of the Tiber consists of two springs 10 m (33 ft) away from each other on Mount Fumaiolo . These springs are called Le Vene . The springs are in
966-402: The banks of the Tiber about 25 km (16 mi) from the sea at Ostia . Tiber Island , in the center of the river between Trastevere and the ancient city center, was the site of an important ancient ford and was later bridged. Legend says Rome's founders, the twin brothers Romulus and Remus , were abandoned on its waters, where they were rescued by the she-wolf, Lupa. The river marked
1008-685: The boundary between the lands of the Etruscans to the west, the Sabines to the east and the Latins to the south. Benito Mussolini , born in Romagna , adjusted the boundary between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna , so that the springs of the Tiber would lie in Romagna. The Tiber was critically important to Roman trade and commerce, as ships could reach as far as 100 km (60 mi) upriver; some evidence indicates that it
1050-480: The city in order to cut off the flow of trade to Rome, aided by his generals Cinna , Carbo and Sertorius , and captured the city and plundered it. In 68 BC, the town was sacked by pirates during which, the port was set on fire, the consular war fleet was destroyed, and two prominent senators were kidnapped. This attack caused such panic in Rome that Pompey the Great arranged for the tribune Aulus Gabinius to pass
1092-412: The city's Neptune Baths in the 370s. During the 4th century, the city spilled over the southern walls to the sea south of Regions III and IV. The poet Rutilius Namatianus reported the lack of maintenance of the city ports in 414 AD. This view has been challenged by Boin who states Namatianus' verse is a literary construct and inconsistent with the archaeological record. Prosperity in the 5th century
1134-551: The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was built in 1855‑1878 by architect Emilio de Fabris , better known for the sensitive Gothic façade he provided for the Duomo of Florence . The shrine of Madonna di Canoscio remains a center of Marian devotion today. In 1998, Pope John Paul II raised the sanctuary church to the honor of a Minor Basilica . Another sight on the hill of Canoscio is a large 12th‑century Romanesque church,
1176-419: The fourteenth mile-stone; if by that of Ostia, at the eleventh. Both of them are sandy in places, which makes it a little heavier and longer by carriage, but short and easy on horseback. The landscape affords plenty of variety, the view in some places being closed in by woods, in others extending over broad meadows, where numerous flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, which the severity of the winter has driven from
1218-436: The invasion of sand, the site now lies 3 km (2 mi) from the sea. The name Ostia (the plural of ostium ) derives from Latin os 'mouth'. Ostia is now a large archaeological site noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, magnificent frescoes and impressive mosaics . The city's decline after antiquity led to harbor deterioration, marshy conditions, and reduced population. Sand dunes covering
1260-522: The king-list of Alba Longa , was said to have drowned in the River Albula, which was afterwards called Tiberis . The myth may have explained a memory of an earlier, perhaps pre-Indo-European name for the river, "white" ( alba ) with sediment, or "from the mountains" from pre-Indo-European word "alba, albion" mount, elevated area. Tiberis/Tifernus may be a pre-Indo-European substrate word related to Aegean tifos "still water", Greek phytonym τύφη
1302-582: The late 4th century. On their way back to Africa after Augustine's conversion to Christianity, Augustine's mother, Saint Monica , died in 387 in Ostia. The church ( titulus ) of Santa Aurea in Ostia was built on her burial site. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, Ostia fell slowly into decay as the population of Rome, 700–800,000 in AD 400 contracted to 200,000 or less in 500 AD. A naval battle,
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1344-577: The main watercourse of the city of Rome , which was founded on its eastern banks. The river rises at Mount Fumaiolo in Central Italy and flows in a generally southerly direction past Perugia and Rome to meet the sea at Ostia . Known in ancient times as Flavus (Latin for 'the Blond';), in reference to the yellowish colour of its water, the Tiber has advanced significantly at its mouth, by about 3 km (2 mi), since Roman times, leaving
1386-608: The mountains, fatten in the spring warmth, and on the rich pasturage”. Today several well-preserved Roman villas south of Ostia have been excavated in the area of Castel Fusano, including the Villa della Palombara excavated in 1989–2008. The remains were used over the centuries as a quarry for marble for the palazzi built in Rome. The Papacy started organising its own digs for sculptures with Pope Pius VII . Under Benito Mussolini massive excavations were undertaken from 1939 to 1942 during which several remains, particularly from
1428-536: The name Tiber probably was pre-Latin, like the Roman name of Tibur (modern Tivoli ), and may be specifically Italic in origin. The same root is found in the Latin praenomen Tiberius . Also, Etruscan variants of this praenomen are in Thefarie (borrowed from Faliscan *Tiferios , lit. '(He) from the Tiber' < *Tiferis 'Tiber') and Teperie (via the Latin hydronym Tiber ). Legendary king Tiberinus , ninth in
1470-567: The numerous modern bridges over the Tiber in Rome, there remain a few ancient bridges (now mostly pedestrian-only) that have survived in part (e.g., the Ponte Milvio and the Ponte Sant'Angelo ), or in whole ( Pons Fabricius ). In addition to bridges, the Metro trains use tunnels. Following the standard Roman depiction of rivers as powerfully built reclining male gods, the Tiber, also interpreted as
1512-453: The patens. The large plate that protected the hoard, was shattered by the plough: reassembled, it reveals the inscription in its center DE DONIS DEI ET SANCTI MARTYRIS AGAPITI UTERE FELIX . The largest of the unbroken plates was surely designed for a liturgical use from the beginning: in the center there is a raised surface familiar from pagan paterae , which kept the thumb free of the libation when making an offering. The central section
1554-522: The river flooded to a height of 62 feet above sea level and over 1,000 people died. The river is now confined between high stone embankments, which were begun in 1876. Within the city, the riverbanks are lined by boulevards known as lungoteveri , streets "along the Tiber". Because the river is identified with Rome, the terms "swimming the Tiber" or "crossing the Tiber" have come to be the shorthand term for converting to Roman Catholicism . A Catholic who converts to Protestantism, in particular Anglicanism,
1596-536: The riverside in Rome itself, lining the riverbanks around the Campus Martius area. The Romans connected the river with a sewer system (the Cloaca Maxima ) and with an underground network of tunnels and other channels, to bring its water into the middle of the city. Wealthy Romans had garden-parks or horti on the banks of the river in Rome through the first century BC. These may have been sold and developed about
1638-496: The site aided its preservation. Its remains provide insights into a city of commercial importance. As in Pompeii , Ostia's ruins provide details about Roman urbanism that are not accessible within the city of Rome itself. Ostia may have been Rome's first colonia . According to legend, Ancus Marcius , the fourth king of Rome , was the first to destroy Ficana , an ancient town that was only 17 km (11 mi) from Rome and had
1680-517: The small size of the harbour at Ostia, a new harbour at Portus was built by Claudius on the northern mouths of the Tiber ( Fiumara Grande ). This harbour was not sufficiently protected from storms, and needed to be supplemented by the hexagonal harbour built by Trajan and finished in 113 AD. Also at a relatively short distance was the harbour of Civitavecchia ( Centum Cellae ) developed by Trajan. These ports took business away from Ostia and began its commercial decline. Nevertheless, Ostia grew to
1722-463: Was expanded with the navalia , a squarish basin built in from the river. A warehouse on the east side and, behind it, a large bath complex were built. It became an episcopal see as part of the Diocese of Rome as early as the 3rd century AD. The episcopal church sponsored by Constantine the Great is located in the south-east of the city. The city was mentioned by St Augustine when he passed there in
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1764-582: Was used to ship grain from the Val Teverina as long ago as the fifth century BC. It was later used to ship stone, timber, and foodstuffs to Rome. During the Punic Wars of the third century BC, the harbour at Ostia became a key naval base. It later became Rome's most important port, where wheat , olive oil , and wine were imported from Rome's colonies around the Mediterranean. Wharves were also built along
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