On the hill now called Poggio Sommavilla, above the valley of the Tiber, there was a settlement of twenty-five or thirty hectares, one of the largest of the archaic age in the whole valley, in constant exchange with the Faliscans, the Etruscans and the Capenates on the opposite bank. The name of that centre is not known: it has been lost. In all likelihood it was destroyed by the Roman army led by the consular tribune Marcus Furius Camillus, the same who wiped out Veii, Capena and Falerii Veteres, that is precisely the cities it had always traded with. Afterwards the Romans organised the territory into villas and estates, and the municipium it belonged to was called Forum Novum, the new forum — «new», it is supposed, with respect to the old one that no longer existed.
Today's village comes from another removal, and its name too looks backwards. By a brief of 10 December 1253 Pope Innocent IV authorised the inhabitants of Mozzano to move into the Castrum Vetulum, the old castle: it is the present historic centre, and it is from there that Collevecchio takes its name. In July 1283 the comune of Narni arrived, taking over the administration of justice and the right to build a fortress with palace and tower — recognisable today in palazzo Cerbelli and the Martavello quarter; at that time the village had about 700 inhabitants and 126 hearths. In 1368 it was enfeoffed to the Orsini. A place called «old» which, looked at closely, arrived last of all.
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on 30 November
On 30 November Collevecchio celebrates its patron Saint Andrew the Apostle; the municipal territory preserves the archaeological area of Poggio Sommavilla.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Collevecchio, but an easy day trip away.
