Montecchio

History

The area of Montecchio was already inhabited in prehistoric times, as evidenced by a pre-Roman necropolis in the San Lorenzo valley.

The settlement is first mentioned in written sources in 1154. Around 1165 the original castle nucleus was built by the Chiaravalle family. The castle was originally built as a place of exile during factional conflicts in Todi, when the Guelphs expelled the Ghibellines from the city. The settlement remained historically part of the territory of Todi.

By 1190 a second defensive wall had been constructed, reflecting a growth in population, and in the mid-13th century the fortifications were further expanded.

During the medieval period Montecchio was ruled successively by the Chiaravalle, Alviano, Baschi and Colonna families. In the 16th century it came under the control of the Atti family of Todi, and in 1607 authority passed to the Corsini family.

In the second half of the 16th century local statutes were established.

Following the Papal Restoration in 1814, Montecchio was administratively aligned with the nearby settlement of Baschi. In 1817 it was classified as a dependent district of Baschi.

In the 1850s Montecchio had a population of 738 inhabitants, of whom 601 lived in the town and 137 in the surrounding countryside.

In 1948 Montecchio was separated from Baschi and became an independent municipality.

Religion and culture

The Castle of Carnano stood near the Abbey of Sant'Andrea, of which little is known. Established around the year 1000, it occupied a dominant position over the Tiber Valley on a rocky spur, as reflected in the early Romanesque masonry of the church of Santa Maria. The castle is depicted intact in a 1583 map by Ignazio Danti, but already shown in ruins in a 1585 plan after its destruction in 1553, ordered by Pope Julius III to punish the Baschi counts. The site was razed along with the abbey, and today only ruins remain, including parts of the apse, an altar, a cistern, and sections of collapsed walls.

The necropolis of San Lorenzo is an Etruscan burial site dating from the 6th to the 4th centuries BC. The settlement to which the necropolis belonged is still unknown. It may have been one of the castella mentioned by Livy, small outposts of the city of Orvieto-Velzna near the edge of its territory, close to the border with the Umbrian-Italic world. The frequent discovery of pottery and brick fragments from different periods on the plain of Copio, which overlooks the gorges of San Lorenzo and the Raiano ditch, suggests that the settlement may have stood there. Based on these finds, its date would match that of the necropolis, between the 6th and 4th centuries BC.

A Roman rural settlement later covered the site, as shown by finds of common ware and terra sigillata from the early imperial period.

If confirmed, the settlement held a strategic position near the Tiber and the roads linking Tuder and Ameria. This made the area around the river a meeting point between the Etruscan and Umbrian-Italic worlds and increased its importance and economic value, at least until the decline of Orvieto-Velzna and the spread of Roman control. …