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Otricoli

Otricoli
A small town of great interest located near the border between Umbria and Lazio, very important for the remains of the Roman period.
The modern town is situated in the area where was the Umbrian pre-Roman settlement, of which one can observe some ruins of the walls, while the remains of the Roman Ocriculum are near the bend of the River Tevere, where the population moved in the 2nd century BC, and where there was a fluvial port, rather important, called "bridge of the oil".
The archaeological remains that can be visited at present are parts of the theatre, arches (which had been supporting a temple or a public building), rooms of the thermae (but the fine mosaic with sea-animals is displayed at the Vatican Museums), and a section of the Via Flaminia which entered Umbria just near Ocriculum.
The population went to live on the hill to defend themselves both from the barbarian invasions and from the River Tevere in flood.
In addition to the archaeological site of Ocriculum, in Otricoli there are other places worth seeing: the Colleggiata of S. Maria Assunta, built with Roman materials and dating back, with its oldest parts, to the 7th century; the Commune; the church of S. Prudenzia.
In the surroundings: the Castle of Poggio, with the church of S. Nicola; the Castle of Arverino; the church of S. Vittore.