Piazza dei bambini e delle bambine

The name of the town derives from the term "interamna", which means "between two rivers", a clear reference to the setting of the town at the confluence of the stream Serra with the river Nera.
The valley where Terni is situated, a natural amphitheatre surrounded by green hills, was already inhabited in prehistoric times, and there are a lot of remains testifying it: Eneolithic huts, protovillanoviano tombs, necropolis from the Iron Age to the 4th century BC.
We don't know exactly where the prehistoric site was situated: a Roman inscription reports that the town was founded in 672 BC; moreover, the inhabitants of the valley are mentioned in the Eugubine Tablets as enemies of the Umbrians: they were, in fact, even more ancient people, perhaps pre-Indo-European.
Conquered by the Romans, the town became Municipium belonging to the Crustumina tribe, traversed by the Via Flaminia between Narni and Spoleto. Terni was converted to Christianity in the years between 200 and 300 AC, and the Bishop Valentino – patron saint of the town and of lovers – was martyred in 273: the Basilica dedicated to him was built above an old Roman cemetery.
On the fall of the Roman Empire because of the barbarian invasions the town suffered great destruction: it was destroyed by Totila in 546, by Narsete in 554 and by the Longobards in 755.
In the following centuries Terni fought for a long time against Spoleto, and for this reason it received with every honour Frederick Barbarossa – destroyer of Spoleto – who, nevertheless, transformed the town, in 1159, into Cardinal Monticelli's estate (the religious who became anti-pope with the name of Vittore IV); the inhabitants of Terni rose up in revolt and the town was destroyed in 1174.
Terni prospered again, placing its trust alternatively in the Papal State and in the Empire, and in that period there were many conflicts between Guelphs and Ghibellines.
In 1300 it was under the Orsini family and fought against Narni; in the 1400s the town was ruled by a sort of Magistracy composed of 24 Nobles and 24 Commoners; in the following years it was dominated successively by Ladislao di Napoli, Braccio Fortebraccio, the Sforzas and the Papal State.
On the 25 August 1564, by night, the faction of the Banderesi, bourgeois, killed a great number of Nobles, and because of this terrible fact the town underwent a severe repression ordered by the Apostolic Delegate.
In 1861 Terni was incorporated in the Kingdom of Italy and, at the end of the 19th century, began the massive industrialisation of the town: first was founded the large Weapons Factory, then the steel-works and the calcium carbide plants; later on many other industrial installations were constructed, thanks to the extraordinary water patrimony of the area.
During the Second World War the town, because of its industries, suffered heavy bombardments which destroyed most of its structures, and for this reason the aspect of Terni is mainly modern; however, it preserve interesting buildings of the past which merit to be visited and which make Terni a pleasant place to live in.