Amelia is a town and comune of the province of Terni with a population of 11,800 inhabitants. It grew up around an ancient hill fort, known to the Romans as Ameria. The town lies in the south of Umbria, on a hill overlooking the Tiber River to the east and the Nera River to the west. It is The city is 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of Narni, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Orte and approximately 93 kilometres (58 mi) from Perugia. It is about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Rome.
The hilly countryside around Amelia presents several points of interest. The Convent of the Santissima Annunziata, founded by St. Francis’ Friars Minor, has a planetarium. The Cistercians established a convent at Foce, the Sanctuary of the Virgin. The small fraction of Porchiano del Monte has Medieval walls featuring a number of guard towers, and a beautiful little Romanesque church, San Simeone. The church of S. TImoteo, also Romanesque, has 14th and 15th Century frescoes. Near the town is the Lago Vecchio (“Old Lake”) formed by a dam on a small river, the Rio Grande. Rowing boats and toodles can be rented to come around in the shade of alder, poplar and willow trees, looking for sometimes surprised ducks and herons. There is a small park called “La Cavallerizza”, a former horse racing track, with a walking — or jogging — path around the track, now used for weekend dances and social gatherings.
Amelia is especially known for its walls, parts of which may date to Amelia’s earliest days. Large segments of the wall are built in polygonal masonry of carefully jointed blocks of limestone — most likely an Etruscan work (a 30-meter segment of this wall collapsed in 2006 and is under repair). The walls were further fortified and enlarged during Roman times and at various times during the Middle Ages. The walls run about 720 meters and are about 3.5 meters thick, and have four main gates: the imposing Porta Romana to the south, the main access to the town; Posterola to the north; Porta Leone to the east; and Porta della Valle to the west. The Romans left other traces of their occupation, including a complex of ten underground cisterns, built in the 1st century AD, which collected rain water to feed the town’s water supply. There are also snatches of Roman roads within the city, some of them only recently uncovered. A larger-than-life gilt bronze statue of Germanicus was unearthed just outside the Porta Romana in 1963 and is now the linchpin of a new Archaeological Museum.
Today, old Amelia inside the walls, which is most accessible through the Porta Romana, is a well preserved medieval city. The upper part also offers a view of the Tiber Valley. The center of the city is the Piazza del Duomo where the cathedral and the 30-meter-high Torre Civica (Civic Tower) are located. Amelia Cathedral was built originally in 872, and totally rebuilt in Baroque style after a fire in 1629: its façade is of pink cotto and was completed only in the 19th century. The interior has works by Federico Zuccari, Lavinia Fontana, Agostino di Duccio, an organ from 1600, and a Turkish banner captured at Lepanto. Nearby are the Archaeological Museum and the Pinacoteca Comunale (Municipal Gallery), housed in the old Boccarini college.
