IN MEMORIAM
Luciano Pavarotti
"I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent
and this is what I have devoted my life to"
"Penso che una vita per la musica sia una vita spesa bene
ed è a questo che mi sono dedicato"
Modena (Italy) - 12 ottobre 1935
Modena (Italy) - 6 settembre 2007
VALENTINO ROSSI
Eight times Motorbike World Champion
______________________________
FERRARI, THE ITALIAN STYLE
9 July 2006, for the 4st time
ITALY IS
FOOTBALL WORLD CHAMPION!!!
Thank you guys for dreaming me...
TERNI, MY TOWN
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 cemetery.
On the fall of the Roman Empire because of the
barbarian invasions the town suffered 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.
MARMORE WATERFALL
Stupendously located in a natural scenario of
peerless beauty, the Marmore Waterfalls
(7 km from Terni along the Valnerina state road)
is an artificial work built by the Romans.
In 290 BC the consul Curio Dentato ordered a canal
to be dug (Cavo Curiano) in order to make the
stagnant waters of the Velino river flow down into
the Rieti valley conveying it to the Marmore cliff,
from where it was made to fall down onto the bed
of the river Nera below with a jump of 165 metres.
At that time the work was heralded as a great
event and certainly contributed to stengthen the
prestige of Rome among the inhabitants of Umbria,
recently conquered. But popular imagination prefers
to give it a mythological origin: the story goes that
the nymph Nera had fallen in love with a shepherd,
Velino, but Juno to punish her transformed her into
a river, the Nera. Velino, anguished, threw himself
down from the Marmore cliff in order to be united
with his beloved: that mortal jump would continue
for eternity. In every era the beauty of the Waterfalls
has inspired poets and artists; numerous reproductions
of Italian and foreign artists exist; it seems that Virgil
referred to the Marmore Waterfalls when he quotes in
the Aeneid, VII book, a valley of dark woodlands and
between the trees a river which thunders and falls over
big stones. Also G. Byron in his Childe Harolds
Pilgrimage sings the praises of the Waterfall
describing it as one of the most fascinating
spectacles ever seen during his numerous journeys.
For the last 50 years the waters of the Waterfall
have been used to supply hydroelectric power stations:
the abundance of water in the entire area is the origin
of the industrial development of the Terni basin where
siderurgical, electrochemical and electrical industries
have been set up.
