- Maria Anna De Lucia Brolli and Jacopo Tabolli –
The geographic region of the Ager Faliscus, in the basin of the Treja River Valley,
one of the greatest tributaries of the Tiber River, has a uniquely clear-cut boundary,
represented precisely by the Tiber River that separates the area from the Sabine and
Umbrian sectors. The other boundaries are more blurred on the geomorphological level:
Mount Soracte on the south-east, to the south the slopes of the Sabatino volcano with
Lake Bracciano, to the west the volcanic complex of Vico and the Ciminian Forest.
Soracte, the mountain sacred not only for the Faliscans, but also for the Etruscans, the
Sabines and Capenates, due to the presence of the cult of Pater Soranus, in ancient times
was a meeting point and at the same time the border with neighboring populations,
especially the Capenates (most recently, Colonna 2009) (see Fig 27.5, this volume). The
name of the Falisci is formed on the same etymological root as Falerii, the only city to
be specifi cally mentioned in Greek and Roman sources (apart from Fescennium, a site
to which we will return). From the beginning of the seventh century bc, and until the
Roman conquest in 241 bc, Falerii was confi gured as the primary urban reality of the
region, its importance surviving over time despite the Roman destruction. Even today,
Civita Castellana, founded on the ruins of the ancient Faliscan city, is the main center of
the province after Viterbo (Fig. 14.2).
Falerii exercised its hegemony over a large territory which saw, further to the north,
the presence of smaller centers, some of which are fully structured in an urban sense
such as Corchiano and Vignanello; these settlements, which have developed at different
times depending on the control of the territory, have followed the fortunes of the main
site which rapidly declined after the Roman conquest (De Lucia Brolli 1991, Poleggi
Figure 14.2 Map and aerial photo of Falerii (modern Civita Castellana).