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Visit Ancient Etruria Modern
Tuscany corresponds to the larger part of ancient Etruria , and most of our knowledge of Etruscan civilization is derived from findings there. The Romans conquered the region in the mid-4th cent. BC After
the fall of Rome, it was a Lombard duchy (6th-8th cent. AD), with Lucca as its capital, and later a powerful march under the
Franks (8th-12th cent.). Matilda (d.1115), the last Frankish ruler, bequeathed her lands to the papacy, an act which long caused
strife between popes and emperors. In spite of the dual claims, most cities became (11th-12th cent.) free communes;
some of them (Pisa, Lucca, Siena, and Florence) developed into strong republics. Commerce, industry, and the arts flourished.
Guelph (pro-papal) and Ghibelline (pro-imperial) strife, however, was particularly violent in Tuscany, and there were strong
rivalries both within and among cities. After a period of Pisan hegemony (12th-13th cent.), Florence gained control over most
Tuscan cities in the 14th-15th cent.; Siena (1559) was the last city to fall under Florence's influence. Under the Medici , the ruling family of Florence, Tuscany became (1569) a grand duchy, and thus again a political
entity; only the republic of Lucca and the duchy of Massa and Carrara remained independent. After the extinction of the Medici
line, Tuscany passed (1737) to ex-duke Francis of Lorraine (later Holy Roman Emperor Francis I ), who was succeeded by Grand Duke Leopold I (1765-90; later Emperor Leopold II ) and then by Ferdinand III (1790-1801; 1814-24). The French Revolutionary armies invaded Tuscany
in 1799, and it was briefly included in the kingdom of Etruria (1801-7) and was ruled under the duchy of Parma, before it
was annexed to France by Napoleon I. In 1814, Tuscany again became a grand duchy, under the returning Ferdinand III
and then under Leopold II (1824-59) and briefly under Ferdinand IV (1859-60). In 1848, Leopold was forced to grant a constitution,
and in 1849 he had to leave Tuscany briefly when it was for a short time a republic. However, in 1852 he was able, with the
help of Austria, to rescind the constitution. In 1860, Tuscany voted to unite with the kingdom of Sardinia . (
- Protected Area
- Manager: A Consorzio among Public Authorities
- Seat:
Viale Europa - 06065 Passignano sul Trasimeno (PG)
- Tel: 075/828059
- Fax: 075/828059
- E-mail: parco.trasimeno@parks.it
- Surface: 13.200 ha
- Province:
Perugia
- Established in: 1995
The Territory The Park is the instrument to protect and at the same time exploit the Trasimeno Lake, the largest lake of the Italian
peninsula with a surface of 128km/q, a little less than the Como Lake. Besides the sheet of water, the
Park includes all the bank system surrounding it, and therefore also the small and big historical centers like Castiglione
del Lago and Passignano. The Trasimeno has been historically called "the lake of Perugia" and this definition clearly
highlights the importance that the lake basin has always had and still has for all the north-western Umbria and for the territory
of the Tuscan Chiana. The gravitation area on the Trasimeno and on its Park cannot easily be defined because it continuously
changes in functions and time. The maximum anthropic pressure occurs during the summer with tourist and entertainment aims,
and during this period the Sunday tourism consists of foreigners, resident population of the Province of Perugia, and of the
Towns of the Tuscan Chiana up to Arezzo. On these occasions the visitors' presence was calculated in 30.000 units, without
considering the inhabitants of the urban area around the lake. If you consider these data together with
the ones regarding the crisis of the level and the quantity of Trasimeno's waters - due to the annual precipitations lower
than the regional average, to the absence of true tributaries to the hydrographic basin which is almost the double of the
lake surface - it is evident the importance of defending the Trasimeno from the permanent and the excessive human pressure,
from the production activities with a high use of water, and the importance of eliminating every polluting substance for a
water body that extends itself on a wide surface but which is not too deep, from 3 to 6 meters. The Trasimeno has got all the features of a great natural resource which must be
strictly protected and promoted as far as the uses compatible to its conservation are concerned. The inhabitants
of the Municipalities of Trasimeno and the Umbrian people in general have been able, in spite of many difficulties, to protect
their lake: you can still bath in its waters, and its valleys and islands are still integral territories and therefore the
mirror of a millenary past and a present place suitable to discover a new relationship between the man and its habitats.
If you wish request infos fill on the
form below all your demands, many thanks!
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