Roscialesco: a brief history

Il Castello di Roscialesco is a complex of medieval buildings in Umbria situated ~8 km west of the Tiber river, between the cities of Orvieto and Todi and about 150 km north of Rome. For more than 2000 years, the site of Roscialeso sat on a frequently contested border between both local and regional powers. War and conflict were perennial realities.

Iron Age

In the Iron Age, the Tiber divided the territories of two ancient peoples, the Etruscans to the west (from which Tuscany takes its name) and the Umbrians to the East, both of which emerged in the 7th-6th century BC. The site of Roscialesco was on the easternmost edge of the Etruscan domain.

The Umbrians established Tuderte (now Todi), a key settlement just across the river.[1] The Umbrians and Etruscans were in frequent conflict, but the Etruscans were more successful, and they took and fortified Tuderte, probably around 386 BC.[2] Later, when Rome established its independence and became a dominant power in the region, the Etruscans and Umbrians joined forces to resist the Roman forces. The Roman-Etruscan wars concluded in 264 BC with the fall of the Etruscans' last stronghold, Volsinii (probably now Orvieto) which is about 40 km west of Roscialesco. By ~200 BC the Romans had dominion over the area between Orvieto and Todi and had established roads and infrastructure connecting the settlements. The remaining Umbrians were defeated shortly thereafter and by 90 BC were fully assimilated into the Roman empire.

Classical Rome

By this time, the local populations in the Etrurian and Umbrian countryside would have been a mix of subjugated Etruscans and Umbrians, as well as Roman military veterans and freedmen who were granted land by the emperor. In the Roman imperial system these populations were plebeian families who farmed the land and supplied the cities. They relied upon Rome for protection and also infrastructure: roads, water and related public works.

Gens Roscia was a prominent plebeian family that prospered in this area of Umbria.[3] Ancient and originally Roman, the family probably got their land through grants. By around 80 BC, the family had established a significant presence in the nearby settlement of Ameria (now Amelia), in addition to 13 farms settled along the Tiber River[4], and also probably the settlement of Rosceto SE of Todi. Roscialeso may have been settled by Gens Roscia as one of their many farms and takes its name (literally, "of the Roscia") from them. [5]

During the span of the Roman Empire, the area around Roscialesco enjoyed a rare period of peace and prosperity. It lasted until the Goths sacked Rome in 410 and the decades of conflict that would follow. As the center of power in the Roman Empire moved to Constantinople in the East, they lost control over much of Italy to the Franks, who dominated the peninsula by around 800, outside of a few Byzantine/Papal territories. Both the Frankish and Byzantine emperors were distant and distracted from central Italy, so the Roman Church took on much of the local management and governance of the area in and around Rome. This concentrated power and eventually spawned the Papal States in central Italy by around 825 [6], and these lasted in some form or another until Italy's unification in 1870, and the papacy’s ultimate territorial contraction into the Vatican of today.

The Medieval Period

Throughout the medieval period and into the Renaissance, the Papal States were largely feudal, with fiercely independent city states seeking to preserve their autonomy and expand their territories through war or political alliances. The pope's powers and possession of territory were shifting and unconstant, and he exerted what little influence he had through local city leaders. The city states fortified their cities and perimeter settlements, and formed their own armies, largely composed of mercenaries.

Wars and Fortifications

It was during this period that Roscialesco is first mentioned as a fortified village, one of three in the Santa Maria in Monte plebate of Todi, part of a defensive network of castra that protected Todi from invasions on the Western side, along which the principal threats were Orvieto and Perugia. Todi, Orvieto and Perugia were all papal states, but each of them sought to dominate the Tiber valley. This led to local squabbling but also volatile alliances: for many years Todi was loyal to the holy Roman emperor of the Franks, rather than to the Pope. Throughout the 1200s, Todi and Orvieto were engaged in an “endemic frontier war" [7], and this certainly would have been a period where the fortifications at Roscialesco were established or built up.

By 1291, 25 families lived in Roscialesco. [8] A Church was established in Roscialesco at some point in the 1300s and endured until at least the mid-1400s.[9] Outside of Todi's ongoing conflict with Orvieto, Roscialesco featured in several major battles over the years: in 1311 it was overrun by Perugia during their invasion of Todi; in 1411 it was taken by Braccio Fortebracci da Montone, whose soldiers plundered it, probably while in the service of Florence; In 1496, Roscialesco was sacked by Virginio Orsini in service of the pope, who sought to expel the Ghibellines, led by house Chiaravalle who'd aligned with the Holy Roman Emperor, from Todi and its countryside once and for all.

War's Lasting Impact

It's unclear to what degree these wars represented destructive events that might have damaged the Roscialesco structures. Heavy artillery was definitely not a feature of war in this period, but crops and wooden structures would have been razed. Central Italy is also seismically active; one historian claimed that an earthquake destroyed much of the Roscialesco castrum in 1460, including the church, though this is not corroborated by any other sources, and no earthquake is on record in Umbria for that year.[10]

From Castle to Contado

In 1623 the Roscialesco castle passed to the Stefanucci family, as noted on a beam of a fireplace in the house there bearing the name Todi Dionisio Stefanucci and the date 1623. It has been privately owned over the centuries that followed. By 1644, zaffarame (saffron) was cultivated in the area, an unusual and valuable crop, and perhaps another source for the name Roscialesco: a hill of red saffron bloom could be thought of as redheaded, or roscia.

Notes

From the Etruscan, meaning "border"
This is when etruria invaded umbria in response to the growing roman threat
Noted in the conflict between Rome and the Etruscans at Vell in 438 BC, and Caesar's Gallic wars "49 BC.
This is known from Cicero's speech Pro Roscio Amerino
Steffanucci, Pietro “Dialogo De Tuderis et Tudertium Nobilitate”, ~1605
Noble, T., "The Republic of St. Peter, The Birth of The Papal State, 680-825"
Waley, D., "The Papal State in the 13th Century", see pg 144,156,160
Source: Liber Focolarium - Todi, 1291
1399 to 1467- the church of Sant'Angelo and Giovenale di Rocialesco paid 10 libre as a tax-Source: records compiled by Pietro Bolognini at the end of the 18th century
Pirro Alvi notes: "In the year 1460 almost the entire part was demolished due to a great earthquake together with the church dedicated to Saints Angelo"