Civita Castellana, the old Falerii, falisca nation's capital, has a history of three thousand years. Cited by authoritative sources like the classic works of Livy , in which we find news on continuous wars between Rome and Falerii (from 436 BC to 241 BC): the city resisted attack for centuries and only in the fateful 241 BC was finally defeated by the Romans, who forced the inhabitants to settle in a flat area situated to the north, after having burned to the Falerii soil.
Ovid, a spectator with his wife, describes the splendid procession of the autumn that Falerii, Veiled by the Way, leading to the Temple of Juno Curite: "When my wife's original fertile ground falisca , line the walls torn down by you or Camillo, priests preparing sacred to Juno parties ...".
At the end of the Roman Empire, there was a gradual abandonment of Falerii (coinciding with the invasions of the Goths and Lombards), and a return to the site of the ancient capital of Falisci: the title of a bishopric in the sixth century indicative of continuity.
History Ager Faliscus in ' High Middle Ages is connected with the events that led to the birth and formation of the Duchy Roman, as the old system Falerii Veteres was to play a central role as a nodal point in the primary geographic corridor established between Rome el'Esarcato of Ravenna. The defense of this corridor had imposed a series of fortifications which, under the protection of the Byzantines and the Franks had insured the life of the Duchy and all areas connected with it. In a Privilegium dell'817 Emperor Louis the Pious, is also remembered Castellum , the modern Civita Castellana, which was part of Massa Castellania , already mentioned in the year 727 by Cencio Chamberlain.
Castellum's position, a crossroads and road junction between Sabina and Tuscia, between the Middle Valley and Upper Tiber Valley, and then a bulwark for the Duchy of Rome and Rome itself, was virtue of this role that he also had the bishop's seat at the end of the first millennium, being able to claim the title of Civitas Castellana.
