Città di Castello is the principal centre in the Upper Tiber Valley: situated in an area surrounded by soft hills, the city, one of the most important in Umbria, is enclosed by 16th century walls and preserves magnificent medieval and Renaissance buildings. Tifernum, originally a very ancient Umbrian centre in the Upper Tiber Valley, after conquest by the Romans, became towards the end of the 1st century a rich and flourishing municipium named Tifernum Tiberinum. A powerful patron, Pliny the Younger, adorned it with fine temples and public buildings. The town was destroyed by Totila's Goths, and later rebuilt and fortified by Bishop Florido. The name was changed first to Castrum Felicitatis and later to Civitas Castelli, whence Città di Castello.
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