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Tarano

Tarano is a little village where time stood still, in which you can breathe air made of history, nature, and traditions.

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Population

1.439

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Area

19,98 km²

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Altitude

234 m

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Where is it?

Tarano rises 234 meters above sea level on a ridge of the Sabine mountains. It has 1421 inhabitants and covers an area of almost 20 square kilometers, within which the Aia stream flows. From the top of the hill overlooking the town, you can admire its historic center, enclosed within the walls and immersed in nature. Entering from the portal of the citadel, take the uphill road that leads to the castle. The streets are decorated with flowers; the inhabitants love to leave outside the doors and on the balconies of their homes as if to greet the visitors.

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Its origins?

The village name, Tarano, probably indicates a site located at the confluence of two rivers. The first news about Tarano dates back to 952 when during an exchange of landed property located near Magliano, Sergio da Tarano appeared as an appraiser, bonus homo extimator. The fact confirms the existence of the castle before this date. Farfa’s interests in this area became substantial in the first decades of the 11th century. In 1347, Tarano submitted to Cola di Rienzo and rebelled several times, particularly between 1351 and 1352, and was brought back to obedience with great difficulty due to the resistance opposed by the Ghibelline party, which found encouragement and aid in Narni. The decline of Tarano as a free municipality began in 1372 when it was enfeoffed to a noble from Perugia, Francesco Degli Arcipreti, who was part of a family strongly linked to the Church. In 1392 Pope Boniface IX arrived in Tarano on the morning of Saturday, 4 October, where he also stopped on Sunday. Restarted from Tarano on Monday, on the same day he reached Narni, after confirming the district rights to Cicignano. In 1399, Paolo Savelli, to recover a credit of 20,000 florins that his father Luca boasted with Pope Benedict XI, violently occupied the castle of Tarano. The Savellis' dominion over the fortress materialized in May 1409 when Gregory XII, in the third generation, gave Tarano and Montebuono to Battista Savelli.

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What to see?

Tarano is a town immersed in the greenery of an area rich in attractiveness and culture. It presents itself to tourists as a jewel to be discovered. The historic center offers the view of an unexpected medieval scenario with its tower houses, the stone houses perched and joined to each other, which enclose the space of the magnificent pre-Romanesque cathedral, from which the beautiful bell tower of the twelfth century rises. Inside the ancient village stands the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, whose construction dates back to the 12th century. It has a facade of simple late Romanesque forms, with a beautiful portal surmounted by a Cosmatesque rose window. On the right is the elegant bell tower, completed in 1114, with five floors of single and double lancet windows. The interior, with three naves with lowered sixth arches on columns and sculpted capitals, has Romanesque and Gothic characters and retains traces of the decoration of votive frescoes. To admire is the small church of the Madonna Della Noce, not far from the inhabited center. It is reachable along a country road from which you arrive where the sides of the two hills meet and form the docile valley, which houses the Church of the Madonna of the Walnut, immersed in a suggestive, almost unreal environment, wrapped in silence and total tranquility. Equally valuable and unmissable is the Church of St. Peter and Paul, with its magnificent bell tower of 1200. The church is in the hamlet of San Polo and was probably a palatine Church of the castle of Saint Polo with Matroneo already under construction, through a passage aligned and at high altitude with the building in front. It has a fascinating bell tower remodeled probably after the earthquake of 1915 with the insertion of a crenellated tower. The facade with Renaissance lines was probably rebuilt in the eighteenth century. Inside the bell tower, there is a valuable bell melted by Guidoccio of Pisa in 1272. Also worth visiting is the village of San Polo which is of medieval origin. In the heart of the town, there are houses with architectural details in harmony with the town atmosphere. In Tarano, you can enjoy a silent and peaceful life, marked by the rhythms of nature where the taste for simple things takes you away from the frenzy of modern life.