Mentana

Mentana is a toun an comune in the province o Roum, Lazio, central Italy. It is locatit 29 km north-east o Roum an haes a population o aboot 21,000.

Mentana
Comune
Comune di Mentana
Mentana Location o Mentana in Italy
Coordinates: 42°01′N 12°39′E
Kintra	Italy
Region	Lazio
Province	Roum
Frazioni	Casali, Castelchiodato, Mezzaluna
Govrenment
• Mayor	Altiero Lodi (PD)
Area
• Total	24 km2 (9 sq mi)
Elevation	150 m (490 ft)
Population  (28 Februar 2010)
• Total	21,286
• Density	890/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Mentanesi
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	00013
Diallin code	06
Patron saunt	St. Nicholas o Bari
Saunt day	December 6
Website	Offeecial wabsteid

History

Mentana's name in ancient times wis Nomentum, tae which the Via Nomentana led frae Roum. Accordin tae Livy, the town wis pairt o the Latin League, which went tae war wi Rome during the reign o Rome's king Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. Nomentum wis ane o a nummer o towns captured bi Tarquinius.

It wis a Latin town, but wis considered bi some tae be Sabine, an, lik Fidenae an Ficulea, wis excluded frae the first region bi Augustus, who made the Anio river its northren boundary. The ceety wis pairt o the League defeatit bi Roum in the Battle o Lake Regillus, an wis captured definitively in 338 BCE.

Subsequently Nomentum received the civitas sine suffragio; in its municipal constitution the chief magistrate even in imperial times bore the title o dictator. Pliny an Martial eften praise the fertility o its neighbourhood.

In 408 CE it is mentioned as a episcopal see, an in 593 it annexed the diocese o Cures. In 741 it wis briefly occupee'd bi the Lombards an the indwallers muivit tae a new centre on the Via Nomentana which wis mair easily defendable. On 23 November 799, it wis the steid o the meetin o Pape Leo III an Charlemagne.

The Castle o Nomentum wis a possession o the Roman faimily o the Crescenzi in the 10t an 11t century. In 1058 it wis destroyed bi the Normans an the population wis drastically reducit. The castle wis acquired bi the Capocci faimily an, later, the Holy See entrustit it tae the Benedictine monks o San Paolo fuori le Mura.

In the 15t century it wis unner control o the Orsini faimily. In 1484 it wis damagit bi an yirdquauk. In 1594 it became a fief o the Perett faimily, first unner Michele Perett o Venafro, an then in 1655 it came unner the control o Marcantonio Borghese an the Hoose o Borghese.

Inner square o the castle in Mentana.

On 3 November 1867 the ceety wis the steid o the Battle o Mentana atween French-Papal troops an the Italian volunteers led bi Giuseppe Garibaldi, who wur attemptin tae captur Roum in order tae incorporate it intae the newly unifee'd Kinrick o Italy. The battle endit in a victory bi the French-Papal troops. In Mentana, the monument Ara dei Caduti (Altar o the Fawen) is biggit ower the mass grave o the Italian patriots who dee'd in the battle.

Main sichts

• The Castle (c. 1000), hoosin the Airchaeological Museum an is a steid o airt exhibitions.
• Palazzo Crescenzio
• Funerar Monument o the Appulei, a 2nt-century BC travertine frieze
• Museum o the Risorgimento
• Science Museum.

The Natur Preserve o Nomentum includes the Trentani Pairk an the Macchia (Maquis shrubland) o Gattacieca, the remains o the auncient ceety as well as a necropolis o the 8t century BCE.