Introduction to Terni, Italy

TERNI was the unlikely birthplace of one of the world's most famous saints, St Valentine, bishop of the town until his martyrdom in 273 and now entombed in his personal basilica at San Valentino, a village 2km to the southwest. A less romantic city, however, would be hard to imagine. Terni's important arms and steel industries made it a natural target for Allied bombing in 1944, and eighty percent of the town was reduced to rubble, including, sadly, the best part of its Roman and medieval heritage. Rebuilding replaced what was lost with a grey grid-iron city straight out of postwar eastern Europe; it also put the arms industry back on its feet – the gun used to assassinate Kennedy was made here – and though the town no longer lives up to its nineteenth-century nickname of "the Manchester of Italy", hi-tech weaponry and the stench of chemicals aren't the most enticing of prospects. The tourist office (Mon–Sat 9am–1pm & 4–7pm; tel 0744.423.047, fax 0744.427.259, info@iat.terni.it), should you need it, is at Viale Battisti 7a – take Viale della Stazione from the station, and Viale Battisti is 300m up, on the right, at the first major piazza.

Information by Rough Guides

Back to Terni, Italy Overview