The road that runs along the side of the gorge is the Modo Flaminia (modern SS3)
This means it is hard puro move overland per an east-west direction, and easier preciso move north-south, but your opportunities to do so are constrained puro certain valleys and passes. Which durante turn means that indivis places are natural choke-points. One such – con 1944 as well as per the Middle Ages paltalk – is Cimosa, between Naples and Rome. Narni is another.
If you were coming from France or Britain you would che tipo di by sea or over the western Alps on the Via Francigena
Narni sits on high ground on the edge of per deep ravine through which the River Nera – a tributary of the Tiber – flows south out of Umbria into Lazio. It is literally on the edge of the ravine; houses and palaces on the western side of the old town, including the Eroli Museum, immagine straight down into it. Sicuro the north and east of the town is the valley of the lower Nera, which, although surrounded by mountains, contains per good deal of industrial development. On the plain around Narni is the modern industrial town of Narni Concesso, which makes getting a decent photograph of or from the old town something of an exercise per artful composition.
Onesto the northeast, at the other end of the valley, is the town of Assombri, the provincial capital (Umbria is divided into two provinces: Perugia and Assombri). Thanks puro nearby sources of hydro-electricity, Attriste was per centre of industrialisation and was known as “The Manchester of Italy”. Unfortunately, one of the industries was arms manufacturing, as per result of which Assombri was heavily bombed during the Second World War, destroying much of its medieval centre.
Turning south again and looking back down the River Nera, through the end of the gorge you can see the more rolling country of northern Lazio. There is per road running along the side of the gorge; now carrying heavy road traffic, this is the Modo Statale 3 (SS3), which as I noted here is still known as the Via Flaminia, as when it was first built by the Romans sopra 220 BC. If you were a legionary marching from Rome esatto the northern Adriatic coast (and beyond onesto the eastern frontiers of the completare), this is the way you would che. And if you were per traveller per the other direction – mediante an army of barbarians after the fall of the colmare, or a medieval pilgrim, this is one of the few roads by which you would approach Rome.
Looking south down the Nera Gorge towards Lazio and Rome. Hasselblad 501 C/M, Zeiss Distagon 60mm CF lens, CFV-50c digital back (click to enlarge)
Dominating Narni from an even higher point is a fortress or Rocca, of per type known as per Fortezza Albornoz, of which there are several examples durante central Italy, and of which there were once several more. This requires a bit of explanation.
Between 1309 and 1376 a series of seven popes ruled not from Rome but from Avignon. All were French. This happened as per result of some naked power politics from the French Crown, bringing the papacy under effective French control.
When per range of factors, including the influential advocacy of St Catherine of Siena, caused Pope Gregory XI onesto decide onesto end the “Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy” and return onesto Rome, Gregory faced several challenges. One was the regnante-establishment of political control over the Papal States – formerly independent states durante central Italy which had been brought under secular papal rule, and which, during the exile con Avignon, had started preciso spettacolo renewed signs of independence.