The Archaic Colle I Mori

The vast old settlement found in the village of Colle I Mori is believed to be the old Tadinum, already mentioned in the Eugubine Tables.
The first excavations carried out on the top of the hill in 1935 found the remains of a chapel with rectangular plan and some Italic statues in bronze. Still detectable today are a well dug in the rock and the ruins of a fort.
Recent excavations allowed determining size and characteristic of this old settlement. It was spread over an area of about five-six hectares on artificial terraces. Remains of several houses were found, generally made up of three rooms; their structure was rectangular and they probably had arcades.
The settlement of Colle I Mori covers a time span from the late sixth to the third-second century BC and represents an important site to understand the settlement models in Pre-Romanic Italy, besides being a rare example of proto-urban planning in Umbria.
The rich necropolis of St. Facondino may have been part of this settlement, whose graveyards cover a chronological period between the seventh century BC and the late Imperial Age. The rich funerary goods found in the graves, including pottery, bronze tools and Attic vases with red figures can be seen at the National Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome. Following the Roman conquest of Umbria, the area around Tadino was obviously influenced by Roman culture. It became a stop on the Flaminia Road (the village is mentioned as Civitas Ptanias on the Jerusalemite route) and probably under the authority of the centurion. The Municipality of Tadino was created under the Clustumina tribe and it later developed as a city in the plain. The town borders have been identified with the village of S. Antonio di Rasina. Remains of a necropolis and rustic villas were found both along the Flaminia Road and on the hill slopes.
The town was destroyed by the Goths and this is also where the final battle between the latter and the Byzantines took place, which ended with the Goths’ domination over Italy and the killing of Totila, later buried in ad Capras, identified as Caprara, the village of Gualdo Tadino.