The Forte Sangallo and the town of ceramics on the tuff
Civita Castellana, on a tuff plateau surrounded by deep gorges in the Agro Falisco, stands on the site of Falerii Veteres, the capital of the Faliscans, a people related to the Etruscans. Today it is known as one of the Italian capitals of ceramics, especially sanitary ware.
The town's jewel is the Forte Sangallo, a powerful Renaissance fortress begun by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder for Pope Alexander VI Borgia and completed by his nephew for Julius II, with a pentagonal plan and a frescoed courtyard. It houses the Archaeological Museum of the Agro Falisco, with splendid finds from the Faliscan necropolises. The cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore has a magnificent Cosmatesque portico of 1210, one of the finest in Lazio.
Tip: around the town, the gorges with their tombs carved into the tuff can be explored on foot; the nearby village of Calcata and the Valle del Treja park are a short drive away.
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