Colle di Tora

Colle di Tora is a charming village of white houses, perched on a peninsula that extends into the waters of Lake Turano. This village is located in a fascinating natural setting that enhances its beauty and bears witness to a rich and ancient history. In fact, the name Tora is mentioned by several distinguished authors of antiquity, first and foremost Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who mentions an oracle present in this place.

The exact location of this ancient town has been a matter of debate: from medieval documents related to the church of Sant’Anatolia, it is inferred that Tora was located in the center of Sabina, not far from the present Colle di Tora. During Roman times, like the entire Turano area, Colle di Tora was part of the Valeria region and, in Lombard times, of the gastaldate of Turano. Until 1864, the town was known as “Collepiccolo” and was part of the so-called Massa Turana, under the jurisdiction of the important abbey of Farfa from the ninth century.

Frequent raids by Saracens and Hungarians, a tragic constant of the ninth and tenth centuries, probably led to the creation of a fortified settlement, which is the basis of the village as we know it today. In the 13th century, Collepiccolo became part of the possessions of the Brancaleoni, a powerful family from Romagna, who with the Andalò branch came to dominate Bologna.

In the early 15th century, control of Collepiccolo passed to the Orsini of the Castel Sant’Angelo branch, who ruled the town until 1634, when Maharbale Orsini, the last lord, sold the fiefdom to the Borghese princes. Collepiccolo never became a large center and during a census in 1713 noted the presence of 60 families, with a total of 350 inhabitants. It was a small community where two priests and a cleric provided spiritual care, while sporadic visits from a surgeon provided health care.

Built on a rocky outcrop jutting into Lake Turano, Colle di Tora is undoubtedly the town most closely associated with the great reservoir. In 1731 the new church dedicated to St. Lawrence was inaugurated, the first stone of which had been laid a few years earlier thanks to the contribution of Prince Borghese. With the birth of the Roman Republic, after the tumultuous events of the French Revolution, Collepiccolo, like all of Sabina, was included in the department of Clitunno, with Spoleto as its capital, one of the eight departments into which the Papal State had been divided.