In the 2nd millennium BC the province was occupied by a population called
Umbri, who founded the cities of
Amelia,
Narnia Nahars,
Otricolum and
Interamna Nahars. With the development of the
Etruscan civilization, their territory was reduced to the valleys of the Black and Velino. One of the most important and richest Etruscan cities in province of Terni was
Orvieto and an unidentified place called
Fanum Voltumnae. For centuries, Umbrian and Etruscan fought hard for the rule of the
Tiber Valley, until, in 299 BC when
Roman legions began the invasion of Umbria. The provincial territory was part of the
Roman Republic and then the
Roman Empire until the latter's western part fell in the 5th century AD. In 571 the
Lombards, after invading the
Po Plain, went down the
Apennines and, in 575, founded the
Duchy of Spoleto in what is now Umbria and the neighbouring areas; this state remained formally independent until 1250. In 1527 Terni was used a camp of the
Landsknecht army that would subsequently take part in the
Sack of Rome and fought at Spoleto and Todi, where the
League of Cognac troops were located. In 1926, it became the seat of a separate province, detached from Perugia, including the countryside around the main centres of Terni and Orvieto. == Geography ==