Bastia Umbra webcam

There are remains of structures and archaeological traces attributed to the Roman era. The locality is attested in the XNUMXth century, when the place was called Insula, perhaps due to the numerous floods of the Chiascio river and the marshes, resulting from the drying up of the ancient Lacus Umber, which would have given the small hill the appearance of a island or peninsula.
At first, the village sided with Assisi and in 1319 slowed down the march of the Perugian troops, resisting their assaults for seven months. When it finally surrendered, it was devastated and its fortifications were destroyed, but they were soon rebuilt and the name of Bastia was given to it thanks to its impressive military works, the walls and the castle with 17 towers (or "bastions" ).

In 1340 the castle of Bastia was still part of the territory of Assisi. In 1380 the municipality of Assisi established that fulling mills and mills should be rebuilt near the island and that the castle was fortified. The coat of arms bore a ploughshare, testimony of an economy based mainly on agriculture. In 1397 the Perugian Biordo Michelotti became lord of the castle of Bastia.

In 1419 Bastia was taken by the mercenary captain Braccio da Montone. After briefly returning under Assisi, in 1431 it gave itself to Malatesta Baglioni and remained under the dominion of this family until 1580, when it passed to Filippo Boncompagni, nephew of Pope Gregory XIII. By concession of the pontiff, a fair began to be held as early as 1581, which lasted from 17 to 25 September each year.

In 1614 Bastia gave itself its own statute, thus detaching itself forever from the municipality of Assisi.

In 1808, together with the rest of Umbria, it was invaded by Napoleon's army; in 1816 it returned under the Papal State, until in 1861 it became part of the Kingdom of Italy. In 1832 and 1854 severe earthquakes also hit Bastia, like other towns in Umbria, causing extensive damage to homes and public buildings.

In 1926 it took the name of Bastia Umbra, to distinguish it from other places with the same toponym.

During the Second World War it suffered bombings which hit in particular the factories, the railway and the bridges over the Chiascio river. From the second post-war period up to the end of the nineties it experienced a strong demographic, urban and economic growth, thanks to the presence of industrial plants (food, tobacco, metalworking, furniture and clothing sectors) and various small-medium agricultural enterprises, artisanal and commercial.

In 1978 the regional exhibition center called Umbriafiere was inaugurated and dedicated to the Hon. Lodovico Maschiella (politician and journalist, former mayor of Bastia Umbra), where the first convention of Gianfranco Fini's Future and Freedom was held on 7 November 2010.