Umbrian Nukria

The area of Nocera Umbra was settled at least from the Bronze Age.  By the 7th century BC, settlement in the area seems to have developed in a series of related hill-top settlements  on Monte Castiglione and Monte Penna that were controlled by a warrior elite.  An Umbrian inscription on a Gallic helmet (ca. 300 BC) that was found in Bologna in 1881 seems to refer to the “Nukri”, which might derive from the name that these people used for their tribe. [Rocca]

Most of the evidence for this society comes from the Boschetto-Ginepraia Necropolis (7th – 6th centuries BC), which was excavated in the early 20th century to the north of the modern city.  It seems to have belonged to a relatively small community and was in use for a relatively short period.  The men were wealthy warriors, and their women were often buried with particularly valuable personal items.  The grave goods from the tomb of a small girl and from that of a woman from this necropolis, which are now in the Villa Giulia, Rome, are particularly noteworthy in that they are surprisingly sophisticated items to be found in so remote a location.

Roman Nuceria

Although little is known about the Umbrian settlement of Nukria, it was probably large enough to have been forced into allied status with Rome after the Battle of Sentinum.  The Romans probably developed the community there, which they called Nuceria Camellaria.  This development was probably stimulated by the construction of Via Flaminia.  The ruins of Ponte Marmoreo (ca. 220 BC), which took Via Flaminia over the River Topino near the confluence with the River Caldognola, can be seen south of Nocera near the railway station.

Nuceria seems to have become a municipium soon after the Social Wars (ca. 90 BC).  Unfortunately, no remains of this settlement have been discovered.

A spur (Via Porlaquense; Via Septempedana) that was built from Nuceria to Ancona (via the military outposts of Prolaqueum and Septempeda) in 177 BC or perhaps after the Social Wars (ca. 90 BC).   A Roman milestone (76 AD) from the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, which came from Via Porlaquense and which indicated the turning for Ancona, is now in the Museo Civico.

In his  “Geography” (ca. 7 BC), Strabo listed Nuceria as one of the cities of Umbria on Via Flaminia, and described it as  “the place where the wooden vessels are made”.  Writing in the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder placed the two tribes of the Nucerini, “both those surnamed Favonienses and those called Camellani” among the people of the sixth region (Umbria) designated by the Emperor Augustus.  There are various explanations for these names:

1. ✴Favonienses: faithful of the goddess Favonia; or alternatively to Favonius, the personification of the west wind; and
   

2. ✴Camellani: originating from Camerinum; or alternatively deriving from camellae, small wooden containers, perhaps the vessels mentioned by Strabo.
   

These could have been located in two different places, perhaps (respectively) the Roman and pre-Roman settlements.