The Name According to tradition, the first settlement was called "Vicus", meaning "place" or "village", accompanied by the adjective "Elacensis", "respectable". The place-name "Vicanum" referred to the communal grazing and firewood-gathering lands (vicana) surrounding a vicus. History • 15th-9th centuries BC: according to some historic sources, the area was already inhabited around 1500 B.C. by Pelasgian peoples living in the Sibillini Mountains; its origins are in any case almost certainly pre-Roman. • 295 B.C.: situated along the ancient border between the Umbrians and Sabines, the vicus was conquered by the Romans. • 494-526 AD: Theodoric established a garrison of Goths in the vicus in order to strengthen his dominion over the “pagi” (villages) of the Valnerina. • 579 AD: the village was subjugated by the Longobard Duchy of Spoleto, which ruled over its mountain villages through minor feudal vassals sent by the stewards in order to maintain peace and order and administer justice. Over the centuries the people of Visso organised themselves into a free Commune, proud and belligerent, continually at war with neighbouring communes until the end of the 1500s. • 1455 AD: the Church, historically well-disposed toward Visso, grants the village various privileges, including independent civil and criminal jurisdiction and, in 1472, perpetual exemption from taxes and excises on imported goods. • 15th - 16th centuries: due to plagues, floods and plundering by mercenary troops, this period of Visso’s history proved so disastrous as to be dubbed the “ruin of Visso”.

The economic recovery which followed - thanks to Visso’s geographically strategic position along the commercial trade routes between Rome, Spoleto and the Marches - made possible the construction of beautiful Renaissance-style edifices which can still be seen today. Later, local handicraft and sheep-farming formed the backbone of Visso’s economic prosperity. • 1583 A.D.: Pope Gregory XIII made Visso the permanent seat of the Church’s governorate, under the Apostolic Legate. • 1828 A.D.: the Church confers on Visso the status of city, with all pertaining privileges. • 1860 A.D.: the town is separated from the region of Umbria and incorporated into the Marches.