Amelia, a city of ancient origins, was founded according to mythology by King Ameròe; Pliny in his Naturalis Historia, quoting Cato, states that the city was founded as early as 1134 BC. The most important evidence of its millennial history is certainly represented by the imposing city walls that encircle most of the town for about two kilometers. Very well preserved is the section formed by the monumental polygonal walls probably built in the 3rd century B.C., also interesting is the small section of the so-called megalithic walls in the upper part of the city made perhaps between the 4th century B.C. A border town, first Umbrian then Roman, Amelia boasts numerous other vestiges of its glorious past: churches, numerous Renaissance palaces and remains of mosaic floors belonging to Roman domus. Amelia, known in Roman times as Ameria, was such a flourishing center of ancient Umbria that it became a municipium in 90 B.C. and was able to mint its own coinage. Frequent trade, especially in agricultural products (oil, wine, figs, apples and pears) and bricks, with neighboring peoples due in part to its favorable location along the Via Amerina. The road, beaten in 240 B.C. on even older local routes, also became one of the oldest pilgrimage routes. After the end of the Western Roman Empire Amelia suffered several devastations due to barbarian invasions, especially by the Goths. With the descent of the Lombards, it found itself disputed between the Duchy of Spoleto and the Byzantine empire, since the Via Amerina had remained the main route of the Byzantine Corridor, the only route that allowed the connection between Rome and Ravenna. In 1065 it gave itself a communal type of organization and was several times the scene of struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines; in 1307 it definitely entered the possessions of the Papal State until the birth of the Kingdom of Italy.