Piediluco is a small village on the eponymous lake in southern Umbria, near the cities of Terni and Rieti. The name originally derives from a sacred forest that the ancient Roman author Pliny described in his “Naturalis Historia”. It was a sacred woodland initially dedicated to the Sabine goddess Vacuna and later, during the time of ancient Rome, to the goddesses Diana and Velinia. The site was fortified during the Middle Ages, but its heyday came during the conflicts between the opposing factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines. Frederick II of…
