Villaggio La Bahia

The Umbri were an ancient Italic people of Iron Age central Italy who spoke the extinct Umbrian language, an tongue belonging to the Osco-Umbrian branch, an Indo-European subfamily that also includes the Latino-Faliscan languages. They originally inhabited central Italy from the Tiber River across the Apennine Mountains toward the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian coasts. Most ancient Umbrian cities were founded between the 9th and the 4th centuries BCE on easily defensible hilltops (oppidia). The Umbri practiced agriculture and metalworking, and worshipped deities such as Iuve Grabovio, Cupra, and Mart at mountaintop sanctuaries and pit deposits.The Umbrian language is known from roughly 30 inscriptions, most notably the Iguvine Tablets detailing religious rituals. They wrote using both an Etruscan-derived alphabet and the Latin alphabet.