Norcia

Norcia is a walled town in the Valnerina area of Umbria, high in the Sibillini Mountains, traditionally known as the birthplace of Saint Benedict of Nursia (founder of the Benedictine monastic order) and his twin sister Saint Scholastica in 480 AD. The town gives its name to norcineria, the Italian tradition of pork butchery and cured-meat making, and the surrounding area is known for black and white truffles. Norcia was near the epicentre of the destructive 2016 central-Italy earthquake sequence, which almost completely destroyed the town's Basilica of St. Benedict, leaving only its facade standing; the basilica was rebuilt and reopened for worship in 2025 after a long reconstruction.