FALERII, one of the twelve chief cities of Etruria (mod. Civitd Castellana [q.v.] ), situated about 2 M. W. of the ancient Via Flaminia, 32 m. N. of Rome. Wars between Rome and the Falisci (q.v.) appear to have been frequent. At the end of the First Punic War, they rose in rebellion, but were soon conquered (241 B.c.) and lost half their territory. The. ancient city, built upon a precipitous hill, was destroyed and another built on a more accessible site in the plain. Thus the original city occupied the site of the present Civita Castellana, and the Roman town was trans ferred 3 m. to the north-west. After this time Falerii hardly appears in history. There were bishops of Falerii up till when the desertion of the place in favour of the present site began, and the last mention of it dates from A.D. to64.
The site of the original Falerii is a plateau, about I,Ioo yd. by 400, not higher than the surrounding country (4 7 5 ft.) but sepa rated from it by gorges over 200 ft. in depth, and only connected with it on the western side, which was strongly fortified with a mound and ditch; the rest of the city was defended by walls constructed of rectangular blocks of tufa, of which some remains still exist. Remains of at least four temples have been excavated. These buildings were of wood, with fine decorations of coloured terra cotta (see Taylor and Bradshaw in Papers of the British School at Rome viii. i sqq.). Numerous tombs hewn in the rock are visible on all sides of the town; many objects, both from the temples and from the tombs, are in the Museo di Villa Giulia at Rome. The site of the Roman Falerii is now entirely abandoned. It lay upon a road which may have been the Via Annia, a by-road of the Via Cassia; this road approached it from the south passing through Nepet, while its prolongation to the north certainly bore the name Via Amerina. The circuit of the city is about 2,25o yd., its shape roughly triangular, and the walls are a remarkably fine and well-preserved specimen of Roman military architecture. They are constructed of rectangular blocks of tufa and reach in places a height of 56 ft. and are 7 to 9 ft. thick. There were about 8o towers, some 5o of which are still preserved. Two of the gates also, of which there were eight, are noteworthy. Almost the only edifice now standing within the walls is the I2th-century abbey church of S. Maria.
See G. Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (London, 1883), i. 97 ; for philology and ethnology see FALISCI. (T. A.)