Of the ancient history of Horta, we have no record, unless the notice by Virgil, the application of which to this town has been doubted, be received as historical. We know, however, from better authority than that of the Mantuan bard, namely, from its extant monuments, that Horta was an Etruscan city, and the archaic character of those remains even leads us to regard it as among the most ancient in the land. The only other mention of it is by Pliny, who cites it among the “inland colonies” of Etruria; but we learn from inscriptions that it was one of the military colonies of Augustus.

Orte lies on the right bank of the Tiber, about twelve miles above Ponte Felice, and crowns the summit of a long narrow isolated ridge of tufo rock. Beneath the walls of the town this ridge breaks into naked cliffs, and then sinks gradually in slopes clad with olives and vines to meet the Tiber and the plain. Viewed from the north or south its situation appears very similar to that of Orvieto, though far from being so elevated and imposing, but from the east or west it has a less commanding though more picturesque appearance. At the western end the ridge is particularly narrow, terminating in a mere long wall of cliff, called La Rocca, which communicates with the city by a viaduct.