Toynbee "Urbisàglia"
the anc. Urbs Salvia; once an important town but in D.'s day the ancient city was a collection of ruins; in the region of the Marches, about 30 miles S. of Ancona, and about 6 miles SW. of Macerata; the extensive Roman remains consist of an amphitheatre, baths, and walls.

Cacciaguida (in the Heaven of Mars) mentions it and Luni as instances of the decay and disappearance of oncc powerful cities, [Par. xvi. 75]. [Chiusi.]

Its decay was doubtless partly owing, as Buti supposes, to the unhealthiness of its situation. Benvenuto, who gives a fanciful derivation of the name, says of it:

Ista iuit olim civitas in Marchia anconitana non longe a civitate quae hodie dicitur Macerata, et est penitus deserta, ita quod non apparent nisi quaedam vestigia ruinarum, et fuit olim maxiula civitas, sicut ego notavi, unde dicta est quasi urbs alia, idest alia Roma.

©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee (1968) by permission of Oxford University Press