Orte is situated in the Tiber Valley on a high tuff cliff, encircled to North and East from a handle of the Tevere river.

The Etruscans inhabited the area from the 6th century BC and called it Hurta,[4] as testified by the findings in a necropolis nearby, now preserved in the Vatican Museums.

Two major battles between Etruscans and Romans (310 and 283 BC) were fought nearby on the shores of the Vadimone lake.

[6] In the Middle Ages the city was never seat of a fief, becoming a free comune under a podestà (elected magistrature).

It is situated in Piazza Giovanni XXIII, in the locality of Orte Scalo, approximately two kilometres southeast of the town centre.