Salt War (1540)

The Salt War of 1540 was a result of an insurrection by the city of Perugia against the Papal States during the pontificate of Pope Paul III.

The Perugian elite continued to enjoy a sort of semi-autonomy, including several privileges like trial by a local (not papal-appointed) judge and freedom from paying any taxes on salt, then an important product for preserving food.

The Perugians decided to rebel but on 4 June 1540 papal troops, led by the pope's son Pierluigi Farnese and his condottiere Alessandro da Terni, forced a surrender.

Built not to protect Perugia but, in Julius III's words, "to slow down the burning of the Perugians and get rid of the opportunity to rebel against the Holy See," the fort was for centuries a symbol of oppressive papal rule.

[2] Despite the fact that a later Pope, Julius III, gave the Perugians back a semblance of local rule in 1559,[3] the city became part of the Papal States and remained so until Italian unification in 1860.