Perugia | Terni | Assisi | Gubbio | Foligno | Spoleto | Orvieto | Amelia | Todi | Trasimeno | Norcia-Cascia | C. Castello
 Versione Italiana |
Historical outline of Spoleto Settled originally by Umbrian tribes, Spoleto was colonized by Romans in the IV century BC and remained faithful to Rome during the Punic Wars and in the Battle of Trasimeno against Hannibal in 217 BC. Having been destroyed by waves of barbarians, including Totila in 545, its fortunes improved dramatically with the arrival of the Longobardi who made it the capital of a new dukedom; when they fell this dukedom passed to Charlemagne's Franks.However, in 1155, when its influence began to offer a challenge to imperial authority, the city was virtually razed to the ground by Frederick Barbarossa. After years of conflict between the empire and the papacy, Spoleto was eventually won by the papacy, and in 1198 Pope Innocent III built a splendid new cathedral.As its prosperity increased, the city expanded and the thirteenth century saw the building of the Palazzo del Popolo, a new circuit of walls and the great aqueduct known as the Ponte delle Torri. However, bitter fighting between Guelphs and Ghibellines raged on into the fourteenth century, and in 1345 Cardinal Albornoz built a massive fortress, La Rocca, to fend off any further attacks; its most infamous resident was Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI and governor of Spoleto from 1499 to 1502. What to see at Spoleto - The Rock and The Tower of the Spiritata - Cathedral of S. Maria Assunta (built 1198 on ruins of earlier church) - Church of Sant'Eufemia (twelfth century) - L'Arc di Druso (23 AD) - The Tower bridge (thirteenth-fourteenth century aqueduct) - Roman house of Vespasia Polla, with original floors and mosaics - Theatre Caio Melisso (seventeenth/nineteenth-century) - Church of San Domenico (thirteenth century) - San Salvatore (Palaeo-Christian) - Church of San Gregorio (eleventh-twelfth century) - The Town Hall - Art Gallery Seventeenth-century - Callicola, Campello and Ancaiano Palaces - Tower of Oil (thirteenth century) at Monteluco: - Church and Religious House of San Francesco (thirteenth century) - Church of San Pietro (twelfth-thirteenth century) Feasts and festivals in Spoleto - 14 January: Feast of patron saint, San Ponziano - February: Carnivale dei Ragazzi - April: StudyWeek - High Medieval period (Palazzo Ancaiani) - May-June: Organ concerts in city churches - June-July: Festival of the Two Worlds - 15 August: Feast of the Assumption - September: Season of experimental theatre How to Get There By car - Autostrada A1 from south, exit Orte, follow main Terni-Spoleto road - Autostrada A1: from north, exit Valdichiana, follow SS 75 Perugia-Foligno and then SS n3 Foligno-Spoleto - From Ancona: SS n76 for Gualdo Tadino, then SS n3 Foligno-Spoleto By train - Rome-Ancona line to Spoleto - Bologna-Florence, then Florence-Spoleto via Perugia By air - International flights to Rome or Florence. - Internal flights to Perugia. |
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Perugia | Terni | Assisi | Gubbio | Foligno | Spoleto | Orvieto | Amelia | Todi | Trasimeno | Norcia-Cascia | C. Castello
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