Spoleto is one of the most fascinating cities of art in Umbria, with over 2000 years of artistic and cultural history that make it unique. Located on the Colle di Sant’Elia, at the foot of the sacred wood of Monteluco, Spoleto is a city full of artistic treasures and international events, including the prestigious Festival dei Due Mondi. Its history is long and complex: from an important fortified center of the ancient Umbri, to when it was a Roman colony that became a municipality, then passing through Visigoth and Byzantine domination, up to the conquest by Federico Barbarossa in the twelfth century. Spoleto then underwent periods of struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellini, before being reclaimed by Cardinal Albornoz and becoming an important center of the Papal States.
The historic center of Spoleto, with its Roman and medieval influences, is a real jewel to explore. The Cathedral is the true symbol of the city but there is no lack of other artistic and cultural beauties: you can admire the arch of Druso and Germanicus, the Roman theater, an amphitheater from the second century AD, as well as the church of San Paolo Inter Vineas (10th century), with an important cycle of frescoes from the 1200s, and the church of San Pietro, whose origins date back to the fifth century, with a splendid Romanesque facade carved with extraordinary bas-reliefs. From the space in front of San Pietro, you can enjoy a wide view that embraces all of Spoleto including the mighty 80-meter high bridge, built as an aqueduct at the end of the 1300s, which connects the Rocca Albornoziana (now home to the National Museum of the Duchy of Spoleto), on the slopes of Monteluco that dominates the town. Monteluco, a corner of unspoiled nature, was the mountain and sacred wood of the Anachoretes, who settled here starting from the seventh century by founding the convent of San Francesco (1218) and the church of San Giuliano.
Spoleto is truly an exciting journey through the millennia, between works of art and monuments that tell its extraordinary story.