Umbria · Terni
Acquasparta
A hill town above the Naia valley, where Federico Cesi convened the first Accademia dei Lincei in his Palazzo Cesi in 1603.
Known for
ACCADEMIA DEI LINCEI
Federico Cesi founded Europe's first scientific academy in 1603 and brought it to Palazzo Cesi; Galileo demonstrated his microscope here in 1624.
PALAZZO CESI
Late-Renaissance palace of 1561–1579 by Giovan Domenico Bianchi, the architectural anchor of the centro storico and seat of the Cesi duchy.
AMERINO WATERS
Mineral springs known since the second century BC, bottled commercially under the Amerino brand and shared in spirit with neighboring San Gemini.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: Santa Cecilia, 22 November
Why come
Acquasparta sits on a hill above the Naia valley, fifty kilometers south of Perugia and thirteen north of the UNESCO town of Spoleto. The Roman censor Flaminio met the Furapane and Amerino springs here in the second century BC, and the mineral waters have been bottled commercially in modern times. The town's defining building is Palazzo Cesi, commissioned by Cardinal Federico Cesi in 1561 and completed in 1579 to the design of the Milanese architect Giovan Domenico Bianchi.
In 1588 Pope Sixtus V raised the territory to a duchy under the Cesi family. Prince Federico Cesi, the cardinal's descendant, founded the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome in 1603, the first scientific academy in Europe, and brought it to Acquasparta in the early seventeenth century to convene around his cabinet of natural specimens. Galileo Galilei stayed at Palazzo Cesi in 1624 to demonstrate his microscope. The palace, the Naia valley setting and the medieval upper town earned Acquasparta the Borghi più belli designation.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Acquasparta’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Palazzo Cesi
Late-Renaissance palace commissioned in 1561, completed 1579, where Federico Cesi convened the Accademia dei Lincei and Galileo demonstrated his microscope in 1624.
Centro storico
Medieval upper town walled around Palazzo Cesi, with narrow stepped lanes climbing toward Piazza Federico Cesi.
Chiesa di Santa Cecilia
Main parish church near Palazzo Cesi, with a Renaissance interior and altarpieces from the Umbrian school.
Sorgenti Amerino e Furapane
Mineral springs at the edge of town known to the Romans, bottled commercially under the Amerino brand.
Carsulae (nearby)
Roman archaeological park six kilometers south, shared as a draw with San Gemini, with Via Flaminia paving and an honorary arch.
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Living here
- Population 4,407
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Rome, 2 h 4 min drive
- Regional capital Perugia, 48 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 350 m
- Population: 4,407
- Surface area: 81.61 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Acquasparta
Massa Martana
Province: Perugia
Umbria's Via Flaminia BPB — a 3,613-resident borgo on the original Roman consular road between Rome and Rimini, with the intact 9th-c Abbazia dei Santi Fidenzio e Terenzio above town, a network of Roman-era catacombe Cristiane (Catacombe di Villa San Faustino, the only ones in Umbria), and the Borghi più belli inscription restored after the 1997 Marche-Umbria earthquake.
San Gemini
Province: Terni
A medieval borgo at 337 meters above the Via Flaminia, four kilometers below the ruins of Roman Carsulae.
Todi
Province: Perugia
A walled hill town at 398 meters on the Tiber, with Etruscan, Roman, and medieval rings stacked up Colle Nidoli.
Narni
Province: Terni
Italy's geographical centre and the etymological 'Narnia' — a 17,900-resident hilltop town on a travertine outcrop above the Nera valley, with the Rocca Albornoz papal fortress, a 30m Roman arch of the Ponte d'Augusto, a hidden underground complex containing a 13th-c Inquisition cell with original prisoner graffiti, and the documented Latin name (Narnia) that C.S. Lewis lifted for his fictional kingdom.
Spoleto
Province: Perugia
Lombard ducal capital at 396 meters under the Rocca Albornoziana, where a 230-meter aqueduct bridge crosses to Monteluco and Menotti founded the Festival in 1958.
🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
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Allerona
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Arrone
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Medieval castle village on the left bank of the Nera at 243 meters, upstream from the largest man-made waterfall in the world.
Bettona
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A hill town at 353 meters between the Topino and Chiascio rivers, the only Etruscan settlement ever built east of the Tiber.
Bevagna
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Roman Mevania on the Umbrian plain at 225 meters, four medieval quarters that compete every June in a reconstructed market of the 13th century.
Castiglione del Lago
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Trasimeno's western promontory, once the lake's fourth island, fortified by Federico II in 1247 and frescoed by Pomarancio for the Corgna marquises.