What is Allerona known for?

Built 1275 as Orvieto's bulwark toward Chiusi, destroyed by Charles V at the end of the fifteenth century. Two Roman milestones and paved sections of the Cassia and Traiana Nova survive in the commune's fields. Stone houses without plaster, two medieval gates, an urban grid that has held its shape since 1275.

When is the best time to visit Allerona?

Apr–Oct. April through June brings the Paglia valley green and evenings cool enough to walk the ridge after dinner. September and October are the gold months. July and August reach into the mid-thirties in the lower valleys; the ridge at 472 meters stays a few degrees cooler, but the unplastered stone holds heat into the night and the centro storico empties between two and six. November through March is quiet. Some trattorie close. Winter fog rises off the Paglia and wraps the borgo; from Porta della Luna at first light, only the bell tower of Santa Maria Assunta breaks the surface.

Allerona is a comune in the province of Terni, Umbria region of Italy, about 91 kilometers from Terni.

How do I get to Allerona?

From Terni, Allerona is roughly 91 km by road.

Umbria · Terni

Allerona

A stone borgo between the Paglia valley and the Valdichiana, an Orvieto outpost whose Monaldeschi castle fell to Charles V.

Known for

MONALDESCHI CASTLE
Built 1275 as Orvieto's bulwark toward Chiusi, destroyed by Charles V at the end of the fifteenth century.
VIA CASSIA
Two Roman milestones and paved sections of the Cassia and Traiana Nova survive in the commune's fields.
BORGO INTATTO
Stone houses without plaster, two medieval gates, an urban grid that has held its shape since 1275.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Ansano di Siena, 1 December

Why come

Allerona sits on a ridge between the Paglia valley and the Valdichiana, fifty kilometers southwest of Perugia and twenty north of Orvieto. The site was a Roman waystation called vicus Lerona, crossed by the Via Cassia and the Via Traiana Nova between Rome and Chiusi. Paved sections and two milestones still surface in the surrounding fields.

The medieval castle, built in 1275 by the Monaldeschi and Filippeschi families as Orvieto's northern bulwark, was destroyed at the end of the fifteenth century by Charles V and rebuilt afterward. In 1595 the community freed itself from Orvieto and the Monaldeschi rule and wrote its own statutes. The centro storico keeps its original urban fabric: stone houses without plaster, two surviving gates called Porta del Sole and Porta della Luna, and a small grid of lanes that has not changed shape in five hundred years.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Allerona’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

Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta
Twelfth-century Romanesque church on the central square, renovated in neo-Gothic style 1892-1897 with terracotta pulpit and Viligiardi fresco cycle.
Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo
Twelfth-century church, the second pole of the medieval religious layout alongside Santa Maria Assunta.
Borgo medievale
Unplastered stone houses, two surviving gates Porta del Sole and Porta della Luna, fragments of the 1275 Monaldeschi walls.
Chiesa della Madonna dell'Acqua
Small octagonal rural church from the early 1700s, built beside a spring once held to be miraculous.
Sito archeologico di Sant'Ansano
Remains of two stone and brick funerary monuments from the second century AD, on the line of the old Roman road.

The slow-trip planner

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Living here

Population 1,688
Commuter belti
Pharmacy: none mapped
High school within a 30-minute drive
Nearest airport Rome, 2 h 21 min drive
Regional capital Perugia, 1 h 21 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

The numbers

Elevation: 472 m
Population: 1,688
Surface area: 82.61 km²

On the map

Google Maps Apple Maps Directions from Terni

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.

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