What is Spello known for?

About two kilometers of flower-petal carpets across the streets each Corpus Domini, walked over by the procession before being swept away. Cappella Baglioni inside Santa Maria Maggiore, frescoed 1500-1501, plus the 1508 Madonna and Child panel in the same church. Augustan colony named Splendidissima Colonia Julia, with Roman walls, Porta Venere, the amphitheater and the Villa dei Mosaici.

Spello is a comune in the province of Perugia, Umbria region of Italy, about 32 kilometers from Perugia.

Umbria · Perugia

Spello

Augustan Hispellumon Monte Subasio, where streets carry flower petals each Corpus Domini and Pinturicchio frescoed the Baglioni Chapel in 1501.

32 km / 20 mi

Nearest hub (Perugia)

8,264

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Spello sitson the lower southern flank of Monte Subasio, the centro storico still inside the Roman walls. The town was Hispellum under the Umbrians, then named Splendidissima Colonia Julia by Augustus, who gave it the elaborate gates and stretch of walls still standing. Porta Venere with the Towers of Propertius is one of the best preserved Roman gates in Italy. Pinturicchio left his Baglioni Chapel inside Santa Maria Maggiore, commissioned by Troilo Baglioni in 1500 and completed the following year, with the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Christ Among the Doctors arranged against the four sibyls of the vault. The church also holds a 1508 panel by the same painter, the Madonna and Child Among Saints. The Infiorata fills the Corpus Domini Sunday each June with about two kilometers of flower-petal carpets across the streets, sixty-some elaborate floral pictures laid down between Saturday night and the following morning, walked over by the procession before the petals are swept away.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Spello fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

7 photos · scroll →

Known for

Cappella Baglioni
Inside Santa Maria Maggiore, fully frescoed by Pinturicchio between 1500 and 1501 for Troilo Baglioni, the Cappella Bella with four sibyls on the vault.
Santa Maria Maggiore
Twelfth-century church on Piazza Matteotti, holding the Baglioni Chapel and a 1508 Pinturicchio panel of the Madonna and Child.
Porta Venere e Torri di Properzio
Augustan gate of the first century BC flanked by two dodecagonal towers, one of the best preserved Roman gates in Italy.
Infiorata di Spello
Floral petal carpets across two kilometers of streets each Corpus Domini, more than sixty pictures laid Saturday night and walked over Sunday morning.
Villa dei Mosaici
First-century AD Roman villa discovered in 2005, ten polychrome mosaic floors preserved in situ under a covered walkway.
Sant'Andrea
Romanesque church holding a Pinturicchio panel of 1508, the Madonna and Child with Saints commissioned by Gentile Baglioni.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the months for Spello. The slopes of Monte Subasio above town carry wildflowers, Cammino di San Francesco walkers pass through, and the Infiorata weekend on Corpus Domini in late May or June is the most concentrated day on the calendar. July and August touch the mid-thirties on the valley floor; the centro storico at 280 meters stays a few degrees cooler in the upper streets, but most visitors come early or wait until after seven. November is olive harvest. December through March is quiet, with shorter hours at the museums; the streets without the petals show their Roman stones clearly, and the Pinturicchio chapel can be visited without a queue.