What is Spoleto known for?

Founded 1958 by Gian Carlo Menotti, the annual June-July festival of music, opera, theater and dance runs across the Roman theater, the Rocca, and the Duomo. 230 meters long, 80 meters high, the medieval aqueduct that crosses the Tessino gorge from the Rocca to Monteluco. Lombard duchy founded in 576, capital of central Italy for more than five centuries, the political horizon that shaped Umbria.

Spoleto is a comune in the province of Perugia, Umbria region of Italy, about 30 kilometers from Terni.

Umbria · Perugia

Spoleto

Lombard ducal capitalunder the Rocca Albornoziana, where a 230-meter aqueduct bridge crosses to Monteluco and Menotti founded the Festival in 1958.

30 km / 19 mi

Nearest hub (Terni)

36,271

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Spoleto sitsat the southern edge of the Valle Umbra, the Apennines rising behind it toward Monteluco. The town was Roman Spoletium from 241 BC, then capital of one of the two great Lombard duchies of Italy from 576, controlling Umbria, Sabina, Picenum and the Pescara valley for more than five centuries. The Rocca Albornoziana on the Colle Sant'Elia was built between 1363 and 1367 by Matteo Gattapone for Cardinal Albornoz, both a papal fortress and a residence, now the Museo Nazionale del Ducato. From the Rocca the Ponte delle Torri, 230 meters long and 80 meters high, crosses the Tessino gorge to Monteluco, an aqueduct of the 13th century built over Roman foundations. The Duomo holds a Byzantine mosaic of 1207 across its façade and Filippo Lippi's last fresco cycle in the apse. Gian Carlo Menotti founded the Festival dei Due Mondi in 1958; the Roman theater, the Rocca courtyard and Piazza del Duomo still carry the program each year from late June into mid-July.

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Gallery

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Known for

Rocca Albornoziana
Papal fortress built 1363-1367 by Matteo Gattapone for Cardinal Albornoz, now the Museo Nazionale del Ducato di Spoleto.
Ponte delle Torri
Aqueduct bridge 230 meters long and 80 meters high, crossing the Tessino gorge to Monteluco, 13th-14th century on Roman foundations.
Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta
Twelfth-century Romanesque cathedral with Byzantine mosaic of 1207 on the façade, Renaissance portico, and Filippo Lippi frescoes in the apse.
Teatro Romano
First-century BC Roman theater in the lower town, restored and in use as the main outdoor venue of the Festival dei Due Mondi.
Basilica di San Salvatore
Fourth- or fifth-century early Christian basilica on the slope of Monteluco, part of the UNESCO Lombards in Italy serial site.
Monteluco
Sacred wood at 800 meters above Spoleto, on the far side of the Ponte delle Torri, with the Franciscan Convento di Monteluco of 1218.

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 Spoleto. The town opens its gardens, the Rocca courtyard fills with sun, and the long walks along the Giro dei Condotti above the Ponte delle Torri become bearable again. The Festival dei Due Mondi runs from late June into mid-July, when Spoleto doubles in population and the Roman theater carries opera into the small hours. The same weeks push the lower town into the mid-thirties; the upper streets around the Duomo stay cooler. November is the season for black truffle and the new olive oil. December through March is quiet, with reduced hours at the museums, but the basilicas and the Lippi frescoes can be visited without a queue.