What is Trevi known for?

Over 200,000 trees blanket the slopes below the walls; Trevi is one of the Italian Città dell'Olio benchmark towns for extra virgin production. 1485 apparition of a weeping Madonna led to the sanctuary built in 1487, with a Perugino fresco in the chapel of adoration. Roman walls of the 1st century BC still encircle the centro storico, on the consular road from Rome to the Adriatic coast.

Trevi is a comune in the province of Perugia, Umbria region of Italy, about 50 kilometers from Perugia.

Umbria · Perugia

Trevi

A walled townabove the Spoleto valley, ringed by 200,000 olive trees that make it the Umbrian capital of olive oil.

50 km / 31 mi

Nearest hub (Perugia)

8,063

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Trevi sitson a conical hill above the Spoleto valley, the centro storico still inside the Roman walls of the 1st century BC. The town stood on the Via Flaminia, the consular road from Rome to the Adriatic, and grew into a Guelph commune by the 12th century. Olive oil is what people come for. Over 200,000 trees blanket the slopes below the walls on near-ideal calcareous, well-drained soils, and the Olivo di Sant'Emiliano near the abbey of the same name is about 1,700 years old, identified with the tree the bishop of Trevi was tied to in 304 before his martyrdom. The Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime, built in 1487 to mark a miracle, holds a fresco by Pietro Perugino. The centro storico runs in concentric rings up the hill, each ring older than the last, with the Palazzo Comunale and the Pinacoteca holding works by Lo Spagna at the top.

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Gallery

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Known for

Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime
Built in 1487 after a Marian apparition wept tears of blood in 1485, with a fresco by Perugino in the Cappella dell'Adorazione.
Chiesa di Sant'Emiliano
Romanesque parish church at the top of the centro storico, dedicated to the bishop martyred in 304, the patron saint of the town.
Olivo di Sant'Emiliano
About 1,700-year-old olive tree near the eponymous church, nine meters tall, traditionally the tree to which the bishop was tied before martyrdom.
Pinacoteca Comunale e Museo di San Francesco
Civic museum in the former convent of San Francesco, holding works by Lo Spagna, Pinturicchio's circle, and a section on the local olive oil tradition.
Chiesa di San Pietro a Pettine
Thirteenth-century rural church 500 meters north of town, built of dressed stone mixed with material from ancient Roman monuments.
Bovara
Frazione below Trevi on the old Via Flaminia, home to the abbey of San Pietro and the millennial olive tree of Sant'Emiliano.

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 Trevi. The olive groves are in leaf or in harvest, the hill is green or silver-gold depending on the half, and the valley below holds the morning light. The Festa di Sant'Emiliano runs the last week of January with the Palio dei Terzieri, when the three quarters of the town compete. July and August touch the mid-thirties in the Spoleto valley below; the centro storico at 412 meters stays a few degrees cooler. November is the harvest month for olives; the frantoi run day and night and the Frantoi Aperti weekends draw producers from across Umbria. December through March is quiet, with frantoi switched off and most restaurants on reduced hours.