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.

When is the best time to visit Spello?

Apr–Oct. 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.

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

How do I get to Spello?

From Perugia, Spello is roughly 32 km by road.

Umbria · Perugia

Spello

Augustan Hispellum sits on Monte Subasio, its Roman gates still standing over streets that Pinturicchio once painted a chapel for.

Known for

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

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Felice di Massa Martana, 18 May

Why come

The centro storico climbs the lower southern flank of Monte Subasio, still contained within the circuit of walls raised when the town was renamed Splendidissima Colonia Julia by Augustus. Before that it was Hispellum under the Umbrians. The Roman gates and stretches of wall from the Augustan period were not rebuilt over, so the line of the ancient town is still readable in the streets that climb from them today.

The same streets carry the Infiorata each June and the fresco Pinturicchio completed for the chapel he painted in Santa Maria Maggiore, two things separated by roughly fifteen centuries but occupying the same short stretch of the old town: the chapel's Annunciation, Nativity and Christ Among the Doctors sit near the piazza the petal pictures are laid across. A Roman villa with ten mosaic floors, found only in 2005 and left in place under cover, adds a third layer beneath the town that is still being uncovered rather than one that was always on view. The town's Roman skeleton, its painted chapel, and a floor uncovered within living memory all sit within the same small radius, which is unusual: most places show one era at a time, Spello keeps three in view at once.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Spello’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.

What to see

Cappella Baglioni
The Cappella Bella, commissioned by Troilo Baglioni, with four sibyls ranged across the vault above the painted scenes below.
Santa Maria Maggiore
Twelfth-century church on Piazza Matteotti, its interior built around the fresco cycle and the later panel it houses.
Porta Venere e Torri di Properzio
First-century BC gate flanked by two dodecagonal towers, still standing at close to full height with the stonework legible course by course.
Infiorata di Spello
More than sixty petal pictures laid out Saturday night, the compositions intact for only hours before the Sunday procession passes over them.
Villa dei Mosaici
Roman villa found in 2005, its ten polychrome mosaic floors left in place under a covered walkway rather than moved to a museum.
Sant'Andrea
Romanesque church commissioned by Gentile Baglioni, its Madonna and Child with Saints panel dated 1508.

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

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Borgo diVino tourpatron saint's feast
usually held in October. TrovaSagre

Living here

Population 8,264
Commuter belti
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Ancona / Pescara, 1 h 43 min drive
Regional capital Perugia, 31 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 280 m
Population: 8,264
Surface area: 61.65 km²

On the map

Google Maps Apple Maps Directions from Perugia

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