Spello

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.

From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 43 min by car.

Rimini (RMI) is about 2 h 50 min away.

By car from the center of Perugia 31 min, Siena 1 h 53 min or Ancona 1 h 55 min.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Florence or Rome?

Coming by train into Perugia? Spello is about 30 min away by road.

Every town within reach of Ancona airport.

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