Between Nature And Art

Spoleto enjoys an ancient tie to the surrounding nature: a bond that becomes tangible the moment you come across the imposing tower bridge placed between the woods of Monteluco and the hill embracing the grand papal stronghold. This is the most beautiful entrance to the city, leading visitors from the tall arches from where all the Tessino valley can be seen, to the dense web of medieval houses. Following a street squeezed between noble and austere palaces, one finds himself unexpectedly in the piazza where the Duomo is situated.
Travellers can then revel in the pleasure of reliving a history thousands of years old, of reading the Roman past in the remains of the theatre, in the stones surfacing from the medieval layer of the street, until they stumble again upon the more modern Spoleto and its Festival of the Two Worlds. Even though the first settlements in Spoleto go back as far as the Iron Age, the Umbrians were the first to settle here before the Romans built their perimeter wall 2km long around the site. The contact with Etruscans came afterwards, nonetheless, it has always been closely linked to the history of Rome. In 241 B.C. it was allied with Rome against the Carthaginians, not allowing Hannibal to pass through to Rome. During the Mario-Silla civil war, Spoleto was sacked (it seems the nearby town of Sellano got its name from the Sillani exiled from Rome who took refuge there). The earthquake in 63 A.D. caused widespread damage but reconstruction began immediately afterwards. The city in fact had become a place frequented by senators, emperors, writers (the theatre Caio Melisso was called after a local who was the librarian of Augustus) and in imperial times hosted politicians, men of religion and artists.
The Goth king Theodoric who was also the king of Italy drained the marshy areas around the city and had many buildings constructed.
General Belisario also stayed here during the Greco-Goth war in 536. Totila occupied it in 545 but soon afterwards General Narsete reconquered it and rebuilt the city. After the Goths, the Lombards came and set up a dukedom in 570 under their leader Faraoldo I. Then came Autari who extended the dukedom to the confines with the Church, the Byzantines, and the dukedom of Benevento. After the Lombards, the Franks came but their reign was short-lived, so the dukes returned. The Dukes were descendants from the Lombards but only in name; Guido III and the son Lamberto expanded and consolidated the power of the dukedom in the early 900's through exercising a policy of good relations in its dealings with the Church.
In 1155 they tried to prevent Federico Barbarossa from being crowned in Rome, and Spoleto was almost completely destroyed, as punishment Pope Innocent III absorbed it into Church territories in 1198. During the long opposition between Guelphs and Ghibellines, while the Pope was in Avignon, Perugia took advantage and seized control only for Cardinal Albornoz to liberate the city and regain return it to the Church. Spoleto was an important pontifical throne, except for brief periods from Braccio Fortebraccio etc. In 1499 it was entrusted to Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alessandro VI and sister of the duke Caesar, known as Valentino. As it has always been such an illustrious centre for government, so also for the arts and has been the home of such greats as Pinturicchio, Filippo Lippi and Giovanni Spagna. In 1860 Spoleto was annexed to Italy, after being liberated from the papal government. Looking at the city today in its grey massive stone, completely fortified and seemingly impenetrable, it is surprisingly harmonious to wander around the streets touched so obviously by its history. Notwithstanding the crises in the subsequent centuries, Spoleto remained a political and cultural centre. Napoleon declared it the capital of the Department of Trasimeno in 1809. After the Congress of Vienna, the climate of restoration returned the papal delegation to the city which governed it until 1860.

Duomo

The severe lines of the Romanesque style are made brilliant by the numerous rose windows and luminous mosaics (early 1200's), while the terraced portico creates the effect of intermittent support. Inside there are three naves and the floor is still the original one. You can also see a bronze bust of Pope Urban VIII by Bernini, there are some lovely frescoes in the bishop Eroli's chapel by Pinturicchio, as well as a commemorative monument by San Filippo Lippi and some other noteworthy frescoes.

The fortress was built mid 1300 at the wish of cardinal Albornoz, following the plans of Gattapone, to exercise military control and make the power of the church tangible. In year 1300 the ancient Roman aqueduct was transformed into a very daring bridge. Access can be gained through two enormous pillars.

Was an ancient Roman aqueduct, transformed into a bridge in the 1300's. You can access it from two of the enormous pillars.