Spello is an ancient town in Italy's Umbria region, filled with fascinating sites that we shall explore as we wander the little lanes of this charming place, often called one of Italy's most beautiful villages, up on a hill with an old Roman and medieval wall around it, and narrow peaceful pedestrian lanes that are ideal for wandering. Plus we will see, one of Italy's important art masterpieces painted on the wall of the church by Pinturicchio, and some splendid old historic buildings such as the Town Hall.
See map of walking route in google maps:
www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edi...
0:01 intro
0:35 map of walking route
1:51 street market
2:40 Roman gate
3:22 Borgo
4:28 via Cavour
5:38 Roman forum
6:35 via Garibaldi
7:30 Arch of Augustus
8:29 upper streets
12:36 via Giulia
14:47 wine bars
16:11 Pinturicchio
18:20 Venus Gate
19:30 Piazza della Republica
21:10 Loggiato Palazzo
21:52 final walk
24:03 to train
From above, you'll see how tightly clustered these old buildings are, forming a dense community ideal for exploring on foot. There is one main street that goes through the middle of town, and many more little lanes branching off on both sides. We will take you to some of the best places, as we will show you walking from one end of town to the other.
The gate leads right into Spello's main street, which changes names several times. Here it's called via Consolare.
You'll notice some intriguing little side lanes leading off, with potted plants and flowers. It's actually one of the prettiest parts of town called via Borgo San Sisto, so by all means dive in, take a little detour enjoying short meandering wander through these quaint little lanes. The winding route takes you back to the main street, and then you can reenter the next lane of this labyrinth. It provides a nice preview of many similar sites coming up.
The town has lots of cats. It's a sure sign this is a calm, peaceful town, and these cats know how to get around. They've got their little nooks and crannies and hiding spots.
Continuing along, we get to an intersection of several streets. Our main street is now called via Cavour and brings us closer to the center of town. Running alongside it we've got Piazza Matteotti, with some outdoor restaurants.
Also, here is the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which contains the most important attraction of Spello, a series of frescoes by Pinturicchio. We will bring you inside for a closer look later in the program. For now we continue our walking exploration.
Entering through this archway leads us to a scenic vista on the other side of the parking lot.
Just down below, we can see the remains of the ancient Roman forum, that was the center of town, which would have been quite extensive stretching for several hundred meters with many buildings. This is all that's left now.
We have arrived at Piazza della Republica, the center of Spello. It is a relatively modest space because this is a small town. There's a fountain, there's room for cats to roam, there are benches to sit on. It's the central gathering place for locals as well as visitors, with some shops and restaurants around it. There are various attractive pedestrian lanes leading out from the piazza, and one very impressive major building, the Town Hall called Palazzo Comunale, with a museum inside that will show you later, and we'll come back to the piazza after exploring more of the wonderful streets of town.
Our main road has changed names again to via Garibaldi, named after that great hero, the unifier of the country. Every respectable town has a main Piazza or street named after Garibaldi, showing the importance of this stretch of the road.
They do love their cats here, and will see more of them as we wander these little lanes.
You'll find just a few shops and galleries scattered through town.
At the end of the a Garibaldi it widens to form what's called Lago Mazzini, with a few shops and there's some gelato here - a perfect spot for a break.
Now we face a three-way intersection. You might go straight through that arch to via Torre Belvedere. We will show you that neighborhood coming up in a bit, but we're going to turn right and continue along the main street, which is now called via Giulia.
There's even a bus stop. They offer a free shuttle bus that runs along this main lane of the old town, then extends out into the newer part of town.
Now we are finally going to depart from the main street and venture into the little side alleys, going up the via Arco Di Augusto. It looks quite intriguing up there and the way is nicely paved with this brick and stone path that acts kind of like a ramp.
As we reach the end of our journey you can look back and see that this was a very rewarding place to visit. Spello is not one of the most famous cities of Italy, but it certainly is one of the prettiest of the small hill towns.
Spello is a place that you'll always want to see again.