Last Minute Itinerari Spoleto

The town Spoleto

The Duomo of Santa Maria Assunta   
The church of the Duomo of Spoleto is probably one of the most known in Umbria, it has a personal character, beginning from the beautiful façade, refined and elegant, with rose windows decorated by the Byzantine mosaic, all these leaned above an arcade in a delicate contrast with the tower tat its side, which is squared, stately and mighty.  

The construction of the building goes up back the XII century, risen above a precedent cathedral destroyed in 1155 from Federico Barbarossa. The inside has three aisles and its walls are frescoed by authentic masterpieces. Admirable that on placed for decorating of the basin apse of Bishop Costantino Eroli's Chapel, the "Eternal Father Benedicente" which is a work of the Pinturicchio dated 1497. Of the same year and in the same Chapel, there's another work of Bernardino di Betto, the "Madonna with Child and the S. Giovanni Battista and Leonardo". Other works of notable artistic interest are the frescos of Filippo Lippi, a cycle of works devoted to the Virgin and realised between 1467 and 1469, his death's year happened in Spoleto. Among these we remember the "Nativity of Christ", the "Crowning of the Virgin " and the "Annunciation."

The Rocca Albornoziana   
The Fortress wanted by the Cardinal Albornoz is certainly the element that mostly engraves in to draw the profile of the panorama of Spoleto. Its position of absolute prominence and dominion on the whole city, set it as a constant point of ideal and real reference, typical of a building that during the centuries has never stopped practising its charm. Its construction begins in 1359, and from 1362 will be Matteo Gattaponi da Gubbio to direct the factory, that will finish shortly after the 1370. It's a solid and imposing castle strengthened by a high surrounding boundaries with six stately towers. It was theatre of the most important events of the city, centre of bishops and of the pope Bonifacio IX, as well as of the nineteen year-old governor Lucrezia Borgia, up to definitely turn into a jail during the XIX century.

The Bridge of the Towers
Other work that symbolically represents the city of Spoleto is the suggestive Bridge of the Towers, probably anterior to the Rocca, perhaps realised during the Two hundred on the rests of an ancient Roman aqueduct. It's a grandiose work, of huge dimensions, whose measures serve indeed to understand better its beauty: it's long 235 meters, high around 90, and its ten ogival arcades unite the two banks of the valley from which the Rocca Albornozianas are faced, placed on top of the Hill Sant'Elia and the San Pietro Church, one of the most ancient of Spoleto, to the slopes of the Monteluco.

Basilica of San Salvatore   
The Basilica of San Salvatore is a splendid palaeo-Christian jewel, the most ancient of Spoleto and certainly one of the most ancient of Umbria. It's dated back to the IV-V century and is one of the most precious testimony of the origins of Christianity. In the VIII century has suffered some remaking due to a collapse, probably subsequently to a fire, but the façade has nearly maintained unchanged the beauty of its lines and its ornaments. The inside is decorated by columns perhaps drawn by a Roman temple, while the frescos set on the right aisle, depicts the "Crucifixion" and are of the XIV century.

Church of Sant'Eufemia   
It's a marvellous example of building in Romanesque style with direct Lombard influences, the Church of Sant'Eufemia, built during the XII century, has a simple façade, while the inside is separated in three aisles of vertical development. Besides the presence of the women's gallery, unique case in Umbria, the beautiful back prospectus puts in evidence the three apses.