Not too far from Orvieto is my next medieval town, Spoleto. Spoleto was also an important Roman town, but it’s real claim to fame is as the Lombard capital from the 6th century on. It has a lot of narrow medieval streets and it’s also very hilly. Walking around Spoleto involves plenty of up and downhill hiking. The restaurant in the pic below left is where I ate both nights here, Taverna dello Spagna. They had the best pasta noodles I’ve had so far on this trip, oh and truffles are a really big deal in this part of the country apparently. Spaghetti with truffle sauce! Yum!

After all that talk about medieval times and being the Lombard capital, Spoleto’s most important sites are actually Roman. First, a remarkably well preserved Roman villa. Casa Roma gave a really great peak into a typical 1st century BC Roman household and the mosaic floors were beautiful.

The Roman Theatre, unfortunately, is almost completely enclosed in the Archaeology Museum, which is only open for like three hours every day. I wasn’t able to time it well enough to get in, but you can see it from this one and only vantage point through a gate. The towns cats seem to love it! There’s two in this picture, one far left and one down on the stage, but I saw at least a half dozen or so hanging out.

What self respecting medieval town would be complete without a castle at the tip top? Rocca Albornoziana has a few remaining frescoes and some cool artifacts on display, but my favorite part was the courtyard, and of course the views.

Spoleto’s Duomo may not be as ornate as Orvieto’s, but it just may win the prize for presentation. Because of all the narrow streets and hills, you don’t see those sweeping stairs until you’re on them. I actually said, “Whoa!” out loud when I got there the first time.

The Apse inside was painted by famous Italian painter Filippo Lippi and there’s another section with Frescoes which looks like it’s from the original interior, but I’m not sure what the story is as there was no signage.

The most striking thing about the exterior of this 11th century church is that it was built of stone and marble from local Roman sites, especially the tower.

The uphill walk from my apartment to the main square takes me up some really pretty streets, including this beautiful staircase at Piazza Pianciani. There’s something beautiful around every turn in these medieval towns.

Right after walking up the stairs you walk under this Roman arch dedicated to princes Druso and Germanico, sons of emperor Tiberius. The arch was once the entrance to the Roman forum and the inscription still visible on the front informs us that it was built in 23 AD. You also have to watch for cars around here. The locals drive fast and I’ve had to hug more than a few of these walls.

In the main square, Piazza del Mercato, is this really great fountain. They simply call it Fontana con l’Orologio, the Fountain with the Clock. I don’t know if it was lack of creativity or an attempt at simplicity, but I think they should call it Fontana con l’Orologio e Yoda. Haha, you’ll get it in a minute.

The last of Spoleto’s big Roman sites is actually a combo Roman/medieval site. The Ponte delle Torri is a 14th century medieval bridge that was built on a Roman aqueduct. Awesome! It was badly damaged in an earthquake in 2016 so you can’t walk across it anymore, but they are doing some heavy duty restoration on it. Maybe someday.

What do you do if the year is 27 BC, you’re a Roman, and you need to drain many many hectares of giant swampy marshy mess. You build a canal to channel the water over a set of cliffs, that’s what. Marmore Waterfall is not only the oldest man-made waterfall in the world, it’s also the tallest man-made waterfall in the world. And it’s 2050 years old! Wow! I started at the top of this three tier waterfall and worked my way down every viewpoint to the bottom.

It was just a short train ride from Spoleto, through Terni to get there. The funny part about this incredible feat of human engineering is that they flooded Terni as a result and started hundreds of years of fighting between highlanders and lowlanders over water rights, but whatever, look how pretty!

These days most of the water gets rerouted to a power plant for electricity. They release the water over the falls in what must be a spectacular show, according to a very strict schedule. Unfortunately, they don’t do it very much in February and not on the day I visited, but even without water rushing down in a massive torrent it was a really impressive place. Hiking around the hills, down then back up the other side, was really fun. The weather forecast said it was supposed to rain today, but I had pleasant blue skies all day.

Like I said in the last post, this was just a quick stop. I’ve really enjoyed exploring these small medieval towns. Especially since I’ve had them largely to myself. Aside from the big sites in Rome like the Colosseum and the Vatican, I’ve been on my own, which is why I came at this time of year in the first place. I can’t imagine visiting in the summer when there are millions of people here. Anyway, now it’s time for a not so quick stop in another one of Italy’s large and famous cities for about a week. Until then…