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SPOLETO
63km
(39 miles) SE of Perugia; 212km
(131 miles) SE of Florence; 126km
(78 miles) N of Rome.
Spoleto was originally a Bronze Age Umbri encampment. It was
later taken over by the Romans and
as a Roman town it repulsed the
fierce invader Hannibal in the 3rd
century B.C. Because it was
strategically situated on the
ancient Via Flaminia from Rome to
the late imperial capital of
Ravenna, Spoleto became the
stronghold of many powers during
the Dark Ages. The Lombards made
it the capital of their empire in
the 8th century A.D., and the duke
they installed here governed all
Umbria and much of the rest of
central Italy. At the turn of the
12th century, Spoleto fell into
papal hands. Soon after this it
slowly declined.
Spoleto is now a sleepy medieval town built on different
levels. The terraces it is built
on start from the valley floor and
go up a high hill, with a backdrop
of the deep-green forested slopes
of a sacred mountain. Its main
tourist attractions are the Roman
ruins and a festival held at the
end of every June. This festival
started in 1958 and was created by
the Italian-American composer Gian
Carlo Menotti, the Spoleto
Festival, which was formerly known
as the Festival dei Due Mondi or
the Festival of Two Worlds, is a
Godsend to the people of Spoleto.
It brings in the tourists who come
to enjoy the music, dance, and
theater performed by premier
Italian and international artists.
Alberto
Sotio, probably the first ever
Umbrian painter, and Lo Spagna, a
student of Perugino were both born
in Spoletto in the twelvth
century. But the city's main
treasures, that are not connected
with music, are Roman and
medieval. The Duomo, containing
Filippo Lippi's last fresco cycle,
and the graceful Ponte delle Torri
really stand out as tourist
attractions, and the town itself
offers the tourist a wholesome
diversion
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