Verdant Spello

This was once the main town gate in Roman times for Spello.
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Spello

A number of people had said to us we must go to Spello So, early on we decided to make the half hour drive to this adjacent hill town. The first thing that greeted us was this old Roman gate. It is quite majestic and very ancient looking. A number of these towns were on the trade route from the north to Rome and flourished in Roman times. The number of churches and Roman temples that they have is an indication of when the church took over control of the region after the fall of Rome. The church was the government and controlled everything.

Lovely lanes such as this abound in Spello.
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The second thing to strike us about Spello, was the beautiful gardens everywhere. We discovered as we explored the town that they specialize in gardens and flowers. It was beautiful as you look down narrow lanes there are beautiful gardens everywhere. In addition, we had just missed a flower festival in the village, where there are pictures done in lovely floral displays. Kathy has been capturing views (vicolai) of these narrow lanes that reveal interesting views and this town was full of them. There were too many to capture. It was a very picturesque town with lovely views internally and also of the valley below.

Lovely view over the Umbrian valley below.
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As with all these towns, there is a special church or cathedral to view. The one we visited at Spello was interesting. The artwork inside was magnificent. In one of the side chapels I snapped this shot of the ceiling design specially for Jordan. You were not meant to take pictures inside, but I could not resist. The Illuminati were here!!

We could also make out the town of Montefalco in the distance. From this photo you can tell why it is called "The Balcony of Umbria" from this shot, taken on maximum zoom from the top of Spello. The blue haze is often around, particularly in the afternoon.

View from the top of the town.
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We also enjoyed simply exploring this town with no guide book, but just walking around and seeing what was around each corner. We may have missed some particular site, but it was fun to just discover the town "free roaming".

We returned to Montefalco very happy with a day of exploring this pretty hill town in Umbria. We understood why everyone said you had to go there. It is not to be missed.