Spoleto | Medieval Town, Roman Ruins & Festivals | Britannica (original) (raw)

Spoleto, town and archiepiscopal see, Umbria regione, central Italy; it lies on a detached spur at the southern extremity of the central Umbrian plain, commanding the passes southward and eastward toward Terni and Norcia, north of Rome.

The site of an Umbrian township from at least the 7th to the 6th century bc, Spoleto became a Roman colony in 241 bc. It successfully repulsed an attack by the Carthaginian general Hannibal in 217 bc and later became important because of its strategic location on the Roman artery Via Flaminia. An episcopal see by the 4th century, Spoleto played an important role in the Gothic wars. After the foundation of the Lombard duchy of Spoleto about 570, it became one of the most important towns of Italy until the late 8th century, when it lost a great deal of its autonomy. Under Gregory IX (pope, 1227–41) Spoleto passed to the papacy. In the period of the Avignon popes, the town was a prey to the struggles between Guelf and Ghibelline families until 1354, when papal authority was reestablished. Spoleto became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860.

Spoleto has ruins of pre-Roman and Roman walls, as well as a Roman theatre, an amphitheatre, a bridge, and an arch of Drusus (ad 23) with a ruined temple beside it. The medieval town clusters picturesquely on the hillside and is dominated both by the massive Rocca (fortress), built in 1355–64 on the site of the ancient citadel, and by the cathedral, consecrated in 1198 and extensively remodeled in 1634–44. The cathedral, with eight rose windows and a central mosaic by Solsternus (1207), contains a magnificent fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin by Fra Filippo Lippi and pupils, as well as Lippi’s tomb. Other notable churches include Santa Eufemia (10th century), San Pietro (13th century), San Gregorio Maggiore (12th century), and San Salvatore, an elaborately decorated monument, usually assigned to the 5th century but possibly dating from the late 8th. The town is supplied with water by an aqueduct that crosses a ravine on an arched bridge built in 1364.

Spoleto is the centre of a large agricultural district (olives), and it also has light industries (cotton goods, phosphorous products, printing). Since 1958 it has held the annual Festival of Two Worlds (drama and music). Pop. (2006 est.) mun., 38,717.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Chelsey Parrott-Sheffer.