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Spello
Spello is a beautiful town with Roman origins on the south east slope of Monte Subasio. Assisi is a quick drive away or it’s possible to spend a day walking over Subasio to get there. For an Italian hill town, it has great transport links, being situated close to a dual carriageway and railway, Gorgacce Rentals are agents for several properties in the town, see
http://www.tuscanyumbria.com/spelloplus.html#spello
for more details. Other than the beautiful buildings, visitors come to see the frescoes by Pinturicchio in the Baglioni chapel of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The frescoes depict an Annunciation, an Adoration of the Child and a Disputation in the Temple. The Baglioni family, the bloodthirsty rulers of Perugia, were painted as characters in the fresco.
Trevi
Another beautiful hill town famous for it’s olive oil. Well worth a visit if you are nearby.
Montefalco
Famous for one of Italy’s top wines, Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG, Montefalco also has great views and an art museum with a fresco cycle of the Life of St. Francis by Benozzo Gozzoli.
Most people go to Montefalco to visit the vineyards in the surrounding countryside. The main thing to see in the town itself is fresco cycle in the church of San Francesco, now the town’s art gallery. I love looking at these colourful paintings, if you have the stamina it’s fun to see this fresco cycle on the same day as a visit to the Assisi frescoes on the same theme. It gives you a direct comparison of how art changed between the medieval and Renaissance periods. |