Spoleto’s Roman Theater: Then and Now

From the 1st-century B.C. to the 4th-century, A.D., the citizens of Spoletium gathered in their teatro for evening pleasures Theatrical, dance and musical presentations again animate the teatro romano which often backdrops Spoleto’s Two Worlds Festival ….and not only. Our family saw the New York City Ballet perform in the Roman theater at the Spoleto Festival some years ago:  an unforgettable…

San Gregorio Maggiore: In Spoleto, Splendor Underground

When you arrive by train to Spoleto, take the short walk to the nearby 12th-century Romanesque splendor, Basilica di San Gregorio Maggiore, dedicated to Spoleto’s San Gregorio, priest martyred in 304 A.D. during the reign of Diocletian. The passio (story of a saint’s martyrdom) recounts that after the Saint’s decapitation, Gregorio was buried by a pious spoletina, Abbondanza, close…

San Salvatore: Lombard Majesty in Spoleto

Renowned historian and archaeologist, Giuseppe Sordini has deemed Spoleto’s Basilica di San Salvatore “maggiore monumento spoletino dell’antichità,” that is, Spoleto’s greatest monument to antiquity. In fact, although its exact origins are unknown, the Basilica is clearly a stunning building of the Early Christian period, and one of Umbria’s  rarest and most important testimonies of ecclesiastical architecture…

Seeking the Spoleto Hidden Wonders

Spoleto’s Piazza del Mercato (Market Square) was once site of the forum of Roman Spoletium.  A narrow street leading out the square is flanked by the medieval botteghe (shops) with arched doorways and stone display counters now holding flowering plants: In one of the shops at the end of the street, a sign on the wall lets  visitors know…