31 August 2017
I went to Spello, having dropped one of our guests at Perugia airport, to go and explore this on my own. It took about 20 minutes from the airport to Spello. Word of advice. do not take the Spello Nord town exit but keep going to the next exit. It then takes you into the part of the town where you need to park.
Note that the central car parks seem to require change in coins. So do not travel with notes/credit cards only. However there is a free car park about 400 yards beyond two paying car parks and that works just fine.
Spello is a lovely old town. It is what Pienza is not – bit rough and ready, higgledy piggledy but with plenty of character but also sadly some earthquake damage from 2016. This is the first time I had seen any evidence of that disaster in the region. The main square itself half way up the main road is still being worked on – partly upgrade and partly repair works (I think). It is quite steep in places – think Cortona.
The roads are rarely straight very bendy and narrow in places – very picturesque. They have a flower festival here in May/June which I imagine would be fantastic.
I found the Chiesa Santa Maria Maggiore, which is a lovely little church. Quite a stunning chapel on the left with frescos by Pinturrichio – beautiful stuff and in good condition. The chapel in which the frescos are located is the size of a small room but the walls are totally covered with frescos. There are majolica tiles on the floor (which in turn are covered with a glass floor, so that you are walking over the majolica tiles which is a bit disorientating at first).
The ceiling has four sibyls painted. Each of their heads pointed to the centre of the roof. There are many other figures shown and my favourite detail was that one of the shepherds is missing a front tooth (if you look closely). Well worth the requested donation of €2. It is a pity that no photos are permitted here. Worse still, the remaining frescos in the church were still shut off because of the earthquake damage. Nothing to be done about that and given that I had been overwhelmed by the chapel which frankly would have been more than enough by itself, I just made a resolution to come back another time.
I then walked up a further way past the central square (tiny and all dug up) and passed the church which was described as “an architectural hodgepodge” in my guidebook (yup not a lot to see here). I like the carved wooden gallery at the back of the church on the right-hand side as you enter.
The church of St Andrea and the museum were both closed on Monday.
I then kept going up the hill until I got to a little church (which is next to the Capucchin Friars House) and which is totally missing from the guidebook. It was a lovely little church and it seems to be open for tourists. Very simple frescos on the ceiling and the windows had yellow glass in so there was diffused light throughout the church. Beautiful and peaceful. If you are looking for it, it is next to the Porta dell’arce – which is in the guidebook.
Lovely views from the front of this church down over the valley. Had a coffee in the coffee shop on the right-hand side coming back down towards the town square.
Note there is a walking tour guidebook for Spello. Good exercise – definitely worth a visit I think .
Spello – 1 September 2017
When back to Spello today because I enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it with my wife. Got to see the Pinacotecca – definitely worth a visit. As the only person there – the woman behind the counter who sold me a ticket had left her handbag on the other side of the room so she was clearly not worried about a flood of visitors coming in and someone making off with it.
The early paintings in there are better than the later ones – as is usually the case I find. But plenty to enjoy and a pleasure to wander round without being bothered by anyone else
I found a new car park at the bottom of the city walls. Although you can pay for as long as you want, you are only supposed to stay for one hour. I am not sure whether they check or not?
We also found the Enotecca Properzio which is a wine bar, cellar, restaurant combined with very persuasive sales staff. Just before the cathedral on the right hand side – One enters with caution. One leaves slightly poorer. One retreats to Valliano to enjoy…