Spoleto …

Spoleto is a medieval hill town in central Italy. Inhabited since prehistoric times, it is said to have fought off the fierce invader Hannibal in the 3rd century BC. Records indicate the Romans settled there in 241 BC!

We visited the castle overlooking the town of DSC_0323_thumbSpoleto. Construction on La Rocca Albornoziana began in 1359 and has been home to different popes over the centuries in the 1300 and 1400s. After the 16th century the castle began to lose importance, and in 1817 it was transformed into a high security prison. Its hard to imagine that what was formerly a home to popes could be transformed to be home to a prison population.

After we left the castle was saw the Ponte delle DSC_0231_thumbTorri otherwise known as the Bridge of Towers. This 14th century bridge was built over the foundation of a Roman aqueduct. The bridge is 750 feet long and at the highest point it's 262 feet above the gorge. The scale of the bridge was quite an impressive sight.

After the stop at the bridge, we started our long stroll down the DSC_0336_thumbmountain. Along the way, Danielle and Austin found an abandoned property they thought was worth exploring. It was quite a rickety place and after looking around inside, they concluded that some squatters had likely lived there in the past.

We didn’t stick around there long, instead we continued down to the lower part of the town to look around some more before wrapping up for the day.

TDSC_0353_thumbhe Duomo of Spoleto is one of the most significant religious places in the town. The cathedral has been dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta and was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Duomo's architecture is Romanesque in style and the tomb of Filippo Lippi, a 15th century Italian painter, is located inside. There is also a letter by Saint Francis of Assisi that is kept inside the cathedral.

As you walk through town, you come upon the Roman Theatre. This Theatre was built in 1 AD and was usDSC_0183_thumbed until around 600 AD when the ground beneath it partially gave way. It was then buried under medieval buildings – including a church and a prison. It wasn’t until serious renovations of the prison occurred in 1954 that the Amphitheatre was recognized for what it was. The Theatre is recognized as an archaeological treasure for still having one of the few original Roman Theatre floors in the world.

The Roman Arch of Drusus, built in 23AD was the entrance to the DSC_0203_thumbRoman Forum. It is attached to the Church of St. Ansano which is built over an ancient Roman temple of the 1st century AD. While exploring the Church, we noticed a set of darkened steps leading down from a darkened doorway. Walking down the completely black steps was an adventure – we had to use our cellphones as flashlights. Once down there, we used the camera’s flash to see what was there. One of the first things we saw was the Crypt of St. Isaac. St. Isaac arrived in Spoleto from Syria in the 6th century and practiced a life as a hermit.

DSC_0195_thumb2

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lisbon - World's Leading City Destination 2018

Image
Lisbon is the stunning capital city of Portugal, and voted the World's Leading City Destination and the World's Leading City Break Destination for the World Travel Awards 2018. It certainly has a lot to see and do and we certainly saw and did! We drove in from Evora and dropped the rental car off in the morning leaving us nearly the entire day to spend exploring this ancient capital. As is our habit, we signed up for a walking tour for the afternoon and evening and set off on the 20-minute walk to where the tour started. The tour met and started at the Praça Dom Pedro IV, which Lisboans feel is the main central square of Lisbon and the true heart of the city.  Praça Dom Pedro is often referred simply to its much older name of Rossio which is also where we had caught the train to Sintra on our first day in Portugal. Rossio was founded during the 13th century as the large central square of Lisbon. Here public shows, bull fights, and royal proclamations occurred. During...
Read more

Obidos

Image
The town of Óbidos is located on a hilltop, encircled by a fortified wall. Óbidos remains a well-preserved example of medieval architecture; its streets, squares, walls and its castle are a popular tourist destination. The castle now houses a hotel.  Legend holds that Obidos was founded in 308 BC by the Celts. As the streets of Obidos are very narrow, cars are parked outside the walls -- we were able to park right next to the very cool preserved aqueduct. Originating in Usseira, the aqueduct it is 3 km long. Queen Catarina commissioned its construction In the 16th century, . The water was carried through a great number of high arches which crossed extensive vineyards and orchards and came to provide water to the town's main fountains. The Castle of Obidos has walls that date back to at least the 8th century AD with parts of the walls actually include some of the fortifications of the original settlement that may date back to the 4th century BC.  A interestin...
Read more

Mycenae and the Tomb of Agamemnon …

Image
  Familiar with the history of King Agamemnon, Austin enjoyed visiting the tomb of Agamemnon and the ruins of the palace. Unfortunately, over the years, the tomb has been raided and there were few treasures left to recover.   Agamemnon’s  Mycenaean fortress includes an entry ramp that is a long, steep climb to the infamous lion’s gate entry.  It is said that the gate was intentionally built to be steep so that it would be easier to defend the palace from marauders! Mycenae was considered to be a major centre of Greek civilization from 1600 B.C. to 1100 B.C.   Agamemnon was the commander in the Trojan War to return Helen back to Greece.  Agamemnon prepared a fleet of ships to carry the Greeks to Troy, however the winds were not favourable and he was unable to sail. As Greek mythology unfolds, we learn Agamemnon was ultimately successful in the Trojan war, and Helen was returned to Greece.  The end of the story isn’t that kind for King Agamem...
Read more