How to Visit Spello
/PHOTO CREDIT TO ALISON CORNFORD-MATHESON OF ACM PHOTOGRAPHY
Spello
On Palm Sunday, the streets overflowed with tourists. Spellani gathered on chairs to watch the visitors parade by with their blessed olive-boughs, eyes peeled for gelato. Later that night, I asked Angelo if he preferred Spello when there were no tourists or when there were many. In his characteristic way, he stopped walking to answer me. Then started walking, only to stop again with further reflections. The man will not be hurried, but by then we’d been in Spello for a week and the urge to move! move! move! had vanished, leaving only a deepened gratitude for the moment. He said, and of course I’m paraphrasing from his intentional Italian, “I love Spello when the streets are utterly empty. And I love Spello when it’s alive with the energy of tourists. But you know, I love Spello when it’s hot and I love Spello when the cool fog weaves around the corner and it whispers of the Medieval days. I love Spello all the time.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
If a trip to Spello is in your scopa cards, here’s how I advise you to make the most of your visit.
First of all, don’t try to “do” Spello in an afternoon. If you do, your trip will be summed up in this way: “Look! Flowers! Look! A cat in a flowerpot! Why is it so hot? Is there an elevator? Where is everyone? Look, an arch.” You might as well pore over google images of Spello and save the calf work-out.
You need long days to savor Spello’s gifts. So first things first, find accommodations in Spello and plan on spending a week, more if you can. You want to have time to decide if you prefer your afternoon Spritz in Bar Bonci’s garden overlooking the countryside or Bar Tullia’s patio where you can watch old ladies fawn over babies bundled in their strollers. You’ll want to pop into the bakery a few times—the choices vary daily but everything is always wonderful. You’ll want to watch the town wake up. You'll want to watch the sun set over the distant hills. You’ll want to enjoy Umbrian cuisine, and most restaurants aren’t open for lunch. You’ll want to lean out of your window and do nothing but watch the swallows dance.
Now, I’m not saying you need to keep your feet planted in Spello for the entirety of your trip. In fact, it’s the leaving and returning that can start to make it feel like home. So take a few side trips. When you land in Spello, keep your eyes open for signs—usually on boards by parking lots or posted in cafes—announcing festivals. Festivals are Italy distilled, a celebration of the pride and care towns take in their history and traditions. Especially food traditions. Barring a festival that draws you to a specific town, worthy side-trips are Assisi, Foligno, Bevagna, Trevi, Gubbio, Perugia, Orvieto, Rasiglia, Lake Trasimeno, Montefalco, and Citta di Castello. Really, you can just drive around or drop a euro on a map and stumble across thriving market towns or abandoned villages (like the ones I talk about in IBC). Umbria is a choose-your-own-adventure made manifest.
People often ask, “But when should I go to Spello?” To which I answer, “Whenever you can.” Truly, don’t overthink it. There are pleasures in all seasons. If you really have a blank travel slate, then I’d avoid summer when it’s blisteringly hot and there are bus tours stopping for an afternoon and shops tend to close for a week at a time. Italy is spellbinding in the winter with the lights and La Befana and the pageantry. Spring is when Spello stirs awake with asparagus and poppies. Fall is when Umbrian cuisine really shines and Spello is its most cozy with grilled meats and new wines. So just go when you can—like anything there are pros and cons to any time, you’ll have more fun playing with the toys you’re given than trying to determine that illusive perfect one.
And now, for your Spello days, I’d advise the following itinerary, but in the same breath I’d recommend you finding your rhythm, your flow, your Spello magic.
A Day in Spello
Breakfast at Bar Bonci. Letizia’s smile is as enlivening as her coffee. If you’re lucky she’ll be singing along with the radio or there’ll be a spirited political debate among the patrons. Have your breakfast in the garden. Variations: Feel like more of a town vibe? Sample the huge pastry display at Bar Tullia with a view over a piazza, or get your breakfast foods (think cream-filled cornetti or walnut-filled flaky pastries) from Forno Artigiano on Via Giulia. Bakery tip: A small loaf of bread—excellent for bruschetta—is called a filetta.
Walk along the aqueduct. Smell the fennel and mint, look for asparagus in spring, let your mind wonder at those ancient Romans, and pause to read the embedded plaques with quotes from the world's philosophers including Gandhi and Einstein (who knew?). Bring along your Italian English dictionary—these are really fun to figure out. My favorite is “Lasciamo le belle donne agli uomoni senza fantasia.”(Proust) Variations: Other walks include the Strada Francescana towards Assisi, or down the mountain to the prato—the bucolic farmland below Spello. The adventurous can drive up to Sabusio for some astonishing views and a glimpse of wild horses. If the weather precludes a walk, this would be an excellent time to explore the art, architecture, and atmosphere of Spello's many churches. If you're lucky, you'll overhear cloistered nuns singing.
Pranzo. Back to your apartment where you make lunch from the fixings you purchased yesterday at the salumeria. If you didn’t have time yesterday, stop into the alimentari in the piazza for some salumi, cheese, produce, wine, tuna (seriously! Italian canned tuna is fantastic) and bread. Sometimes Corrado has some quick cooking options, too, like breaded pork cutlets which he promised me were buonissimi and he was right. Now, if you want to sit at a table and enjoy the burbling vibe with your lunch, a few of the restaurants offer lunch.
We always go to Il Pinturicchio on Fridays as we love their strangozzi, their lamb, their steak, and their gnocchi made with red potatoes with a fonduta of cheese with grated truffles (it’s not on the menu, but ask if they have any specials, it’s almost always on offer). Since we lived in Spello the first time, Cave Cavour now has outdoor seating in the main piazza. The owner, Trentina, was our savior during those pandemic times when restaurants could only provide takeout. She offered a changing menu, each day something different. Our faves were the polenta and the strangozzi pasta with crisped guanciale and greens found on Subasio. Oh! And the fried artichokes and any of her seafood. It’s a wonderful lunch spot—the tourists for some reason flock to the other end of the piazza (maybe because the bar, which does offer food, also offers tasty spritzes), so Trentina’s tables are filled with locals. The spot can’t be beat. Time your lunch right and you’ll get to see all of Spello’s children running to the piazza to catch the school bus. Village life at its most extravagantly boisterous.
Pausa. Do not skip the pausa. The problem with fast travel is that people feel like they have to tick all the boxes and then ultimately everything becomes a blur. The pausa serves as punctuation. It carves out the days and helps you harken back to your idyllic vacation later when you are home and cranky at yet another traffic jam.
Gelato and/or apperitivo at Bar Tullia. My family always opts for gelato. For me, I prefer an Aperol spritz. But you’ve read my book, so you know this already. Pro-tip: The more of you who have prosecco or a spritz or a glass of sparkling rosé, the more little snacks are served. This last time, we had an apperitivo at Tullia for five adults, and Gianni gave us chips, peanuts, olives, fennel bread rings, and a sliced-up tuna sandwich (yay! More tuna!). Variations: You can also get a spritz at Bar Bonci with that garden and the view, or Sapori on the piazza (they also have gelato).
Passeggiata: Stroll to the park, making a reservation at whatever restaurant you’ll be dining at in the evening. If you’re coming in the summer, the park will be empty until after sunset, but if you’re there in spring or fall, it’s a treat to sit on the bench and let the sun warm your bones while you listen to Italian children play. If you are hungry, grab a slice of excellent pizza at the rosticceria. Maybe a chino, too. Photo-tip: In this hour or two before sunset is when Spello is at her most photogenic. Variation: Check out Spello's new Villa dei Mosaici — before we moved to Spello a parking lot construction project unearthed mosaics, leading to years of excavation of an ancient Roman villa at Spello's base. Now the museum is open, and it is a fantastic way to deepen your understanding of Spello's Roman past. As Siena says, "It makes me wonder what's under my feet."
Do some shopping. The butcher I wrote so much about closed his shop but now has a salumeria at the bottom of Spello’s hill called “Salumi di Norcia.” Say ciao to Sauro and Francesca for us. They don't speak English but are great at meat charades. Everything is excellent, but we really love the prosciutto and the capocollo. On Saturdays, Sauro makes the best porchetta in town. Other shopping delights…how about a some wearable art or a new shawl or a hand painted platter? The shops along Via Garibaldi are filled with owner-operated shops to peek into for that perfect souvenir. If you come when I’m in Spello, you’ll often find me hanging out with Paola at her shop La Bottega degli Intrecci (now with two locations in Spello!). I’ll probably be wearing something I found in her shop, it’s filled with treasures!
Hoof it back up the hill. When you start to get cross about the lack of a Spell-evator, remember that you’re earning your dolci tonight. On the way back to your apartment, why not stop into MicroBirrificio DieceNove? You can sample some interesting beers before selecting one for tomorrow’s lunch. I like the one with honey and figs.
Chill. If you go to dinner at 7:30 when restaurants open, you’ll be sharing the dining room with a German couple and their children. I’m sure they are perfectly lovely people, but if you want to feel the burble and joy of Umbrian dining, eat at 8:30. Instead of grumbling about the havoc these late dinners wreak on your digestion, enjoy the taking your time getting ready for dinner. Take a shower, put on fresh clothes, maybe play a game of scopa. Relax. You're in Italy.
Vinosofia. Before dinner, get an education in local wines at Vinosofia. Graziano is a font of information and will help you develop an appreciation for wines from all over Italy. There’s a patio, a great place to rest and watch the world, i.e. Spello, go by. This is also a great variant for your apperitivo hour.
Cena. Restaurants in Spello are a wonder, and they all have a miraculous selection of regional wines. I easily sink into a state of bliss at La Cantina (they are open for lunch as well, but I prefer their dinner menu). Their agnello scottadito is other-wordly, as is their paccheri with rabbit ragu, and beef carpaccio). It’s a restaurant lauded as one of the best in Umbria, but there are some other fabulous options right in Spello.
PHOTO CREDIT TO ALISON CORNFORD-MATHESON OF ACM PHOTOGRAPHY
Osteria del Buchetto was where I fell in love with both strangozzi (an egg-less noodle that is more akin to ramen than the spaghetti packets we get in the States) and gnocchi al Sagrantino. A small outdoor seating area looks out to the twinkling lights of Assisi.
La Locanda del Postiglione has an unbelievable tagliatelle ai porcini, and their picchirilli (a hand rolled thick noodle) with guanciale is mesmerizing.
Drinking Wine has a mind-blowing salumi platter and a lovely terrace in the centro.
Ristorante il Pinturicchio has a cozy atmosphere that is often the scene for Spellani family parties, plus that red-potato gnocchi with cheese fonduta that will rock your world.
L'Orlando Furioso is bustling with locals and their wood-fired pizza is divine (family faves are the Mediterranea with tuna—sorpresa!—and the Montanara with gorgonzola and pears. I like anything I can ask for with piccant'olio, their spicy oil, on the side).
Osteria de Dada (no website) is a tiny hole in the wall restaurant with limited outdoor seating in an atmospheric tunnel. There isn’t a printed menu, dishes are rattled off in Italian. They are very patient and the food is plentiful and probably the best deal in town (it always seems to be about 15€ a person, no matter how many courses you get). If they have the white lasagna with sausage, I recommend!
Trentina, (no website) who I mentioned in the lunch section, is also open for dinner, a great option to catch those drifting piazza breezes and enjoy the bells chiming.
Float home. Listen out for the bells intoning into the night air. The sound will deepen your sense that all is right with the world.
Spello is magic, indeed.
P.S. Each establishment has its own closed day. This is a problem if you arrive for a day trip with hopes of visiting a specific shop. If you are there for longer, you can just revamp a little and pat yourself on the back for your flexibility. Have another glass of wine in celebration.
Also, full disclosure, despite living in Spello, there are some establishments I never went to. I guess even in the unfamiliar, we create the familiar and then stick with that. So if you try some place not on the list, let me know how you liked it! Let me know anyway, wherever you go, I like hearing about people’s trips to my fair town.
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