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Foligno
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To move on anywhere from Spello by public transport means a trip to
FOLIGNO
and a lull in proceedings, because it's a large modern town and flat in every sense of the word. Most of its star-turns were bombed out of existence in the war, and the place is now a mediocre provincial backwater sprawled over an unattractive plain. Its appearance wasn't helped by the 1997 earthquake, which hit the town relatively hard. However, much of what's left is conveniently grouped together in the central
Piazza della Repubblica
, and as you're likely to be passing through, a quick look isn't going to hurt. The town's also brimful of hotels and acts as a nodal point for trains and local village buses.
For the tourist office - at Corso Cavour 126 (tel 0742.354.459 or 0742.354.165, info@iat.foligno.pg.it ) - and bus station (Porta Romana), follow Viale Mezzetti west from the train station to Piazzale Alunno, and the office is on the southernmost corner. Continue up Corso Cavour and you hit the historic centre two minutes later. The graceful twelfth-century Duomo has two good Romanesque facades (there's an extra one, the better ones on the side) but the interior was finished off in the eighteenth century to predictable effect. The nearby Palazzo Trinci is the only thing worth making a real effort to see. The Trincis were Foligno's medieval big shots, with territory and influence extending over great swaths of Umbria, and their palace is an art-filled monument to wealth and power - all frescoed stairways, carved ceilings and general opulence, most of it restored in the 1990s. Inside are a small archeological museum and a pinacoteca (both currently closed for restoration), with good frescoes by the fifteenth-century Gubbian painter Ottaviano Nelli. The only other monument that hints at Foligno's former glory is Santa Maria Infraportas (off Piazza San Domenico), a church of pagan origins in which St Peter himself is said to have conducted a Mass. The oldest bit of the current building (eighth century) is the Cappella dell'Assunta off the left nave, dominated by the town's most precious piece of art, a twelfth-century Byzantine mural.
If you need
to stay
in Foligno, the
Belvedere Hotel
, Via F Ottaviani 19 (tel 0742.353.990, fax 0742.356.243; L90,000-120,000/€46.48-61.98) just to the right of the station as you come out, on the same piazza but rather surprisingly pleasant. For snacks and full
meals
, right next to the side facade of the duomo,
La Bottega Barbanera
, Piazza della Repubblica 34, serves gourmet dishes in charming surroundings. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Italy,
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