Campello

Province of Perugia - Tourist Information IAT Tel 0743-218620/21 – Town Hall Tel 0743-271920

USEFUL FACTS

Population: 2,536 (campellini); surface sq km: 49.8, height above sea level: 290 m, distance from Perugia: 53 km; Tel Dial/Area Code 0743; Zip/Postal Code 06042; Train Station (FS Spoleto) at Km 1O; Motorway/Hightway: Autostrada del Sole (Florence-Rome), exit at Val di Chiana then Expressway/Motorway towards Perugia-Foligno-Spoleto. Hamlets: Acera, Agliano, Bianca, Castello, Fontanelle, Lenano, Pettino, Pissignano, Spina Vecchia, Spina Nuova, Villa.

HISTORY

The center, located on a hill in the eastern edge of the Valley of Spoleto, is known since ancient times for its springs: the Clitunno Springs, praised by Virgilio to Giosuè Carducci. The territory already inhabited in Umbrian times from 434 BC by the Etruscans, was never dominated by a unique and important urban settlement, but was made up of, (as it still is today), by numerous small villages and castles scattered throughout the countryside and in the woods of the mountains, each with their own people, its own church and their own culture. Probably of Roman origin, the city took its name from a castle built by Rovero, Baron Chapeux, in 925, who came in the wake of the Duchy of Franco of Spoleto, Guido. Later, Rovero, was crowned by the Emperor of Count Lambert. The Counts of Campello were lords of that castle, the Rocca della Spina and eight other villages scattered over a vast territory called,"Gualdi Rainier" from the XI-XII centuries. Active supporters of the Empire against the Church, at the time of the rein of Frederick II, were strongly condemned in 1226 by Pope Honorius III, who called one supporter from Campello: "Filius Deliai Tancredi" (son of the devil). In 1341 the castle was set on fire and put out by Peter Pianciani, gonfaloniere of Spoleto (The Gonfaloniere was a highly prestigious communal post in medieval and Renaissance Italy, notably in Florence and the Papal States). Reconquered by Campello, in 1390, in the sixteenth century, the community of the castle gave its statutes and passed then under the dominion of the Church, and became part of the Duchy of Spoleto, sharing the same historical events.

WHAT TO SEE

The capital of the Municipality is “La Bianca”, located about a kilometer from the SS Flaminia (State Road), and formed in the early 1500’s near a kiosk where there was a fresco of the "Madonna and Son" both fair with blond hair. And it was this image, according to tradition, suggested that the community of the nearby castle of Campello to erect in its honor, the sanctuary, authorized in 1516 by the Bishop of Spoleto, Francis Eroli, thus began an increasing influx of pilgrims. Over the years the village grew up around the sanctuary, took on more and more consistency and, in 1887, the Town Hall moved to “La Bianca”, from the village on the hill, where it is located today. The square of La Bianca is the center of the town and here stands the church of Our Lady of Bianca. Entirely built by Lombard craftsmen, has an impressive stone portal from the year 1521, the work of Master Cione and Master Taddeo di Como. The bell tower was added in 1617. Inside, the Latin cross, topped by a dome, was restored in 1797 and designed by Valadier, with overlapping elements of the emerging neo-classical style to that of the Renaissance style. Here a large fresco is preserved by Fabio Angelucci from Mevale, from 1574; paintings of the XVI-XVII century; Frescoe in the sacristy of the first school of Spain from the 1500’s and precious furnishings and furniture. Also in the square is the Town Hall, built in 1887, designed by Zenobi Tommaso of Trevi, that has some frescos by Coccia from Norcia. From the square, six streets radiate out and lead to the countryside where, surrounded by high walls, there are beautiful villas, among one that stands out is Villa Campello, which contains a valuable nineteenth-century theater decorated with fake stages. Near La Bianca lies the village of Santa Maria, which is named after the seventeenth-century parish church, set in a charming landscape and which houses paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, and a fresco from the fifteenth century. In the hamlet of Campello Alto, the castle walls are still intact along with the access gate and a large tower called "Le Carceri" (Prisons). Inside the castle it is worth visiting the Church of San Donato, of the thirteenth century, with a beautiful arched portal and a precious wooden altar in Baroque style and it also houses the old Town Hall of the fourteenth century, with beautiful stone mullioned windows. Near the castle, the large monastic complex of the Barnabites, with some parts of the monastery evidence of medieval structures, which houses two frescos from the fifteenth century from the Giotto school and a "Madonna" from Spain. In the hamlet of Acera, nestled among green forests, the village from the thirteenth century, still retains its medieval urban fabric with the high tower that dominates the town and the beautiful Church of San Biagio adorned, inside, with frescos from the fifteenth century. In the hamlet of Lenano the church of San Lorenzo with an important series of frescos of the fourteenth or fifteenth century from the school of Spoleto. Going down to the State Road Flaminia, just before the Clitunno Springs, we find the church of San Sebastiano, built in the sixteenth century that contains a large fresco from 1528, one of the last works by Giovanni di Pietro, known as the “Lo Spagna”, also his son-n-law Jacopo Siculo collaborated on this work. In the church of San Sebastiano there are other frescos by the local school of the sixteenth century. Further down the State Road Flaminia, lies the temple of Clitunno. Built between the fourth and fifth centuries. A.D. over the remains of a pagan shrine, the temple is built with recycled Roman materials and composed of two overlapping locations: the first, at ground level, serves as a crypt and is part of the primitive pagan building, the second part of the reconstruction of the early Middle Ages. It has a very beautiful facade with a portico with four columns and bas-relief carved gable. Inside the portico, there are numerous Roman remains and in the barrel-vaulted dungeon, there are frescos of the seventh century which are considered to be the oldest religious paintings of Umbria. Nearby are the Clitunno Springs, an enchanting place frequented since the time of the Romans. In the hamlet of Pissignano, there is a tipical example of a castle set on a slope. It was built between the eleventh and twelfth century and it is still possible to admire the massive defensive walls, polygon towers, the bridge house from the fourteenth century, the old town hall of the fifteenth century and the sixteenth-century church of St. Benedict. Continuing uphill from the castle, you arrive at a Franciscan Hermitage overlooking the hill of St. Benedict, a true oasis of peace and tranquility, nearby are the ruins of the imposing tower from Sillana and a small church with a small cloister dating back to the 1400’s.

ECONOMY

Predominantly agricultural with production of excellent extra virgin olive oil and the cultivation of tobacco. It’s also flanked by the handcraft and commercial trade, and more and more each year a consistent increase in the tourism sector is observed which recognizes Campello sul Clitunno as a destination increasingly popular both by local and foreign visitors who come for the beauty of the area and its historical, artistic and cultural heritage.