Anello Acquedotto Romano

Interact with the Roman Aqueduct Ring, a continuous emotion between history and nature

With the Roman Aqueduct Ring app, you will be able to access content and curiosities through the Beacon system arranged along the route.

Spello’s historic centre, built on the hillside, has the advantage of being closely tied to the mountain that provides its backdrop, namely Mount Subasio. The Roman aqueduct that supplied water to the people of Spello for two thousand years winds along the slopes of Mount Subasio and ends in the town centre. The Anello dell’Acquedotto Romano (Roman Aqueduct Loop) consists of one part within the town and another, longer one outside it, for 13 kilometers. Both these two parts are highly unique yet vary in terms of form and features, making them diverse and extremely interesting for visitors. Indeed, feelings of wonder accompany walkers every step they take along this route set in scenery shaped by the tireless work of the local populations over the millennia and whose end result is a harmony between mankind and nature that inspires admiration and inner peace. All hiking enthusiasts enjoy circular routes because each point is new, arousing curiosity to forge ahead in search of new architecture, scenery and environments. The aim of this hiking route is to reveal a trail through extraordinary locations. All noteworthy loops have a jewel that makes them unique. The jewel in the crown of the Roman Aqueduct Loop is Spello itself.

Mount Subasio is an isolated Apennine mountain that emerged from the sea millions of years ago. Its limestone rocks hold macro- and micro-fossils, and its distinctive tortoise-shaped silhouette rises unmistakeably from the Umbra Valley below. At the ends of its enormous ‘shell’, reaching a height of 1290 metres, lie two world-famous architectural and scenic gems, namely Assisi and Spello. Two unique historic towns, united not only by their mountain but also by the story of a ‘small man’ who changed history with his exemplary life, namely St Francis of Assisi. His feet walked the narrow streets of these two historic towns, his preachings changed the course of many lives, and his example of humility, simplicity and brotherhood is present in many buildings, lanes, paths and details. Mount Subasio has been a source of life for a huge number of people who, for centuries, even millennia, with their footsteps and toil, have left their mark on its fragile surface with winding paths, small hermitages, rustic terraced farms, still-inhabited castles, and forests extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. From Mount Subasio springs that water, that life source, that the ancient Romans masterfully and skilfully harnessed in the first century before Christ, channelling it into a winding aqueduct to bring it to the ancient town of ‘Hispellum’. This aqueduct has miraculously survived to this day, giving its name to the circular hiking route.