Hispellum

Hispellum (modern Spello) was an ancient town of Umbria, Italy, north of Fulginiae, on the road between it and Perusia.

History

Hispellum is mentioned in Pliny Strabo
V.2.10
, and Ptolemy's ''Geography''

, but apparently by no earlier author. It was one of the Umbrian cities that sent aid to Rome during the Second Punic War.

The town seems to have been established by Augustus, who at any rate founded a colony there (Colonia Julia Hispellum) as a reward for soldiers who fought on his side against Mark Antony in the Perusine War (41-40 BC). Augustus also extended its territory to the springs of the Clitunno, 20 km distant, which had originally belonged to the territory of Mevania, and the city provided a public bath and accommodation there.

Hispellum received the name of ''Flavia Constans ''by a rescript of the emperor Constantine, a copy of which on a marble tablet is still preserved at the Communal Palace of Spello, and which showed that it had a certain importance in the following centuries, as it was the seat of the annual meetings of the Umbrian peoples, which previously took place in Volsinii.

Sights

A survey of the upper town in the late 20th century showed that about 80% of the buildings lie on Roman foundations, making Spello the most Roman town in modern Umbria.

Roman remains also include:

* The rich and elaborate Villa of the Mosaics has been excavated in recent years and is open to the public.
* The 1.8 km-long walls are among the finest specimens of Roman wall in central Italy, formed by a very thick and compact concrete structure, covered on both sides by a very regular face of rectangular blocks of local pink limestone
* The gate by which the town is entered (''Porta Consolare'') is ancient and has three portrait statues above it, although they are not original to the gate, having been found in the area of the amphitheatre
* Five other gates may still be seen as part of the city wall, built of rectangular blocks of Subasio limestone. They include the Porta Venere, Porta dell'Arce, Porta Urbica
* The upper town also has vestiges of what is possibly a triumphal arch: the inscription is dedicated to Augustus.
* In the interior of the city are sections of large block walls, substructures for terracing the hill.
* Remains of the amphitheatre, the entrance and some stone curtain, which stood in the plain alongside the road to Assisi, can be seen to the northwest of the town.
* In the grounds of the Villa Fidelia also to the northwest may be a temple of Venus.
* Baths have been excavated beneath the church of San Claudio near the amphitheatre with geometric mosaic floors and heated rooms.
* The forum: the whole area between the Palazzo Comunale and the Convent of S. Andrea was terraced on the eastern and south-eastern sides by a supporting wall in local limestone preserved for about 130 m.
* a ''villa rustica'' in via Baldini from the 1st/2nd centuries AD with thermal baths in 3 rooms. It was sited on a necropolis of the Republican age. The walls are preserved to their full height in the SE corner where part of a basin with stone slabs covered in ''cocciopesto'' has been brought to light: In the southwest corner are remains of the lower part of a square basin and tiled flooring in tiles (perhaps a settling tank), as in the immediate vicinity are traces of a furnace.
* A large collection of local Roman inscriptions is housed in the Palazzo Comunale.
* Roman remains under the present Piazza della Repubblica.

Villa of the Mosaics

The villahttps://www.villadeimosaicidispello.it/en/ is one of the most important Roman sites in Umbria, even in Italy, with its spectacular mosaic floors of extraordinary technical quality in terms of design and colour rendering.

Of a total area of 500m², there are 20 rooms remaining, 10 of which contain magnificent mosaic floors with geometric motifs and figures in various colours: white, red, black. green and yellow. A large peristyle, a porticoed courtyard that surrounded the garden complete with statues and fountains, was surrounded by a series of elaborate rooms with mosaics. The most important room was the triclinium with the Seasons mosaic.

It was first built in the Augustan age and modified at the end of the 2nd century. The villa was located along a secondary branch of the ancient Via Flaminia road, which came from Rome and extended through Umbria and continued to Rimini. It was a ''villa rustica'', a farming estate with an agricultural part including several service rooms.

It was discovered in 2005, while building a carpark in a sports field just outside Spello's walls.

The sanctuary complex

A sanctuary of the Augustan period has been found in the grounds the Renaissance-type villa Fidelia to the northwest of the city which included a grandiose theatre-temple-amphitheatre complex. Research with geophysical surveys has allowed reconstruction of the sanctuary, with its relationship to the theatre. The sanctuary occupied the area close to the Spello hill as part of a scenographic layout. Two mighty walls in Roman concrete (''opus caementicium'') covered with opus vittatum which supported the upper terraces are visible. The lower wall has remains of a large fountain and a quadrangular niche. Of the upper wall only the internal part in ''opus caementicium'' remains. On the other side of the road are the scanty remains of the theatre, as well as the amphitheatre.

During construction of the villa Fidelia, around 1600, an inscription was found on a mosaic floor (CIL, XΙ, 5264), with a dedication of a statue and a base to Venus by the quinquennial duumvirs M. Granius and S. Lollius. The Church of S. Fedele in opus mixtum is probably to be connected with the late phase of the sanctuary mentioned by a Constantinian rescript (CIL,XI, 5265) of 333-337 AD, in which the emperor at the request of the inhabitants of the city allows the Umbrian population to be able to meet, no longer in Volsinii, and celebrate the theatrical and gladiatorial games with the Etruscan population.

The precious epigraphic text, found downstream from the sanctuary, testifies that the sacred theatre-temple structure existed prior to the rescript and must have already served for the annual meetings of the league of the Umbrians. The special geographical position of the sanctuary appears particularly strategic within the Umbrian valley, at the branch of the Via Flaminia towards Perusia and in visual and ideological connection with the sanctuaries at Mevania, Vettona, Urvinum Hortense and Trebiae.

The aqueduct

The Roman Aqueduct from Collepino to Spello is almost 5 km long has been recently restored. It was mainly underground but has been exposed in several places. It runs to the side of the Chiona river forming an artificial terrace and was used until the 19th century. On the lower wall of the aqueduct are many rectangular openings for inspection.

Porta Urbica

Also known as the Porta San Ventura from the nearby church of the same name, this gate has a monumental character with a sober façade, and is a decorative arch inserted in the western walls. Built in the Augustan age, the gate has a single round arch and is built of ashlars of local limestone and is supported by smooth Tuscan pillars with no base, and with an architrave above crowned by a pediment. The gate was reopened in I960 after being walled up for many years.

References

External links

Hispellum
(at LacusCurtius)

''Some of the text of this article was taken from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.''

{{coord, 42, 59, 30, N, 12, 40, 12, E, type:landmark_region:IT_dim:700, display=title

Roman towns and cities in Italy
Hispellum, Villa of the Mosaics