Three weeks of opera, theater, dance, and music in an extraordinary medieval Umbrian city. The festival Menotti founded in 1958 is still among the best in Europe.
Plan your trip →The Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto is one of the most important cultural events in Europe, and one of the least known outside Italy. Founded in 1958 by Gian Carlo Menotti, the festival turns the small Umbrian city of Spoleto every summer (June to July) into an open-air theater: opera, theater, dance, chamber music, visual art, cinema, all concentrated in three weeks in a medieval historic center of extraordinary beauty.
Spoleto Festival: tours & tickets
Compare guided tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips for Spoleto Festival.
See availability & prices →We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.Spoleto is already one of the most beautiful cities in Umbria in its own right: the Roman aqueduct of the Ponte delle Torri, the Rocca Albornoziana, the Romanesque cathedral with the 12th-century mosaics. The festival adds to this fixed heritage the dimension of the temporary event, performances in the square, concerts in churches, installations in the alleys, that makes Spoleto during the festival an experience hard to find elsewhere in Italy.
Spoleto is worth a visit even outside the festival period. The Duomo of Santa Maria Assunta, with its Romanesque facade and bell tower, and the frescoes by Filippo Lippi in the apse (one of his last works), is one of the most beautiful medieval monuments in Umbria. The Ponte delle Torri, a medieval aqueduct of the 13th to 14th century that crosses a gorge 230 meters long on pillars up to 76 meters high, is one of the most impressive medieval structures in Italy. The Rocca Albornoziana, a 14th-century papal fortress restored in the 1980s, dominates the city from above and has a hall with Renaissance frescoes of extraordinary quality.
The Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto is held every year between late June and mid-July, for about three weeks. The exact dates vary from year to year, check the program on the festival's official website (festivaldispoleto.com) for future editions. Booking tickets for the main events is recommended months ahead, especially for premieres and events in Piazza Duomo.
The Festival dei Due Mondi was born from the idea of Gian Carlo Menotti (1911 to 2007), an Italian-born American composer, to create a cultural event that would unite the Old and New Worlds, Europe and America, in a permanent artistic dialogue. Menotti chose Spoleto for the quality of its architectural spaces and for its Umbrian location far from the main tourist circuits. The first edition in 1958 brought to Spoleto artists of international stature, Ezra Pound, Calder, Thomas Schippers. Since then the festival has hosted world premieres of operas, performances by Nureyev and Plisetskaya, concerts by Boulez, exhibitions by Calder and Lichtenstein. Since 1977 there is also the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, the other half of the "two worlds."
Spoleto is reachable by train on the Rome to Ancona line: about 1h30 from Roma Termini by Regionale Veloce. From Perugia: about 40 minutes by train. From Assisi: about 30 minutes. By car: the A1 motorway, Orte exit, then the SS3 Flaminia north, about 1h from Rome. The historic center of Spoleto is a ZTL during the festival: park at the park-and-ride lots and take the shuttle.
Yes, Spoleto is a beautiful city and worth a visit at any time of year. The Duomo, the Rocca, the Ponte delle Torri, and the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria (local section) are top-level attractions. Spoleto is also an excellent starting point for exploring south-central Umbria: Norcia and its truffle, Cascia, Montefalco and the Sagrantino are all reachable in under an hour.
1. What is the best way to buy tickets for Italian museums? Online on the official website, with a timed booking to avoid the line. Do not use third-party sites that add extra fees.
2. How do you find local markets in Italy? Search "mercato rionale [city name] [day of the week]" on Google Maps. The Saturday-morning markets are the richest in almost every Italian city.
3. Is it necessary to book restaurants in Italy? For quality restaurants, yes, especially on the weekend and in the summer months. Booking by phone or email is the most reliable, many do not use online platforms.
4. How do you find a reliable taxi in Italy? Use the itTaxi app for the big cities (it recognizes only officially licensed taxis) or ask your hotel. Avoid unauthorized taxis at the airports.
5. Do Italian museums have audio guides in English? Most of the big state museums have audio guides in English, Italian, French, German, and Spanish. Many also have free apps you can download before the visit.
6. What is the dress code for Italian churches? Shoulders and knees covered are required. The most visited churches (the Vatican, the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi) enforce the rule with staff at the entrance. Bring a light scarf in your bag.
7. Can you drink tap water in Italy? Yes, throughout Italy the tap water (acqua del rubinetto) is drinkable and monitored. The public fountains are safe. Save money and plastic by using a refillable bottle.
8. How does paying at a restaurant work in Italy? You ask for the bill ("il conto, per favore") and it does not arrive automatically. In Italy it is not rude to linger at the table after eating, the waiter does not rush you. Payment is usually made at the till or to the waiter, rarely is there a handheld terminal.
9. Which Italian national holidays can close the museums? 1 January, 6 January, Easter and Easter Monday, 25 April, 1 May, 2 June, 15 August, 1 November, 8 December, 25 to 26 December. Many museums have reduced hours on these dates, always check first.
10. How does transport from the airport work in Italy? Most Italian airports have a direct train or bus to the city center. Always check the availability and the travel time before you arrive, the options vary a lot between large airports (Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Venice) and minor airports.
1. The number of bell towers in Italy is higher than in any other country in the world, every small town has its own, often medieval or Renaissance.
2. Italy produces more varieties of pasta than any other country: over 300 documented shapes, many of which exist only in a single region or province.
3. The network of white roads (former Roman consular roads and farm tracks) of the Tuscan and Umbrian interior can be ridden by bicycle and is among the most beautiful cycling experiences in Europe.
4. In Italy there are 11 towns with fewer than 10 inhabitants, the so-called "ghost villages" in the Apennines, Molise, and inland Sicily, often with frescoed churches and medieval castles open but with no visitors.
5. The network of CAI (Italian Alpine Club) trails covers the whole peninsula with over 60,000 km of marked and well-maintained routes, one of the most extensive trail systems in the world.
The rule of three: No more than three major tourist sites a day. The human brain can meaningfully process and remember about three intense experiences per day. Those who try to see five museums in a day tend to remember less than those who see two calmly. The perfect Italian itinerary favors depth over quantity.
Mornings and afternoons: In Italy mornings are for the historic sites (museums, churches, ruins, cool and with the best light). Afternoons are for the city, the market, the passeggiata, coffee, the aperitivo. Evenings are for dinner (never before 19:30 in quality restaurants). This pattern aligns with Italian rhythms and maximizes the quality of the experience.
A day with no plan: Every three or four days of intense travel, take a day with no fixed agenda. Walk with no destination, go into the churches you find open, sit in a square, talk to someone at the bar counter. The unplanned experiences are often the ones you remember most.
The logistics of distances: Italy looks small on the map but the distances matter, especially in the South. From Palermo to Agrigento takes 2 hours. From Naples to the Amalfi Coast 1 hour on normal days, 2 to 3 hours on a Saturday in August. Always reckon on the real travel times, not the ideal ones on the map.
Regional transport as an experience: The Italian regional trains, slow, cheap, often picturesque, are a travel experience in themselves. The train from Salerno to Reggio Calabria runs along the Tyrrhenian for 200 km with sea views. The train from Bolzano to Verona crosses the valleys of the Adige. Use the slow regional trains for the scenic routes and the fast ones for the long stretches.
Rome was founded (according to tradition) in 753 BC, but the Palatine area was already inhabited in the 10th century BC. Venice was founded in 697 AD by Roman refugees fleeing the Lombard invasions into the lagoons of the northern Adriatic. Naples is a Greek foundation of the 6th century BC, its original name was Neapolis (new city). Milan was founded by the Insubrian Celts around 400 BC as Mediolanum. Turin was the capital of united Italy from 1861 to 1865, then gave up the title to Florence and then to Rome. Palermo has had 12 different rulers in its history, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Spanish, Habsburgs, Bourbons, Italians.
Preparation: Read something about the history and context of a place before visiting it, even just 15 minutes. Cultural experiences are hugely amplified with the right context. A medieval fresco becomes extraordinary when you know who commissioned it and why.
Photography vs presence: Photograph what you want to remember, then put the phone away and look with your eyes. Compulsive photography creates a barrier between you and the experience. The physical, bodily, sensory memory of a place is worth more than any photo.
Who to go with: Some experiences in Italy are better alone (museums, churches, markets). Others are better in company (dinners, aperitivi, excursions). Calibrate your trip to this distinction.
Coming back: Italy is one of the few countries in the world where the second trip is almost always better than the first. The accumulated knowledge, the refined preferences, the language that begins to take shape, everything improves with the return.
What to do if there are transport strikes in Italy? The strikes (scioperi) of public transport in Italy are relatively frequent but have precise rules: they must be announced at least 10 days ahead, must guarantee minimum services during peak hours, and usually end within 24 hours. Check the "scioperi programmati" (scheduled strikes) section on the Trenitalia website or on the city transport companies' sites before you go.
How do you get internet access in Italy? Wifi is available in most hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants. For mobile connectivity, an Italian SIM (TIM, Vodafone, WindTre) with data costs €15 to €25 for 10 to 30 GB a month. European tourists can use their own mobile plan within the EU at no extra cost. Non-European tourists find it convenient to buy a local SIM at the airports or in phone shops.
What to always keep in your bag when visiting Italy? ID (a photo copy is fine), some euro cash, a refillable water bottle, a light scarf for the churches, sunscreen in summer, comfortable shoes with a sturdy sole (the Roman sampietrini cobbles are treacherous), and your consulate or embassy number saved on your phone.