Surely we are familiar with the country Italy. High-end fashion brands like Gucci and Prada are now making a name for themselves all over the world. Since soccer is one of the world’s favorite sports, names like Totti and Del Pierro are known to many. We are familiar with pasta, pizza and ice cream. We may not have heard of the Chianti regions, but we sure know that Italy is one of the best wine producers in the world. From the film the Gladiator, many are exposed to the Colosseum in Rome. Italy also produced some of the best classical music artists in the world, such as singer Luciano Pavarotti and composers Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini, to name a few. In art, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raffaello Sanzio are no strangers to our ears.

Currently, and possibly for quite some time now, the top three destinations in Italy are Rome, Florence and Venice. People flock to Rome because of the rich historical remains of one of the most impressive empires in the world: the Roman Empire. Others go to Florence in association with the birth of the Renaissance and high art, and to Venice as the only floating city eternalized in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. However, Italy offers much more than that.

Let me introduce you to an intact medieval town, Spello. It is located in the province of Perugia. Nearby, the cities Assisi and Perugia are more famous. It usually takes less than 40 minutes from Perugia to Spello by train. From other popular destinations, it takes about 3 hours from Florence, 2 hours from Rome, and less than 10 minutes from Assisi. From the train station, it would take you 5-10 minutes on foot, depending on how fast you walk.

If you plan to visit Assisi, I implore you, take some time off and visit Spello. If you’re short on time, I’d say set aside just 2 hours to experience Spello. Spello is very nice and old. Make sure you visit the Porta di Venere which is a gate from the 1st century. There are definitely tips you can get from the Tourist Information Office, but I didn’t use them when I was exploring Spello. I had a little time and just wanted to get lost exploring the city.

I was immersed in the beautiful houses, the romantic fortifications and the moving scenes where I didn’t care where I was. There was even an unexpected Michelin star restaurant, La Bastiglia! There were very few tourists here and I received surprise stars from the locals. I loved the fact that it wasn’t very touristy, but the more I walked around Spello, the more I wondered why this town hadn’t attracted more attention than this one. It is true that there was not a particularly important art gallery or museum to visit in Spello, but just a couple of churches, water sources and the medieval atmosphere were reason enough.