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Ruscio di Monte­leone

A village of SE Umbria, a frazione of Monte­leone di Spoleto: 42°38.4N, 12°58E. Altitude: 786 m. Population in 2003: 126.
[A very flat, almost circular valley surrounded by tall hills, and in the background, snow-capped mountains. In the valley, a town of a few hundred inhabitants, and, to the left at some distance, a gravel pit or an open-air mine. It is a view of the village of Ruscio in the comune of Monteleone di Spoleto, Umbria (central Italy).]

Ruscio as seen from Monte­leone,
about a hundred meters up and a couple miles to the NW.

Ruscio, a frazione of the comune of Monte­leone di Spoleto, is a small village in the valley of the Corno River, about 11 km N of Leonessa and 12 km SSW of Cascia. It's hardly a town I know very well — I just barely clipped a corner of it on foot as I made my way to Monte­leone one afternoon, and I've seen it, so far, only from a distance, if from several vantage points.

[The edge of a village, with a few modern stuccoed two- and three-story houses. In the foreground, a two-story rectangular church with a belfry rising above it by another couple of stories. It is a pal view of the village of Ruscio in the comune of Monteleone di Spoleto, Umbria (central Italy).]

The 18c church of S. Maria Addolorata: a telephoto from about 1.5 km away.

It's a small place, and a remote one, and I haven't explored the town myself (yet) despite thousands of kilometers crisscrossing Umbria. None of that means there is nothing to see: this being Italy, quite the contrary. At Forma Cavaliera, a Bronze Age site has been excavated that seems to have been a religious sanctuary of some kind; Roman remains, including at least one inscription, have been found in the immediate area, and it was in the vicinity of Ruscio that the famous Etruscan chariot was discovered that is now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York; and one of the churches of Ruscio, S. Maria de Equo, dates to the eighth or ninth century, with frescoes and curious carvings.

But for now, Ruscio is still in my future; one more view of her then, and I hope you read Italian: I'll send you off to Pro Ruscio; for so small a place, their website is very, very good — and yes, there are some photos, too.

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Page updated: 26 Dec 14

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