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Acquasparta (Terni province)

A town of S central Umbria: 42°41N, 12°32E. Altitude: 319 m. Population in 2003: 4700.

Spread out on its ridge, Acquasparta as seen from the railway station.

Acquasparta is a small town on the highway from Terni (21 km SE) to Todi (21 km NW). Historically and culturally even now, the important road is the Via Flaminia of the Romans, to which many of the towns in this area owe their foundation: along the Flaminia's modern successor road, the SS 316, Acquasparta is 10 km S of Massa Martana; 8 km N of San Gemini and 22 km N of Narni.

The town itself, although "from the inside" it has a medieval look to it, is rather low-key; its principal attraction is the late Renaissance Palazzo Cesi, which includes a Roman lapidary collection, mostly of débris from nearby Carsulae: unfortunately, the building has been closed for many years and even looks rather derelict; though it belongs to the University of Perugia, it's a terrible example of wasted heritage.

The surroundings of Acquasparta are dominated by the Via Flaminia, and include the handsome church at S. Giovanni de Butris (built in part of huge Roman blocks, on top of a Roman bridge) and a second Roman bridge at Ponte Fonnaia; they are also dotted with your typical Umbrian castelli, like the one at Configni.

Among the beauty spots of Umbria is one of Acquasparta's frazioni, the town of Portaria: I've been there twice and love the place, so a little webpage on it is bound to come eventually; for now you can get an idea of it, with a photo, from my diary entries for Nov. 5, 1994 and Oct. 13, 1997.

So a proper website will eventually appear here: I've been to Acquasparta and some its local towns many times, although each time only briefly. For now, for the town itself (in addition to the links in the navigation bar below) you might find it useful to read my diary entries for Oct. 16 and Nov. 4‑5, 1994.

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The first steps toward that proper website:

[ 1 pages, 5 photos ] The frazione of Macerino deserves more than I can give it for the moment: several churches, some Roman remains, a pleasant site — all crossed in a bit of a hurry now over a dozen years ago, and without being allowed to take what would have been the best photographs. Still, my page seems to be the best online on this small place; the feel of it, at least, is well enough conveyed.

[ 9/4/16: 11 churches, 9 pages, 31 photos ] In my brief visits, I may not have seen all the churches, nor were they open most of the time, nor did I necessarily see the right thing in the churches I did see; but just the same, I can still show you some of Acquasparta's churches.

Frazioni

Like most of the comuni in Italy, Acquasparta includes in its territory some smaller towns and hamlets, of a few hundred inhabitants if that, with a certain administrative identity of their own: as elsewhere in Italy, these are referred to as the frazioni of the comune (singular: frazione, literally a "fraction"): a complete list of them follows. This site has information on them: in some cases pretty marginal, but sometimes not, even including one or more photographs. Links are usually to my diary; they may also contain further links — as usual on my site, don't forget to check the navigation bar at the bottom of this page.

Casigliano • Casteldelmonte • Configni • Firenzuola • Macerino • Portaria • Rosaro • Selvarelle

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