Stunning Million-Euro Views for Free in Spoleto, Italy

Fathom co-founders Jeralyn Gerba and Pavia Rosati have moved the office to Spoleto, Italy, for a month. Here's what's happening.

SPOLETO, Italy – I'm happy to report that not a whole lot has happened since Pavia's first post. After all, we are in a sleepy Umbrian town at the foothill of the Apennines; it seems wrong to rush around like the wound-up New Yorkers we usually are.

Instead, we are — aside from our massive laptop usage — posturing like locals: hanging the laundry out to dry; throwing open the shutters to watch passerby; taking evening passeggiatas through the piazzas (the Italian ritual of strolling at night). These things usually end in gelato or coffee or poker by candlelight.

There has been more handmade pasta, more fresh porchetta, more local wine, and more after dinner drinks since we last left you. Pavia’s husband, our resident chef, has been finding inspiration in a beautiful and unusual vintage cookbook from the region. It's called Umbria in Bocca, and it pretty much sums up our first few days in Italy. Seriously. I might make a T-shirt.

So we were surprised and thrilled to learn about a real trekking trail on the outskirts of town. Fresh air! Exercise! Not that we need justification for carbo-loading, but still. After a tip-off from a friend's wife (over huge plates of gnocchi and ravioli stuffed with radicchio, mind you), we took took a twilight run to the fortress of Spoleto, Rocca Albornoziana, a majestic hilltop structure built in the 1300s. From there, we struck out along the incredible Ponte delle Torri, a truly stunning aqueduct with narrow arches and pylons that plunge 300 feet into a tree-filled chasm. On the other side are wooded trails that wind around the mountain, revealing incredible views literally at every turn.

On this morning’s run, I detoured up a steep incline through an olive grove, then nearly gasped when I saw the panorama of the fortress on the hill — it was not unlike the opening scenes of a fairytale. In the Italian style, we'll take our sweet time coming down from that mountain high.

FIND IT

Ponte delle Torri
Via Giro del Ponte
06049 Spoleto
Perugia, Italy

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