Spello

Only a few minutes from Assisi by car or train, this hilltop town at the edge of Monte Subasio makes an excellent strategic base for exploring nearby towns, with well-appointed hotels. Spello's art scene includes first-rate frescoes by Pinturicchio and Perugino, and contemporary artists can be observed at work in studios around town. If antiquity is your passion, the town also has some intriguing Roman ruins. And the warm, rosy-beige tones of the local pietra rossa stone on the buildings brighten even cloudy days.