Long Ago in Spoleto: When the Giro della Rocca did not exist yet

October 15, 2021 News, Offerte, Visore Home No comments

The ring road around Colle Sant’Elia, with its superb views of the upper town, the Albornoz Fortress and the Ponte delle Torri, is certainly one of the most popular promenades in town, appreciated by locals and tourists alike. Known as Giro della Rocca, it is a relatively recent urban development, completed only in the 1930s. Until 1817, when the Rocca Albornoziana was turned into a prison and extensive operations were undertaken in the area, there was nothing like today’s promenade underneath the fortress.

Until then, reaching the bridge from Piazza Campello was quite difficult, as the road was far from easy and not straight. One had to climb a section of the hill as far as the second gate of the Rocca. From there, one then proceeded along a small path until reaching the vicinity of the bridge. Looming over the town and protected by mighty walls that separated it from the town, the Rocca was an almost isolated element.

Carlo Bandini, in his 1933 volume on the Spoleto Fortress, quotes the politician and historian Paolo Campello as explaining the opening of the new road in more detail: “the opening of a road – the most pleasant, says Campello, and the most suitable to show the characteristic beauties of the city’s surroundings – the road that leads from Piazza Campello to the bridge, which until then “could not be accessed without climbing to the Fortress, and then descending again along an uncomfortable path”. Once the walls had been breached for the construction of a new gateway – the so-called Portella – the delightful road was promptly repaired’.

The construction of the new road, built on the appurtenances of the nearby convent of San Simone, was decided by Gonfalonier Bernardino Montani, who in that year of great building fervour was also responsible for the construction of the promenade (today’s Viale Matteotti), the new bridge over the Tessino outside Porta San Gregorio and the opening of the large arched window at the centre of the wall of Ponte delle Torri.

A few years later, in 1824 – Pietro Fontana being the city’s Gonfalone – the next stretch was laid out, that is the one from the Ponte delle Torri to the city, passing through the slopes of Monteluco: And again Carlo Bandini, in his 1924 guidebook to Spoleto, describes the “beautiful […] almost flat road” which from the Ponte delle Torri and on the Monteluco side, approaches the church of San Pietro, and then joins the Passeggiata, from where it crosses the public gardens and reaches Piazza Vittorio Emanuele [today Piazza Libertà]. This is the so-called “Giro del Ponte” – one of the easiest and most delightful of our walks”.

All this concerns the section from Piazza Campello to Ponte delle Torri via the Portella side, the only way to reach the bridge. But to complete the loop, an access from the opposite side remained to be built, in the area where the alternative mobility exits are now located. And many more years were to pass before it was finally completed.

Work on the new section of the road, in the northern part of the area, was not completed until 1934. An article of 22 September in the weekly L’Alta Spoleto reminds us that the work was completed in a public ceremony on 28 October 1934 and thanks to an agreement with the Luparini family, who allowed their vast vineyards to be crossed and sacrificed.

NEWS ARCHIVES
Pin It

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *