Campello sul Clitunno, Italy: travel guide to the Clitunno springs, the UNESCO Tempietto and Campello Alto

Campello sul Clitunno is a town in the province of Perugia, in Umbria, set along the ancient Via Flaminia between Spoleto and Trevi, in the heart of the Umbrian olive belt. Famous for the limpid springs of the Clitunno river and for an exquisite early-medieval temple, it offers a rare meeting of nature, poetry and art.

For travellers searching for Campello sul Clitunno, the Fonti del Clitunno, the Tempietto del Clitunno or Longobard sites in Italy, the town is a serene and timeless stop in green Umbria.

The Springs of the Clitunno

The Fonti del Clitunno are a group of crystal-clear freshwater springs that form a small lake fringed by weeping willows and poplars, from which the Clitunno river rises. Famous since Roman times for their tranquillity and praised by writers from Pliny the Younger to Lord Byron and the poet Giosuè Carducci, who devoted an ode to them, the springs create a romantic, almost painterly landscape that has long drawn travellers.

The Tempietto del Clitunno

A short distance away, at Pissignano, stands the Tempietto del Clitunno, a small early-Christian church dedicated to San Salvatore built in the form of a classical temple, with a columned front and a tympanum. Long mistaken for a pagan sanctuary because of its Roman appearance, it is in fact a place of Christian worship, and in 2011 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the seven monuments of "The Longobards in Italy: Places of Power (568-774 AD)." Its classical design inspired Renaissance architects in later centuries.

Campello Alto and the territory

Above the valley rises Campello Alto, a fortified medieval hilltop village built around a castle, with its ring of walls and quiet lanes. The surrounding hills are covered in olive groves that produce a prized extra-virgin olive oil, making Campello a member of the association of Italy's Cities of Oil. The town lies within easy reach of Spoleto, Trevi and the wider treasures of Umbria.