After having enjoyed the beauty and spirituality of Assisi, those headed to Rome over the Roman Way will now travel over a relatively easy stretch that ends up in Trevi, the City of Olive Oil, past such lovely towns as Spello and Foligno.
There is a cumulative ascent of only 350 metres along this leg of the journey and it is similar to the yesterday’s ride as it too is easy going until you get to the start of the ascent of Trevi, a gradual climb that is not hard and very panoramic.
It’s a truly lovely route with plenty of beautiful things to see, both in terms or nature and art. Soon after leaving Assisi you go down towards San Vitale and from here take the lovely Via degli Ulivi, a panoramic road that winds through the olive groves that drape the slopes of Mt. Subasio and take you to the little town of Spello, one of Umbria’s loveliest.
From here, after a few kilometres over flat land, you’ll reach Foligno, Umbria’s third largest city, where Francis was known to sell his father’s precious fabrics to help lepers and the poor. Please be careful of the traffic when you cross through this city, and use the cycle path that runs along the road as often as you can so that you can ride without worrying about cars.
Don’t forget to explore the city, which is easy to tour on your bike, and stop in at the Duomo, the Palazzo Comunale and Palazzo Trinci. The Romanesque church of Santa Maria Infraportas, the church of San Salvatore and the former church of San Domenico, now the Auditorium, are all well worth a visit.
Once outside of town you’ll be on flat roads without traffic over bucolic Umbrian countryside before you reach the Assisi-Spoleto cycle path, which will soon take you to the feet of the town of Trevi perched on a hilltop draped in a green mantle of olive groves that have been renowned since Roman days.