Campello sul Clitunno: Tempietto del Clitunno
Il Tempietto del Clitunno (UNESCO 2011, rif. 1318) è il più enigmatico edificio sacro dell’Umbria — un piccolo tempio a 4 colonne corinzie costruito lungo la Via Flaminia che per un secolo gli studiosi hanno creduto un tempio romano del I-II sec. CE ma che la ricerca recente ha dimostrato essere un oratorio longobardo del VIII sec. CE, con affreschi che sono i più antichi raffiguranti Cristo in un’aula italiana, adiacente alle Fonti del Clitunno cantate da Virgilio nelle Georgiche.
At a glance
Campello Clitunno Tempietto (the most precisely Campello zone Campello sul Clitunno Umbria Italy 42.8103 N 12.7325 E UNESCO WHS 2011 reference 1318: the building (the Tempietto del Clitunno: the building was long believed to be a Roman temple (the “Temple of Clitumnus” mentioned by Pliny the Younger in Letters 8.8 (c.107 CE): Pliny describes “a small but charming temple” on the banks of the Clitumnus spring; 18th and 19th century CE travellers (including Goethe, Byron, and Carducci) identified the current Tempietto as Pliny’s temple; Goethe described it in “Italian Journey” (1786–88 CE) as “a little Roman temple worthy of all possible admiration”); the revision (the attribution of the Tempietto to the 4th–5th century CE or to the Lombard period (c.740 CE) was established by the art historian Friedrich Wilhelm Deichmann (1909–1993 CE) in his 1943 CE paper published in the Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte: Deichmann noted that the interlace decoration on the door lintel and the apse frescoes were incompatible with Roman-period art and indicated a post-Roman, probably Lombard, origin)); the frescoes (the apse frescoes of the Tempietto (8th century CE): the most important art-historical reason for the UNESCO inscription: the apse fresco (the head of the apse: a frontal Christ Pantocrator flanked by Saints Peter and Paul (the specific posture: the “orante” (prayer) gesture with the arms raised; the specific attribute: Christ holds an open book with the Greek text “Ego sum lux mundi” (John 8:12); the specific style (the “maculae albae” highlights: the white dots of paint applied over the flesh areas to indicate highlights (a technique documented in Italian frescoes from the 6th–8th century CE but later abandoned): the white dots are still visible on the Christ figure at the Tempietto in good lighting conditions (the best light: early afternoon when sunlight enters the west portal and hits the apse directly).
Key facts
- Il Tempietto del Clitunno: perché Byron ci scrisse dei versi e Carducci una poesia, e cosa disse Goethe nel Viaggio in Italia: the literary connection (the Fonti del Clitunno and the Tempietto were one of the most celebrated natural-historical sites in Italian poetry from the Roman period onward: (1) Virgil, Georgics IV (37 BCE): “Ubi maximus umbram / Clitumnus dedit” (where the Clitumnus gave his great shade) — the Clitumnus spring is cited as the source of the white Umbrian cattle (the “Umbrian white cattle”: a sacred breed sacrificed at Roman triumphs, whitened according to Virgil by drinking the Clitumnus water); (2) Pliny the Younger, Letters 8.8 (c.107 CE): a detailed description of the Clitumnus spring (“the source is wide and clear… like glass”); (3) Goethe, Italian Journey (Italienische Reise) (1786–88 CE): Goethe visited the Fonti del Clitunno and the Tempietto on 27 October 1786 CE: he described the Tempietto as “a small antique temple, perfectly preserved, dedicated to the river god Clitunno” (the attribution to Roman period was still standard in 1786 CE); (4) Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, canto IV stanzas 66–68 (1818 CE): “And thou, Clitumnus! in thy sweetest wave / Of the most living crystal that was e’er / The haunt of river-nymph… thou dost arise… / Of Nature’s best”; (5) Giosuè Carducci, “Alle Fonti del Clitunno” (Odi Barbare, 1876 CE): a major Carducci ode (one of his most famous; 98 lines; in the classical Sapphic meter) celebrating the spring and the pagan-Christian continuity embodied in the Tempietto (the ode was the poem that helped Carducci win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1906 CE))
- GPS (Tempietto del Clitunno): 42.8103° N, 12.7325° E
History
Dalle Fonti romane ai Longobardi al dibattito scientifico al UNESCO 2011 (the most precisely Campello zone history: the Roman Fontes Clitumni (the Clitumnus spring complex: the spring was a major Roman religious site: the temple of the river god Clitumnus (a small Roman temple: the round Doric type — “aedicula” — attested in a 1st century CE inscription found at the site in 1836 CE; the inscription: “DIVO CLITUMNO SACRUM” (Sacred to the divine Clitumnus)); the oracle (the Fontes Clitumni was one of the most visited oracles in central Italy: Pliny the Younger in Letters 8.8 describes that the oracle responses were written on wooden tablets that floated on the sacred water; pilgrims came from as far as Rome and Naples)); the Lombard conversion (the Lombard duchy of Spoleto (570–774 CE) converted the pagan Clitumnus site to Christian use in the 8th century CE: the specific evidence: the interlace carved door lintel (c.740 CE) + the apse frescoes (c.740–770 CE) are dated by comparison with the Tempietto Longobardo di Cividale (c.730 CE) and the Santa Maria Foris Portas di Castelseprio (c.700 CE); 2011 CE UNESCO serial inscription reference 1318.
What you see
Il Tempietto e le Fonti del Clitunno (the most precisely Campello zone visit (1–1.5 hours): the Tempietto (open daily 10 AM–1 PM and 2:30–6 PM (summer); 10 AM–1 PM and 2:30–5 PM (winter); admission €2 (the custodian, usually a local retired person, opens the door on request and explains the frescoes in Italian; no audio guide; no English-language materials)); the 4 columns (the 4 Corinthian columns of the pronaos: the visitor approaches directly up the 4 steps of the podium; the columns are at eye level (the shaft base is at +0.5 m from the paving); the column surface is rough (the shafts were never fluted — an anomaly visible at close range)); the apse frescoes (visible through the entrance door: the Christ Pantocrator + Peter + Paul; the “maculae albae” highlight technique; the viewing distance: 3–4 m from the frescoes; the custodian will point out the interlace lintel decoration at the entrance; the Fonti del Clitunno (the Clitumnus spring: 200 m south of the Tempietto on the Via Flaminia; a natural spring-fed lake system (the “lacus Clitumnus”): the spring flow: approximately 30,000 m3/day (a major karst spring); the lake is clean enough for swimming (public swimming is allowed on the south shore); the ducks (the spring is famous for white ducks that live on the lake (a tradition of keeping white animals at the spring dates from the Roman period when white cattle were kept at the spring for sacrificial use))); the literary pilgrimage (the traditional literary pilgrimage route: Tempietto → Fonti → Byron bench (the informal stone bench at the north shore of the lake where Byron is said to have sat when composing Childe Harold stanzas 66–68 (there is no documentary evidence for this tradition but it is maintained by local guides)).
Practical information
- Come raggiungere Campello sul Clitunno da Spoleto o da Foligno e combinare la visita con le Fonti: il trasporto (Spoleto → Campello sul Clitunno: (1) bus SSIT linea Spoleto-Foligno: fermata “Fonti del Clitunno” (il bus ferma sulla Via Flaminia a 200 m dal Tempietto; il Tempietto è visibile dalla fermata del bus); frequenza: ogni 60–90 min lun-sab; costo €2; durata 30 min; (2) bici: Spoleto ha noleggio bici in Piazza della Vittoria (“Spoleto Bike”; €10/giorno); la strada da Spoleto a Campello è la Via Flaminia (11 km; pianura; fattibile in 35–40 min; il percorso passa accanto al Ponte delle Torri); (3) taxi da Spoleto: €15); la giornata combinata (Spoleto → Campello: Spoleto Basilica San Salvatore (1h) → bici Via Flaminia 11 km (40 min) → Tempietto Clitunno (1h) → Fonti del Clitunno (30 min) → pranzo al Ristorante Fonti del Clitunno (Via Flaminia 7, Campello; la “trota del Clitunno al cartoccio” €16 (the rainbow trout farmed in the Clitumnus water at the adjacent fish farm at the south edge of the Fonti; the specific recipe: whole trout wrapped in parchment paper with rosemary and white wine + olive oil; baked 20 min); rientro Spoleto bus 14:30 → Spoleto stazione 15:00 → Roma Termini Trenitalia 15:30 (1h30; €9.90))
Getting there
Bus SSIT da Spoleto (30 min, €2, ogni 60-90 min) o bici Via Flaminia 11 km. Trenitalia Foligno–Trevi (10 min, €2.50) poi taxi 5 km. Auto: SS3 Via Flaminia, uscita Fonti del Clitunno. GPS: 42.8103, 12.7325.
Nearby
- Trevi: Il Complesso Museale di San Francesco — 5 km sud (il Museo Civico di Trevi nella chiesa sconsacrata di San Francesco (XIV sec. CE); la Pinacoteca (la “Madonna della Lacrime” di Perugino, 1521 CE; il più grande Perugino in Umbria fuori Perugia); la raccolta Medievale della città di Trevi (le tavolette del Comune, XIII-XIV sec. CE); €4)
- Spoleto: Basilica di San Salvatore (UNESCO 2011 Longobards) — 15 km sud (il serial site Longobardi più vicino; bus SSIT 30 min €2)
Gallery
Sources
- Wikipedia, Tempietto del Clitunno; Fonti del Clitunno; Giosuè Carducci, accessed June 2026
- UNESCO, Longobards in Italy. Places of Power (568–774 A.D.), WHS reference 1318, inscribed 2011
- Deichmann, Friedrich Wilhelm. “Zu dem sogenannten Tempel des Clitumnus bei Trevi.” Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 6 (1942–44): 105–154 (the foundational paper establishing the Lombard dating)
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