Archeological Museum and Roman Theatre

Spoleto has no shortage of museums and this week we added the Teatro Romano and the Museo Archeologico Statale to our conquests.  The Roman Theatre from the 1st Century AD is now within the museum complex and is overlooked by the Canasta Ristorante where we have eaten a few times.  The theatre is still used for shows and events although the stone seats may be a bit uncomfortable.  The stage area is paved in marble of various colours - red, green, black, white, orange - and some green marble can still be seen on the stage surrounds.  Just off the main theatre are a number of rooms which were used by performers and dignitaries.  There is also a fountain fed by a spring which has been running since the theatre was built nearly 2000 years ago.

The museum has a good display of Roman artefacts including pillars, marble statues and funerary and household goods.  Spoleto has been an important town since pre-Roman times as it's located right in the centre of Italy.

There are also several marble tablets dating from Roman times and the original tablets proclaiming the protection of the Sacred Wood  (these are mentioned in our previous blog "A Walk in the Woods").  Monteluco (the name means Sacred Wood) is a town a few kilometres away in the Umbrian countryside.

One room has a reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" which takes up the whole wall.  The original is in Milan and I'm sure we wouldn't be able to get as close to the original as we could get to this version.

No outing is complete without food so we stopped off for a lunch of antipasto washed down with a glass of wine at Nove Cento (900). This is fast becoming one of our favourite restaurants.  The owner Andrea has a delicious menu and he's very friendly - Nove Cento is highly recommended to anyone visiting Spoleto.