Driving Rome to Spoleto
 

I will be driving from the Rome airport to Spoleto next week and will be in no great rush. Can anyone recommend a stop or two along the way -- an interesting town, great view, good meal, etc. I am flexible on the route I take. Thanks!

Are you arriving from North America?
If so, I hope you can sleep on the plane.

As for a nice town, Orvieto is the obvious choice to me.

The standard route to Spoleto would be the SS3, which is the route we have generally used. However, you could also take the SS4 for part of the way. On the SS3, Narni is a nice little town.

Terni is also interesting, and there is a very nice waterfall, the Cascata delle Marmore, on the outskirts. This waterfall was created when the Romans drained a large swamp near Rieti, redirecting the water into a canal and over a cliff some distance away. It's one of many feats of ancient Roman engineering.

The waterfall is not huge, but it's beautiful, with water cascading down in picturesque little rivulets, and trails along the course of the water. Most of the water is used by a hydroelectric plant; twice a day, they sound blasts on a horn to signal that the full torrent is going to be released, so that people get away from the falls. It's quite a sight to see when the whole force of the water arrives; people time their visits to see it. Here is a page about the falls, with the timetable of the release of the water:

http://www.marmorefalls.it/indexen_GB.php

The patron saint of Terni is St. Valentine, and there is a basilica named for him there. He was (according to one verion of the story) the first bishop of Terni. However, there is another version that says he lived in Rome and wasn't a bishop but just a priest. The church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin (where the Mouth of Truth is located) has his skull on display in a reliquary. It's possible that they're the same person, because another story says that the bishop went to Rome to preach and was arrested there. Whatever the real story is, the town of Terni has a big festival for lovers on St. Valentine's day. They also have a big chocolate (how appropriate!) festival around that time.

If you take the SS4, you'd have to change roads in Rieti, taking a road called the "Raccordo Rieti Terni" which will join the SS3 in the vicinity of Terni, passing right by the Marmore falls, I think. Rieti is also a very nice town.

Thank you, bvlenci. This is exactly the sort of advice I was hoping for!