Spoleto: the Tower Bridge

Structurally speaking, Spoleto is an intimately mediaeval city. Its stratifications are tightly interlaced not only by the lanes and streets running through it but also by the palazzi and buildings constituting it. Not uncommonly, in fact, do certain buildings present their façades on one street level yet back on to either a higher or lower street level. Such is the case, for example, of the Municipal Offices, Palazzo Rosari-Spada and Palazzo della Signoria. Analogously some buildings have entrances for their various floors on entirely different street levels. Urban development was concentrated in very little space. With a little imagination, it could be described like a "huge pine-cone". Nowadays the urban context is no longer as compact as it was in the early middle ages because modern-age construction spaced it out somewhat with the building of numerous, impressive family dwellings and squares or wide open spaces in front (historical notes). Towards the end of the nineteenth century Spoleto was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. It was then that two other major urban "events" were to change the layout of the city even more: the railway station (characterised by the huge "Theodolapius" by Calder) and Viale Trento e Trieste (at the beginning of which stands a sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro). These events allowed for suburban expansion and the opening of the internal National Cross-Road. This road winds its way up with one-way traffic thus connecting Piazza Garibaldi to the true city centre. The Fortress and the Tower Bridge constitute the focal point of the city. Indeed, the monumental nature and the rare beauty of the two constuctions afford a strong visual impact from above thus characterizing the city.