It used to be a quiet town above a gorge, rarely visited by tourists despite the rare attraction of Ponte delle Torri (‘Tower Bridge’), 80 m high. Exquisite little Via di Fonte Secca with flight of steps to Piazza Pinciani; a Roman wall which delayed Hannibal after the Battle of Trasimene; astonishing carvings on San Pietro’s façade, of which parts date back 1,500 years – these features of a typical Umbrian ‘city of art’ are now revealed to thousands who flock to well-publicized cultural demonstrations every summer. The Festival of Two Worlds, a June-July operatic fortnight, which genuine opera-lovers tend to avoid, sees Spoleto at its most chaotic.