Our hotel in Spoleto was Palazzo Dragoni, which we selected on the basis of Trip Advisor reviews. It was terrific! (http://www.palazzodragoni.it/Inglese/indexing.htm)
Side View of Palazzo Dragoni
(I could not get a nice front view because of the narrow street. However, see the hotel's web site for a beautiful rear view and other info.)
The building was constructed in the 14th Century by the illustrious Dragoni family. It is located at 13 via del Duomo in the upper end of the town, close to the Cathedral. The hotel is owned and operated by Roberto and Erminia Diotallevi. Roberto was gracious and very helpful. His wife Erminia, who was responsible for preparing the breakfast, was charming, energetic, and talented. She delighted in making beautiful flower and plant arrangements to decoratecommon various rooms in the hotel. She collected the makings for these arrangements in nearby fields. The breakfasts she prepared were excellent. One morning, one of the items in the breakfast buffet was a marvelous blackberry tart she had made from blackberries she had picked herself. She showed us a huge bucket with blackberries she had not yet used.
An Arrangement by Erminia
The breakfast room is very comfortable and through its large glass windows, it provides a magnificent view of the Umbrian hills and the town. There is a nice salon with fireplace on the ground floor. There is also a large room for dining or special functions. There is also an elevator.
Breakfast Room with View
My wife and I stayed in room number 8, and our niece stayed in room number 3. We were all happy with our rooms and loved the hotel.
Our room was very spacious and comfortable. The bed was large with an elegant canopy over the top. The mattress was firm and comfortable. There was a small balcony, with large French doors onto the balcony.
The view from the room was superb. The view was toward the north. In the distance, we could see a range of high hills. To the center right was a large, elegant-looking mansion, at least four storeys high, with a formal garden. A massive retaining wall dropped down below two sides of the garden. Beyond that was the 12th-13th Century church and monastery of San Ponziano. To the right of the mansion was the Duomo - the Cathedral of Spoleto. (Unfortunately, the bell tower of the cathedral was covered in scaffolding.) Beyond the Cathedral and looming above it at the top of a hill was the massive fortress - La Rocca Albornoziana. Between the Cathedral and us were several massive old fir trees. To our left below us was a large section of the city of Spoleto. The buildings we could see appeared to be primarily stone buildings and some with painted walls. The buildings were colored brown, beige, pale yellow and even ochre. Immediately below us were the hotel garden and a couple of large houses.
Views from Our Room
The breakfast buffet at the hotel was very nice. It included cereals, fresh bread, pastries, a variety of fresh and dried fruits, baked apples, cheese, salami, juice, coffees, teas, and bottled water. Erminia would take orders for the coffee or tea, and provide as many refills as requested.
Signor Diotallevi was very helpful in help us in planning our itinerary for our stay in Spoleto, including trips we had planned to Gubbio and Norcia.
He was also very helpful with ideas on how to fulfill my wish to try Umbrian foods. I had prepared a list of unique Umbrian dishes I wanted to try. He looked at the list and explained which dishes might be available. Some dishes were only available during certain seasons. Others were dishes for holidays or special occasions.
At our request, he suggested a different restaurant where we could try local foods each night of our 4-nights in town. The restaurants he suggested were: Ristorante Tric Trac, Ristorante il Pentagramma, Trattoria la Torretta, and Ristorante il Panciolle. All of them were excellent.
He also suggested that the best place to get a porchetta sandwich was at one of the vendors at the weekly Friday outdoor market.
For those who are driving, there were two drawbacks to the hotel, but I would stay there again in a heartbeat and would strongly recommend it. First, it is a bit difficult to reach, and second, the parking is not the most convenient.
We had a Nuvi GPS with our rental car, but it did not always provide the best directions. The hotel’s web site has detailed directions and a map. The hotel’s directions are accurate, but navigation is still difficult because street signs are often missing or not easily visible on buildings. Before I left home, I had used Google street view to follow part of the directions to the hotel, but I still had trouble.
The GPS suggested entering the town from the southern entrance off the SS3, the via Flaminia. That did not work out and it took us a while to get things sorted out. The hotel’s directions suggested entering the town from the northern entrance off the SS3. That is the right way to go.
What I would like to see hotel owners do is to create a video of how to reach their hotel and post that video on their web site. A guest could load that video onto a smart phone or iPad and use that to help navigate.
There were one or two tight parking spaces on the narrow street outside the hotel. There was additional parking about a block away.
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