A few steps from the Via Flaminia, in the green flatland below Spoleto, there is a little building that scholars have argued about for centuries. The Tempietto del Clitunno looks like a miniature Roman temple, with a gabled front, columns and a carved cornice, but it is actually an early medieval church, made largely of reused Roman pieces and probably dating from somewhere between late antiquity and the time of the Lombards. It is among the group of Lombard sites in Italy that UNESCO listed in 2011, and part of its charm is that nobody is quite sure who built it or when.
The setting is the other half of the story. Just up the road are the Fonti del Clitunno, a set of springs that feed a small, clear pool shaded by weeping willows and poplars, with ducks and swans moving across water that looks almost impossibly still. The Romans thought the place sacred, and Pliny the Younger wrote a letter describing it in warm detail, noting the shrines and the clear water. Virgil mentioned the white bulls that grazed here, and the nineteenth-century poet Carducci wrote about it too, so literary pilgrims were arriving long before motorcycles.
The riding in this part of Umbria is very good. The old Flaminia, now the SS3, runs straight and quick along the valley floor, and the real pleasure comes when you turn off toward Trevi, perched on its hill among olive groves, or head south into the Monteluco hills above Spoleto with their tight, shaded bends. Montefalco, home of Sagrantino red wine, is a short run away, and the surfaces on the main roads are generally good, though the minor lanes can be patchy with gravel and leaves. Late spring and early autumn are the best times; mid-August can be hot, and the roads fill with weekenders.
Campello sul Clitunno is a small village with a few cafes, and for fuel and larger shops Spoleto, about eleven kilometres south, is the sensible choice. Try the local olive oil on bread if you get the chance, because the Trevi area is known for it. The little temple opens at set hours and is small enough that a visit takes only a few minutes.