Monteleone di Spoleto (in Antiquity, the Roman town ofBrufa), is a town andcomune of Italy, in theprovince of Perugia in southeastUmbria at 978 meters (3,209 ft) above sea-level overhanging the upper valley of theCorno River. It is one of the more remote towns in Umbria, on a mountain road fromNorcia andCascia (33 km and 12 km NNE respectively) toLeonessa andRieti in the Lazio (10 km S and 51 km SSW). It is one ofI Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").[3]
The population of thecomune was 648 in 2010, with the town proper accounting for about half of that; thefrazioni of Monteleone are Butino, Rescia,Ruscio, and Trivio.
Monteleone is famous for one of the world's great archaeological finds: a 6th‑century BCEtruscan chariot that quickly followed the path of money and by the early 20th century had already wound up in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. A copy of the chariot is on display in Monteleone. There remain, however, few if any traces of the town's Roman days: destroyed and rebuilt by theSpoletans in the 12th century, it offers at present an essentially medieval appearance.
The main monument in Monteleone is the 14th-century church of San Francesco, with a cloister now serving as a lapidary museum, a Gothic door and a fresco of Christ crucified in the full robes of a bishop, with a loaf of bread under one foot and a chalice of wine under the other. Under the cloister, a second church can be seen, complete with a 14th‑century fresco. Other monuments include several other medieval churches, the 15th‑century Palazzo Bernabò, and vestiges of the town's medieval walls, including a clock tower.