Monteluco is the wooded hill directly across the gorge from Spoleto's old town, sacred since antiquity. A Roman inscription from the 3rd century BC — the Lex Spoletina — threatened fines for cutting trees in the sacred grove of Jupiter. The grove is still there, a forest of holm oak that has survived two and a half millennia of relative protection, making it one of the oldest continuously protected natural areas in the world.
The hill is accessible by road from Spoleto (about 8 km, or a walk up via the Ponte delle Torri path and Monteluco's tracks). The hermitage of Sant'Onofrio, established by Syrian hermits in the 5th century, and a later sanctuary associated with Saint Francis are the main destinations. The views back to Spoleto from the summit are superb, and the forest is genuinely old-growth in feeling — dark, quiet, and full of birdsong.