Hispellum is mentioned in Pliny (III.xiv.113), Strabo (V.2.10), and Ptolemy's "Geography" (III.1), but apparently by no earlier author: the town seems to have been established by Augustus, who at any rate founded a colony there (Colonia Julia Hispellum) as a reward for soldiers who fought on his side in the Perusine War. Augustus extended its territory to the springs of the Clitunno, which had originally belonged to the territory of Mevania.