Placidus a Spescha (born Julius Baptist Spescha; December 8, 1752 – August 14, 1833) was a Benedictine monk and early Alpine explorer born in Trun, near Disentis , in the valley of the upper Rhine in Graubünden. He became a monk in 1774 in Disentis and went to Einsiedeln to complete his education.

The rest of his life was spent in serving various cures in his native valley, though he suffered much at the hands of his brother monks, who could not understand his scientific tastes. In 1799 he was accused of being a spy (his climbs and maps were held suspicious) in favour of the French invaders, and, when the French did come, he had to give up to them all his scientific collections. In addition he had the dreadful experience of learning, soon after his departure, that his monastery, with all its most precious archives, including his own original collection, had been burnt by order of a French general so as to punish the peasants who dared to resist his advance.

Despite all these disadvantages, Spescha achieved an extraordinary amount of success in his mountain explorations around his native valley.