Stone ruins on a grassy hilltop with a panoramic view of hills and mountains on the horizon under a cloudy sky.
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Temples of Monte Torre Maggiore

At the summit of Monte Torre Maggiore, rising above the village of Cesi at 1120 meters of altitude, lies one of the most fascinating archaeological sites of ancient Umbria. It is an imposing sanctuary with two temple structures, a place of worship first for the Umbri and later for the Romans.

In use until the 3rd century AD, the sanctuary preserved its sacred memory in the names attributed to the site between the 18th and 19th centuries, known as Ara Maior and Monte Peracle. Among the first scholars to take an interest in the site was Federico Cesi, Duke of Acquasparta and founder of the National Academy of the Lincei, who wrote a detailed description of the sanctuary, fascinated by the grandeur of this place.

 Recent archaeological research has revealed several building phases:

  • First building phase: dating back to the 6th century BC, it is documented by a system of channels connected to a votive offerings deposit, the mundus of the sanctuary. Inside it numerous bronzes dating from the 6th to the 4th century BC were found, representing male warrior figures, female figures, animals such as cattle and horses. A golden bronze lightning bolt suggested that the sanctuary may have been dedicated to Iuppiter Fulgurator.
  • Monumentalization of the area: in the 3rd century BC, with the Roman domination, the sacredness of the sanctuary was respected. The votive offerings deposit and the already existing rooms were monumentalized, the temenos (sacred enclosure) was built, and the earlier temple was erected: a tetrastyle structure in antis with a rectangular plan (measuring 11.80 x 7.90 meters), with a staircase leading to the pronaos and the cella. Among the most important materials found are numerous lion-head protomes, used as waterspouts, and a female head with diadem, acrolith of a cult statue.
  • Late Republican phase: a second temple was erected, also tetrastyle in antis, of similar size to the first. The construction technique of the walls was different, with a cement core covered with limestone slabs.
Stone ruins on a grassy hill with a panoramic view of hills and mountains on the horizon under a cloudy sky.

Cesi - Temples of Mount Torre Maggiore

Ancient stone building, surrounded by vegetation and hills, under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Cesi - Church of Saint Erasmus

Ancient stone block wall along a mountain road, with vegetation and hills in the background.

Cesi - Polygonal Walls on Via della Pittura

Dark wooden door set into a stone wall with reused materials and carved Roman reliefs.

Cesi - Former Church of Sant’Andrea

Entrance portal of a stone church, with walls incorporating reused materials from the Roman period.

Cesi - Church of Santa Maria di Fuori

Mighty defensive walls to identify an ancient Umbrian city

Near Cesi are some stretches of polygonal masonry walls that attest to the presence of a pre-Roman settlement, certainly linked to the birth of the sanctuary. These monumental remains, which confirm the strategic importance of the territory of Cesi in ancient times, for many historians represent the definitive proof of the identification of Cesi with Clusiolum, mentioned by Pliny the Elder among the vanished Umbrian centers, which once stood above the city of Terni.

 Of the numerous stretches of walls reported in 17th-century writings, only a few survive today:

  • Substructure near the Church of Sant’Onofrio: a massive quadrangular spur in polygonal masonry, suggesting the presence, in the 3rd century BC, of a vicus with a terraced structure;
  • Substructure in the locality of La Pittura: imposing stretch of polygonal walls tending towards isodomic style, suggesting a later date than the vicus, to be placed around the 2nd century BC. The walls, up to 6 meters high, form a right angle enclosing a quadrangular terrace of about 37 metres per side. The structure may have belonged to a rural villa or, more likely, to a sanctuary.
  • Spur of Sant’Erasmo: monumental foundation on which the Romanesque church stands, enclosed by a polygonal masonry wall about 400 meters long, with elevations reaching 10 meters. The buttress encloses an area of about 7,000 square meters, with access ramps leading to the two main entrances. Its function remains uncertain: was it a fortified citadel, or the monumental podium of a temple? A column fragment inside the church seems to support the latter interpretation of the site, while an imperial-age cistern suggests that, in this period, the area lost its cult function in favor of a defensive one.
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