Description

The Forca di Ancarano is the pass between the plain of Santa Scolastica and the Campiana valley and for thousands of years it was one of the main roads across the Apennines from north to south.

It is not unusual, therefore, that ruins have been found of the Italic sanctuary at an altitude of 933 m. a.s.l. The precise area where they were found has been identified as the hamlet of Ponte, between the Cerescia Valley and the small stream that descends from Fonte Cugnolo (approximately 6 km from Norcia, beneath Mount Patino).

The excavations, begun at the end of the nineteenth century by Mariano Guardabassi, proceeded consistently and in time they enabled a sanctuary and a small necropolis to be identified. To the south there was a spring of water and to the north it was protected naturally by a gully. A short distance from the tombs Guardabassi found another series of structures which enabled the entire site to be identified as an Italic sanctuary built on terraces approximately 57 m wide.

After the excavations in the 80’s, the structures were identified as being a meeting place for the population for markets, festivities and social occasions along the main road for transhumance on the edge between the two well- cultivated valleys (Campiana and Santa Scolastica) in an easily controlled pass