Monte Rinaldo
The archaeological site of "La Cuma" lies within the municipality of Monte Rinaldo, in the province of Fermo, in the Marche region, on a hill in the middle Aso valley still dominated today by the medieval town. In antiquity the area stood on the border between the ager firmanus, the territory of Fermo, and that of the federated city of Asculum, present-day Ascoli Piceno. The sanctuary also lay along the Via Salaria Gallica — one of whose branches ran directly through the sacred area — halfway between the Picene city of Asculum and the Latin colony of Firmum. In a valley without urban centres, it effectively constituted the district's only public monument and the principal gathering place for the Roman colonists who inhabited the territory. Today the archaeological area and the Civic Museum, housed in the town at Palazzo Fossi, tell its story to visitors.
A brief history of the archaeological site
The Hellenistic-Roman sanctuary of "La Cuma" reached its main monumental phase from the middle of the 2nd century BC and represents one of the finest examples of late-Hellenistic sacred architecture in the central Adriatic area: an emblematic case of how territories with a limited urban tradition before the arrival of the Romans could come to possess major cult structures. Before its monumentalisation, the place was probably an open-air cult site (lucus), arising in the context of the Latin colonisation of nearby Firmum (264 BC) or, at the latest, of the viritane colonisation promoted by the Lex Flaminia (232 BC); the area was in any case already frequented after the Roman conquest of the 3rd century BC.
The complex is articulated in three main buildings set on a terrace cut into the hillside, with a temple dedicated to Jupiter at its centre. Of the temple — of Italic type and with a plan that cannot be fully reconstructed — chiefly the foundations survive: it stood raised on a podium faced with sandstone slabs, had four columns across the front and a cella flanked by two side rooms, and was decorated with painted architectural terracottas and a cycle of terracotta statues on the pediment, referring to a mythological episode connected with Jupiter. Behind the temple stands a monumental colonnaded portico, more than 62 metres long, with sandstone columns of the Doric order on the front and Ionic-Italic order inside: closed by a wall of large squared blocks, it served the dual function of retaining the slope and acting as a scenic backdrop, in keeping with the Hellenistic architecture spreading across the Mediterranean in those years. Finally, to the west of the temple stands a small shrine, "Building C," associated with a minor cult.
Alongside Jupiter — perhaps venerated under the epithet Fulgor, recognisable from the lightning-bolt iconography in the architectural decoration — the sanctuary hosted the cult of Hercules, identifiable from terracotta figures bearing the characteristic leonté and from a dedication scratched on a vase, and probably also the cults of Apollo and Vesta, suggested by certain votive inscriptions. Among the most significant finds are terracotta votive offerings (ex voto) and stamped or inscribed votive ceramics, many of them produced on site.
Research has made it possible to reconstruct the various phases of the complex. The original layout (around 175-150 BC) comprised the temple and the northern portico with a rear wall in opus quadratum. In the second half of the century (around 150-90 BC), probably following a collapse caused by an earthquake or other natural disaster, the sanctuary was rebuilt with the addition of the eastern arm of the portico with tabernae and of the shrine west of the temple; the area was stabilised with a fill rich in ceramics and votive offerings from the previous phase, on which the new foundations were set. After the Social Wars a further traumatic event severely damaged the structures, which were abandoned despite some attempts at restoration. In the Augustan age the area was occupied by rural buildings, most likely linked to the assignment of land to veterans after the Battle of Philippi (42 BC): it is to this phase that the reuse of several antefixes depicting the Potnia theròn in the façade of the new building belongs. Before its municipalisation in the triumviral-Augustan period, the site therefore appears to have concentrated functions connected with the economy and governance of the Aso valley.
After centuries of abandonment, in 1957 the fallen columns of the main portico were rediscovered by chance, prompting the first excavation campaigns and, in the 1960s, the reconstruction of the columns and many of the walls. The history of the excavations continued intermittently until 2016, when the current research project began.
The activities of the University of Bologna
The research at Monte Rinaldo forms part of a long Bolognese tradition of Adriatic landscape archaeology that goes back to Nereo Alfieri, founder of the Chair of Ancient Topography, and which today is also centred on the Study Centre for the Archaeology of the Adriatic, based at the Department of History and Cultures (DiSCi) in Ravenna. Following the site's discovery in the late 1950s, the University of Bologna — in agreement with the ABAP Superintendency of the Marche and the Municipality of Monte Rinaldo, and in collaboration with the British School at Rome — resumed investigations at the site in 2016. The work began with the collection and review of the archival documentation and of the materials from earlier research, and continued with a new architectural survey carried out through non-invasive investigations (topographical and geophysical surveys), which made it possible to quantify the buried deposit and to plan the excavation campaigns. The project is directed by Prof. Enrico Giorgi, with scientific co-direction shared with Paola Mazzieri of the Superintendency and field coordination entrusted to Francesco Belfiori, Paola Cossentino and Francesco Pizzimenti, with laboratories dedicated to topography, finds, geophysics (run by the British School at Rome) and conservation.
The approach is markedly multidisciplinary and integrates remote and proximal sensing techniques, geognostic investigations and stratigraphic excavation, with increasing recourse to preventive-archaeology methods aimed at reducing the consumption of the stratigraphic deposit, and a strong integration with palaeo-environmental and archaeo-zoological study. The excavation campaigns, conducted between 2017 and 2023, focused first on the temple area and subsequently on the sector uphill of the sanctuary, where a new 2nd-century BC building was identified, perhaps intended to bound the sacred area; further soundings opened outside the archaeological area made it possible to recognise structures built up against the sanctuary after its destruction. Among the most notable finds are numerous vessels used in cult practices, some of them bearing incised dedications to the deities worshipped here, chiefly Jupiter. Fieldwork concluded with the 2023 campaign, and the project is now focused on the study and final publication of the results.
In parallel, intensive surveys were carried out in the surrounding territory in order to set the sanctuary within the wider settlement context of the Republican-period Aso valley: the absence of dwellings immediately adjacent to the site has suggested the presence of land holdings belonging to the sanctuary, reserved for its needs or for communal use — a hypothesis that the ongoing archaeo-zoological and palaeo-environmental analyses will help to verify.
The campaigns have a strong educational dimension. Each year, usually between late June and July, students from all over Italy take part, learning in the field the methods of stratigraphic excavation and the techniques of topographical survey, including with innovative tools such as laser scanners and drones; for many, the experience has continued with a degree thesis or further study linked to the project. The excavation is accompanied by photographic and topographical documentation, the study of finds in the laboratory, conservation work — under an agreement with the Single-Cycle Master's Degree in Conservation at the Ravenna Campus — and the virtual reconstruction of architecture no longer visible, which can be accessed on personal devices both on site and at the museum.
A significant part of the work concerns public engagement and public archaeology. In November 2021, at Palazzo Fossi, the exhibition "The Sanctuary of Monte Rinaldo: Archaeology of the Sacred" was inaugurated, presenting the most significant finds for understanding the complex's history; some of them had previously been displayed in the Ministry of Culture's exhibition "Tota Italia. Alle origini di una nazione" (Rome, Scuderie del Quirinale, 2021). During the excavations the archaeologists live within the community of Monte Rinaldo and share their results with residents and visitors through "open dig" days, guided tours, public presentations, seminars and conferences, as well as concerts and a summer theatre season organised with local and heritage authorities: among these events was the concert by Dardust, "Lost in Space," on 2 June 2020, broadcast live in streaming and also relayed by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. The archaeological area welcomes around a thousand visitors and several dozen school classes each year.
The project is supported by the University of Bologna's Alma Scavi programme and by the municipalities involved, and the excavations are carried out under licence from the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of the collaboration agreement with the British School at Rome. Finally, between 2021 and 2023 the University of Bologna provided technical and scientific support to the Municipality of Monte Rinaldo — in matters of preventive and rescue archaeology, survey and documentation — including in connection with the recovery of buildings damaged by the 2016 earthquake, funded through the resources allocated to the Marche municipalities within the "earthquake crater" area.