Imagine the village of Cesi as a door: a door to the mountain and to wild nature, a door to history, even the most remote, a door to a lifestyle which many would like to lead.
Today Cesi is a closed door. With this project we will try to reopen it.
The basic idea starts with the analysis of the context: the richness of Cesi, its specificity, its attractiveness and its own community that has always been connected with its territory and with its mountain, physically, economically and culturally.
The project aims at considering Cesi as a village-territory, taking up the concept of the ancient Umbrian towns of protohistory that defined themselves as touta, i.e. including not only the village but the entire territory where a community was established. In ancient times, Cesi was a multi-level terraced settlement: the current village, St.Onofrio, St.Erasmo, as far as the area of the italic sanctuary of Torre Maggiore. Since the Middle Ages it has embraced the mountain above with an urban lay-out which has remained practically intact until today, through a large system of walls and fortresses that reached the spur of St.Erasmo, thus creating a structure similar to that of the towns configured on the scheme of the sacred mountain by Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
The redefinition of the relationship between Cesi, its mountain and surrounding area, including the underlying town of Terni, is therefore at the basis of the strategy of transforming the village into the gateway to central Umbria – through the Martani mountains and the Valnerina valley.
The relationship with its territory, with the nature of its mountain and the surrounding mountains, is thus updated in the project with the creation and management of infrastructures, with the objective of rendering it attractive for those who practice outdoor sports, open-air activities and for walkers.
The other theme suggested by the village and that outlines the strategy of this project is the dialogue with history, with beauty, with the traditions and Cesi’s way of living: a relationship that must be reinterpreted to nourish its future.
The big change in respect to the past is that Cesi should no longer be considered a village perched above and detached from the valley below. Cesi must be able to open its doors thanks to new material and immaterial connections and a new relationship with the town, sharing its beauty, its prevailing character, its traditions, its way of living with guests and new residents, thus becoming attractive once again.
The strong point of the regeneration project proposed by the Municipality of Terni for Cesi is aimed toward these goals: Cesi gateway to Umbria, door to wonders, open doors for outdoors.
