Borgo di Ceri

Ceri stands on a tuff plateau in the countryside of Cerveteri. Its walled outline gathers a Marian sanctuary, the Torlonia palace and a small central square above a landscape with much older funerary remains.

Why it matters

The hamlet is historically linked to the movement of people from Caere Vetus, modern Cerveteri, to the settlement known as Caere Nova. Its compact form preserves the relationship between a defensible hilltop, a noble residence and a religious centre.

What to notice

The rock-cut approach reveals the thickness of the tuff plateau. Around Piazza dell'Immacolata, the sanctuary and palace face the smaller houses of the settlement. The palace's hanging Italian garden adds a cultivated terrace above the square, while walls and lanes follow the limits of the rock. Nearby Iron Age and Etruscan cemeteries attest to the area's occupation before the medieval borgo.

Context and history

Ceri developed during the Middle Ages and appears as Caere Nova in a papal document of 1236. Cesare Borgia's siege in 1503 severely damaged the settlement. Alessandro Torlonia acquired the estate in 1833 and reshaped the palace, square and entrance, giving the village important nineteenth-century features within its older defensive setting.