Acquasparta. The village that returns to the 16th century every June
In Acquasparta, which features in the prestigious ‘I Borghi più Belli d’Italia’ (Italy’s Most Beautiful Villages) circuit, between Palazzo Cesi and the neighbourhoods decked out in period costume, the Renaissance is not merely a re-enactment: it is a collective ritual
Every year, when June arrives, Acquasparta ceases to be a village and becomes something else. The narrow streets fill with the scent of wax and leather. The windows of the travertine buildings open onto drapes of crimson velvet. The sound of drums — unamplified, unrecorded, beaten by flesh-and-blood hands — precedes the procession like a warning. We are in inland Umbria, forty kilometres from Terni, in a village that time has preserved just enough to make credible what takes place within its walls every summer.
It is not a re-enactment. It is something more enduring.
Between the Martani Mountains and the memory of the Cesi
Acquasparta lies in the Umbrian hills between the Martani Mountains and the Nera River valley, halfway between Todi and Terni. It is not a place one passes through by chance: one must make a point of going there, taking the country road that winds its way up through olive groves and oak woods until the medieval walls come into view atop the hill. The historic centre has remained largely intact — the limestone alleyways, the towers, the monumental gates — and three still-vibrant districts cluster around the old town: San Cristoforo, Porta Vecchia and Il Ghetto.
Dominating the scene is Palazzo Cesi, the Renaissance building commissioned by the Marquises of Cesi between the 16th and 17th centuries, which still houses the family tombs in the crypt of the Church of Santa Cecilia. It is from here – from the courtyard that transforms into a natural stage in summer – that the Renaissance Festival begins each year. In the immediate vicinity: the Roman ruins of Carsulae, the village of Portaria, and the nature trails of the Martani Mountains. A region that has continued to exist without making too much of a fuss.
Before the Lincei set out to explore the invisible world
Federico Cesi — the most famous progenitor of the Cesi family and founder of the Accademia dei Lincei in 1603 — chose this very palace as the base for part of his research. It was a time when the telescope and the microscope were changing the way human beings perceived reality, and the Lincei — Galileo Galilei among them — were busy naming what the naked eye had never been able to grasp.
Francesco Stelluti, originally from Fabriano but closely associated with the Umbrian Lincei circle, produced here some of the earliest published microscopic descriptions of an insect: he collaborated with Federico Cesi on the creation of the *Apiarium*, whose plate *Melissographia*—depicting three bees magnified approximately 20 times—remains a milestone in the history of natural history. The palace hosted meetings, correspondence and experiments. Then the Cesi family died out, the Lincei dispersed, and Acquasparta was left with its walls and its memories.
The Renaissance Festival was founded in 2000 on a simple idea: not to celebrate the past in a generic way, but to anchor it to a place, a family, and a specific moment in European intellectual history. That choice has set the event apart from the hundreds of similar re-enactments held every summer in Italy.
On 6 June, when the districts file out through the gates
There is a moment, in the late afternoon of 6 June, when the Great Procession of the Contrade begins to move and Acquasparta is transformed into something that is difficult to describe without sounding overly sentimental. It is not nostalgia, nor is it mere folklore: it is more like a bond between a community and its history, renewed every year with an almost ritualistic precision.
The three districts — San Cristoforo, Porta Vecchia, and Il Ghetto — take to the streets in 16th-century costume, bringing with them a rivalry that lasts for fifteen days. They compete in the Gastronomic Contest, where recipes must adhere to the traditions of Renaissance cuisine. They compete in the Drummers’ Contest and in the Great Game of the Goose — a live, costumed version of the board game that winds its way through the streets of the historic centre. They compete in the Ladies’ Games, reserved for women of all ages. They compete in the Theatre Contests, staging plays written before 1630.
Throughout the festival, cultural events and performances follow one another seamlessly. In 2026, the 27th edition of the Festival takes as its theme Mirabilia Mundi: Beyond the Human Eye: the Renaissance between the visible and the invisible’ — a direct tribute to the revolution in optical instruments, with an eye on contemporary artificial intelligence which, in its own way, carries forward that same challenge: to see beyond the threshold of perception. Theologian Vito Mancuso (8 June) and the Rector of the University of Perugia, Massimiliano Marianelli (16 June), will deliver their keynote lectures on humanism and AI. The second national flag-waving competition is scheduled for 7 June. On 19 June, La Notte delle Streghe (The Night of the Witches) will take to the stage.
It all begins, however, a little earlier: on Saturday 9 May, in the courtyard of Palazzo Cesi, fourteen Umbrian wineries will kick off the season with ‘Vini a Palazzo’ — wine tastings, local specialities, and music. A prelude. After that, the town already knows that June is on its way.
| ‘Federico Cesi was an exceptional patron, but above all a master organiser of minds: he understood that the new science needed a network, not a solitary genius. The Lincei were that network. Acquasparta was one of its hubs.’ — from a lecture on Federico Cesi and the Accademia dei Lincei, local historical sources |
Acquasparta today
The Acquasparta Renaissance Festival reaches its 27th edition in 2026, and this fact alone speaks volumes about the longevity of a project that many similar events fail to achieve. The programme runs from 6 to 21 June. Palazzo Cesi is open to visitors during the festival, and guided tours include the family tombs. The ruins of Carsulae, just a few kilometres away, are open to the public and form part of the festival’s themed itineraries. The Taverne delle Contrade open every evening, serving menus inspired by 16th-century cuisine.
The local community runs the event directly: the districts are still living communities, not mere facades for tourists. The drummers practise for months beforehand. The ladies prepare the costumes. This is probably why the procession on 6 June does not feel like a performance.
When the Grand Procession ends and the costumes are put away, Acquasparta returns to being a village of four thousand inhabitants on an Umbrian hilltop. But for fifteen days a year, its cobblestones remind those who walk upon them that there was a moment — brief, unrepeatable — when people here sought to see the invisible. Perhaps they really were seeking it. Perhaps they are still seeking it.
Giornalista detentore dal 2015 del Guinness World Records TV e Ambasciatore Borghi più Belli d’Italia.
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