Cippo of Sacerno

In 43 BC, a momentous event in history is believed to be happened here. Sacerno is indicated as the site where the Roman army generals Octavian, Mark Anthony and Lepidus divided up the Roman empire after the death of Julius Caesar: the Second Triumvirate was born.

The site is today indicated by a Baroque-period column on the banks of the river Lavino. The importance of Sacerno, however, dates back to even more ancient times. Also known in the past as Mezzomondo, up to the 16th century the area was known as San Chierno, a name deriving from the Celtic Kernunnos, the horned god associated with the rivers and the centre of the world.

In the Christian era, in the 8^th century, the nearby proto-romantic rotunda of Sant’Elena was built to consecrate a site that had already been sacred to other cults.
The remains of the ancient Church are now part of the highly original bell-tower of the successive Benedictine parish church.