Hidden Waters#2 Cesena and the Spatial Memory of the Cesuola Canal

Saturday, June 13, 2026, h. 9:00

Observing the contemporary cartography of Cesena, the Cesuola stream appears to have faded away. If the expansion of the city across the left bank of the Savio river defines a relationship of urban proximity, ancient history reveals a vital and productive bond with the hydraulic system. The Cesuola, which once defined the limits of the settlement and traversed the city center, providing the etymological root of its name, is today embedded unseen within the city's foundations.
The suggested walking starts from where the water still flows under the open sky, continuing to the point where it is culverted and lost from view. In its wake, we track surface remnants: winding streets that trace the ancient riverbed and structures (like mills) once powered by its flow, until its silent mouth at the Savio river. To retrace today the Cesuola means to restore the spatial memory of a concealed river.