A watching brief was undertaken by the Archaeological Superintendency of Umbria during work on the creation of the Porta Amerina Park at Todi which led to an important archaeological discovery. An unusual Roman well was uncovered which contained the burial of a lightning bolt. This was a fulgur conditum, the characteristic Italic ritual linked to the Etruscan liturgy of the libri fulgurales. During this ritual the priests recited the expiation, that is they cleansed the site struck by the lightening bolt and removed all traces of it, burying any objects that had been hit and damaged, fencing them in and consecrating them.

In this case the excavation revealed a slab with an inscription ( fulgur conditum ), which marked and covered the burial of the lightening bolt, resting over a well (puteal) in which the elements from the marble facing of a monument had been buried. The latter was probably a funerary monument considering the area of the find. Numerous moulded fragments were found in the well. The latter, orientated north-east/south-west in the Chthonic direction, or underground and underworld, was constituted by simple vertically placed travertine slabs, joined by iron and lead cramps. The inscription’s characteristics date the find to the late imperial period.

This is a find of particular interest as examples relating to this ritual, practiced from the Iron Age onwards, are rare. In Umbria there are examples from Terni ( Interamna ) and at Bevagna ( Mevania).