Hidden by the thick vegetation, which covers the lush Matese massif, are the remains of settlements and sacred areas built by the Samnites in highland sites, a favourable position for the development of their communities and the control of the neighbouring lands. An anthropic presence capable of leaving, from century to century, traces of evocative monumentality that tell the story of experience, creation and the sacredness of the places. A complex relationship with the natural element from which man has drawn resources, raised defences and traced paths, maintaining the difficult coexistence with adverse environmental events over time. Among these mountains, at 953 meters above sea level, in visual contact with the Tammaro valley, stands the fortified settlement (Terravecchia) conquered by the consul Lucius Papyrus Cursor in 293 BC during the Third Samnite War. Not far away, halfway between Roman Saepinum and the Samnite stronghold, in the locality of San Pietro dei Cantoni, the Italic sanctuary dedicated to Mefitis was built, goddess of springs who oversees the loving sphere of motherhood, propitiates exchanges and rites of passage, and puts the ethereal gods in contact with the earth. Water, which flows from the earth or comes from the sky, thus becomes the element of union between man and the divine and with its continuous and impetuous flow gives life, renews time and covers the paths of people with sacredness.