Cesena, town, Emilia-Romagna regione, northern Italy, on the Savio River at the northern foot of the Apennines, south of Ravenna. It originated as the ancient Caesena, a station on the Via Aemilia and a fortress in the wars of the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines. An episcopal city and an independent commune in the 11th–13th century, it was heroically defended in 1357 by Cia, wife of the lord of Forlì, against papal troops under the Spanish cardinal Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz. In 1377 it was destroyed by Cardinal Robert of Geneva (later the antipope Clement VII), after which it was held by the Malatesta family of Rimini until 1465, when it passed under papal domination. Popes Pius VI and Pius VII were born at Cesena in 1717 and 1740, respectively.