The current settlement of Ponte is divided into various parts according to their significance and chronological order: the castle, a late Middle Age version of an older fortified centre; the village that developed along the crest of the hill to the foot of the castle; the parish church of Santa Maria from the end of the 12th century with its ancient road lower down; and finally the more recent part which has developed along the roads.

In the early Middle Ages, as headquarters of the homonymous Lombardic gastaldato, Ponte acquired a dominant role over a vast area that stretched to Valle Campiano, Valle Oblita, to the area around Norcia and Cascia, as far as Poggioprimocaso. This role was also confirmed by the ecclesiastic organisation in the area: Ponte was, in fact, the parish headquarters of a wide district that remained important at least until the 14th century.

As the parishes broke up and new forms of religious power were formed, Ponte fell into decline so that in the 18th century it became the headquarters of a very small vicariate consisting of Ponte, Nortosce and la Rocchetta. The castle barely reveals its development and original size: from the only entrance gate a linear, spiral path runs along the wall along which the houses were built resting with their flying buttresses on the castle walls; the only road ends on top of the hill previously occupied in prehistoric times by a lord in a now ruined fortress.

The former town hall with its stone portal and the coat of arms of Ponte, together with a palace next to it also with stone windows and a stone portal are all that remains of this dignified civil building.