The Archaeological Park of Altino (Venice), part of the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon, has announced the start of a new excavation campaign in the area identified as the forum of the ancient Roman city. The operation, scheduled for the end of October, represents the first occasion in which an archaeological research focuses on such a central area of the ancient settlement, complementing the work conducted between 2022 and 2024 in the Decumanus Area.
The campaign is promoted and managed directly by the Park, with funding from the General Directorate for Museums, and involves, in addition to the Park’s technical staff, the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua and a number of freelance archaeologists. The main objective of the excavation concerns the southern area of the forum and aims to deepen the results obtained between 2007 and 2009 by the University of Padua in collaboration with the Superintendence and the Veneto Region. During that period, through the interpretation of aerial and satellite photographs and geophysical prospecting, it had been possible to reconstruct the urban layout of the ancient city, mapping its streets, blocks and public buildings, and to identify the traces of the monumental center: the forum, the two theaters and the amphitheater located outside the urban perimeter, recognizable by its characteristic elliptical shape.
“In archaeological museums and parks, research is not an ancillary activity, but a foundational aspect of their mission,” says Museums Director General Massimo Osanna. “Through archaeological study and excavation we can advance knowledge of our heritage and ensure more appropriate forms of protection, enjoyment and accessibility. When the results are promptly communicated, Museums and Parks are transformed into living places, constantly updated and in continuous dialogue with their audiences. For this reason, the Ministry of Culture has allocated specific funds for excavation campaigns in numerous national archaeological parks, also promoting activities carried out in collaboration with universities and research institutes. A commitment that consolidates the role of the National Museum System as a laboratory of knowledge and innovation.”
“With these excavations we will investigate for the first time the monumental heart of Roman Altino,” says Marianna Bressan, director of the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon and the Archaeological Park of Altino. “Of this part of the city only a kind of x-ray is known, restored through the interpretation of remote sensing traces and geophysical prospecting. Now we have the opportunity to give substance, through stratigraphic excavation, to what was predicted through noninvasive surveys. The interest of the research is therefore twofold: on the one hand, to test the effectiveness of the predictions produced by the technological tools, and on the other, of course, to know the consistency of the buried traces and decrypt their complexity in order to write a new chapter in the history of Altino. Remote surveys work on large scales and photograph large areas to return a horizontal overview; excavation, due to objective time and cost limitations, concentrates in a very small sector compared to the large monuments it aspires to investigate. On the other hand, it will make it possible to descend vertically and learn about the successive phases of anthropic activity in the sector, thus restoring the historical succession of events. It will also be interesting to verify the consistency of the buried archaeological remains in order to evaluate their future enhancement in the context of a new archaeological area open to the public.”
The lands covered by the campaign belong to recent state acquisitions and will be subjected to archaeological excavation for the first time. The element gives particular relevance to the research, which is part of a context of studies already active in recent years, conducted by the Park or granted to the Ca’ Foscari universities of Venice and Padua. The campaign will be divided into three phases. The first involves new aerial and ground prospecting conducted by the team of Professor RitaDeiana, director of the Interdepartmental Research Center for Cultural Heritage at the University of Padua, aimed at identifying the most strategic point for the excavation essay. Subsequently, archaeologists from the company Malvestio s.n.c. will carry out the actual excavation campaign under the supervision of the Park management. The last phase will be devoted to the return of the collected data, with topographical surveys and analysis of the mobile finds unearthed. The planned duration of the excavation is about two months, during which important results are expected from the archaeological point of view.
As is customary, as soon as the excavations produce relevant results, the Park will organize a date of excavations open to the public. The initiative aims to encourage the dissemination of research results, allowing citizens to observe archaeological activities up close. The initiative is part of the Park’s strategy of making the knowledge of the archaeological heritage accessible and participatory, with meeting moments that regularly arouse strong interest.
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| Altino (Venice), the city's Roman center resurfaces: new excavations begin in the forum |
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