From April 27th 2006 this magnificent "container" exhibits the fascinating Roman necropolis of Fadienis, dating from the I and II century A.D. (Imperial age).
Five steles and more than 200 findings which came out from the two excavations campaigns, witness the process of "Romanisation" of the delta territory that followed the course of the ancient hydrographical net, in which the Gambulaga's finding is included. Thanks to the objects used as burial outfits, the living signs of a whole civilisation come to light with its own usages and habits, where everyday life interweaves with myth and millenarian symbols representing the human longing for immortality.
The stele that L. Fadienus Agilis, Marci filius, buried together with Atilia
Felicia, Cai liberta, dedicates to his son L. Fadienus Actor who died at the age
of 17
The funeral steles receive the visitors with the portraits of the Dead, the intense inscriptions and the different symbologies of Myth and offer elements allowing to give a context to the whole of findings. The expository space was designed to achieve most faithfully the impression that would struck the wayfarer travelling along the line traced by the steles almost 2000 years ago, now placed in the display-rooms the very same way they were originally placed on the side of the road, where they were discovered.
Particular of the exhibition
To further help the visitor in finding his way inside the necropolis, the
relationships between the steles position and the different graves connected
to them, located immediately behind, are shown on a map drawn on the floor.
The burial equipments of each grave (12 in all) are exhibited in various
show-cases. The tombstones come from Saint Catherine possessions, North East
of Delizia del Verginese, in ancient times lapped by one of the Po
river branches: a place, Gambulaga, often mentioned in specialized essays
and scientific publications.
The chance discovery of the first three steles in Autumn 2002 was followed
by a short and incomplete archaeological investigation, in the process of
which not three but four bases placed in a row came to light, moreover a
forth tombstone appeared, fallen to earth beside its own base and some
tombs. The first one to be lifted up was the stele of Caius Fadienus, Cai filius,
and Ambulasia Anucio, Marci filia, than it was the turn of the stele on
which epigraph Fadienus Repentius, Cai filius, and Cursoria Secunda, Luci filia
mourned the untimely death of Caius Fadienus Vegetus, perished when he was
21.
The monument to C. Fadienus and Ambulasia Anucio, as for the other
tombstones, was obtained from a limestone block of Aurisina and shows
a deliberately irregular chiselled back. A little smaller is the tombstone
which was dedicated to C. Fadienus Vegetus by his parents, with the draped
busts of the three characters, the adults above and the young man below,
framed by two rectangular niches with hollow bottom on the top part.
Third came the stele of Marcus Fadienus Massa, Cai filius, and Valeria Secunda, Quinti filia.
In the epigraph surface that separates the niche with the married couple
busts from the frame situated below, representing a bas-relief horse in
step, a text is written by which Marcus himself addresses the reader and
wayfarer:
| M(arco) FADIENO C F(ilio) CAM(ilia)
MASSAE PATRI
VALERIAE Q(uinti) F(iliae)
SECVNDAE MATRI
M(arcus) C(aius) L(ucius) FILI FECER(unt) Ave, M(arce)! / Legisti, viator, nomen in titulo meum: / memoria(m) (h)abeto esse hanc mortalem domum Valete ad superos, vivite vita(m) optima(m) / ego vixsi qua et potui quad modum volui bene / dedi qui volui, non dedi qui nolui / si quis me accusat veniat mecum dis-putet. / Vale, M(arce)! ST |
The sons Marco, Caio and Lucio had this
made to honour their father Marco Fadieno Massa, Caio'son of the Camilia
family and their mother
Valeria Secunda, daughter of Quinto Ave Marco! You wayfarer read my name in this inscription: you will remember that this is a mortal place, you that are still living take care of yourself, live an excellent life; I lived as well as I coukd and as I would. I gave to those I wanted to give to, I didn't give to those I wouldn't give to. Should anyone wish to accuse me, he shall come and discuss with me. Take care of yourself Marco! |
The epitaph was given a metrical composition that reminds not so much the
philosophical ideas belonging to the Epicurean circles, as a common way of
conceiving life that, at least after the I century A.D., had influenced most
of society. The lines in the end of the text express M. Fadienus Massa's
pride to have been consistent with his own principles, recollecting typical
self-praise expressions seen on other similar occasions.
The last stele is the one that L. Fadienus Agilis, Marci filius, buried
together with Atilia Felicia, Cai liberta, dedicates to his son L. Fadienus Actor
who died at the age of 17. The young man holds in his hands a parchment roll
and a "pen" and is wearing a ring on the little finger of his left hand. The
bust stays in the centre of a clipens (in this case a sort of grooved shell)
furrowed by mouldings, on the edge of which lies a crown of leaves, with
berries, a central flower on top and fluttering ribbons at the bottom: a
symbol hinting to victory over death.
Only during the second excavation campaign the fifth stele was found, the
one dedicated by the parents L. Pompennius Placidus, Caii filius, and Fadiena Tertia, Caii filia,
to their son Pompennius Valens, who too met with an untimely death at 23.
the family relationships between the characters, as we can understand from
the text of the steles, embrace four generations, parents, sons and
grand-children. The family doesn't seem stranger to connections with Celtic
elements, such as the "cognomen" Massa and the first name Ambulasia, if we
may recognize in this latter a suffix of Celtic origin and as a consequence
consider these as signs of a substratum emerging only in a few elements in
the Po Delta region, one of these having a religious character: the votive
offering (statues) to the Iunones in Codigoro, a plurality of goddesses.
This was a surely wealthy family for which the life of M. Fadienus Massa
represents a period of economic and social success. Beside his name, the
family he belongs to is indicated and his wife's too, the Valeria gens
(family).
In addition to the steles, real stars of the exhibition, the burial objects are also to be seen: they represent an outstanding rich source of information to understand more about the Roman Empire first centuries. The exhibited pieces, of great interest, include clay pottery and various coins that allowed to date the necropolis from the Iulius-Claudius age, around the beginning of the second century A.D. A rare collection of finely carved glass pottery (outstanding for its integrity, moreover extremely rare in Ferrara area), some bronze handworks, a horse harness and offerings like dates and figs.
Collection of finely carved glass pottery (outstanding for its integrity,
moreover extremely rare in Ferrara area
The exhibition is completed by information panels on the costumes of the age, going from clothes to hair styles; at the bookshop the scientific catalogue is also available, edited by the Superintendence to Archaeological properties of Emilia-Romagna.
The
Estensi Delizia (Resort) of Verginese
Originally a farm-house, the Verginese was transformed into a Duke's residence
in the early 16th century by Alfonso I Este and given as a present to Laura
Eustochia Dianti. After the Duke's death the Lady retired there and made of it
her own private little court, ordering its restoration to Girolamo da Carpi in
primis. He designed the castle as a rectangular plan building on two levels,
delimited by four square embattled towers.
On the side of this castle an 18th century little church is connected to the
main building by a porch built in the same period. The inside was decorated
starting from the XVIII century by stucco works, liberty-style distempered
flowers, shells, ceiling roses, volutes and thick frames tracing the outline of
the ceiling.
The dove-cot tower nearby is a remainder of the properties originally situated
around the Delizia end dates from the XVI century.