Housed in Palazzo Piella, the museum path revisits the history of settlement in the Castelfranco area from prehistoric times, at the dawn of the terramara culture during the Bronze Age, here evidenced by important settlements (pod. Pradella, Rastellino, Gaggio) up to the birth of the Borgo Franco in the 13th century, from which the current town originates. Among the materials preserved in the museum, special mention goes to the hoard of “aes signatum” found in 1897 at the Cappella farm. This is a deposit of marked bronze ingots (6th century BC) interpreted as a means of pre-monetary exchange or as a reserve of a metallurgist craftsman for the production of new artifacts. The itinerary unfolds in two rooms that suitably house numerous finds from excavations carried out in recent years by the Archaeological Superintendent. The Iron Age is fully represented through the Villanovan site of “al Galoppatoio,” where both a settlement and the related cremation necropolis are documented. The Etruscan-Celtic settlement of Forte Urbano illustrates the characteristics of the population between the 5th and the first half of the 4th century BC, within a strongly Etruscan cultural environment. For the Roman age, ancient literary sources mention the existence of an ancient inhabited center near the Via Emilia between Bologna and Modena, called Forum Gallorum, related to the War of Modena (43 BC). Modern studies agree in placing it in the “Prato dei Monti” area, a zone characterized by substantial archaeological remains between Castelfranco and Piumazzo. Numerous materials in the museum collections indeed refer to the Romanization phase. Sepulchral inscriptions from various chronological contexts are also documented, indicating rich tombs scattered throughout the territory. The most important of these refers to a magistrate who held the municipal office of decurion in Bologna. Finally, a milestone with a dedication to Emperors Valentinian I and Valens, found in the Noce area, relates to a rearrangement of the Via Emilia in the 4th century AD.
Information about the Civic Archaeological Museum “A.C. Simonini”
Corso Martiri, 204,
41013 Castelfranco Emilia (Modena)
059959367
museocivico@comune.castelfranco-emilia.mo.it
https://www.comune.castelfranco-emilia.mo.it
Source: MIBACT
