L’Antiquarium is located in the medieval center of Fossato di Vico.
It is housed in the building that was the first seat of the Municipality and later hosted the municipal theater.
The visit to the civic collection of Fossato di Vico is an opportunity to learn about the life of an area whose fortune and centrality lie in its favorable position near numerous traffic arteries that intersected here. It was actually located along the route of the consular road Flaminia, opened in 220 B.C., of which important traces remain of its bridges that served to cross watercourses now disappeared. The exhibited objects show that the small town was vital from prehistory to the late antique period, and it is consistently mentioned in the Roman itineraries, the travel guides that contained information on roads, distances, and urban centers.
Inaugurated in 2001, it is located on the upper floor of the medieval building that was once the seat of the Municipality and the municipal theater. Divided into two rooms, it focuses on the history of the territory and the development of Fossato di Vico, the ancient Helvillum, established near the Fossato pass (740 m a.s.l.), functional since prehistoric times for connecting the summer pastures of the Apennines with the winter ones of the Adriatic coast. In the first room, the territory is illustrated with ancient maps, charts, and views from the 16th to the 19th century, as well as a small selection of objects from the Roman age to the modern age. Following are chronologically ordered artifacts and also materials and architectural elements, recovered from old excavations on the top of the village, pertaining to a domus and a cistern from the end of the 1st century B.C.
Regarding the ancient road routes that directly involved Fossato di Vico, it is recommended to visit the remains of the Roman bridges at the Palazzolo locality, south of the town, and to the north, at the foot of the village where the San Giovanni bridge is visible: both indicate the ancient route of the Flaminia road, which in this area was slightly to the west of the current state road.
Information on the Municipal Antiquarium of Fossato di Vico
Via Mazzini, 16
06022 Fossato di Vico (Perugia)
075914951
sociali.comfossato@tiscali.it
Source: MIBACT
