New discoveries presented in Riva del Garda

The results of the latest archaeological researches in Riva del Garda (Trent – Italy), has been presented to public Wednesday, the 17th October 2007, in Sas “Spazio archeologico Sotterraneo” in Trent, as part of the periodical meetings between archaeologists organized by Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage of the Province of Trent.

The conference has been attended in co-operation with the Trentin section of the Italian Archaeoclub, and presented by Cristina Bassi, an archaeologist of the Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage of the province of Trent. She has showed an overview of the excavations which took place in Pilati street, in Riva del Garda, between the years 2005 and 2006.

Archaeological researches in Riva have given the light to a complex building date back to the Roman epoch. It is about 750 squared meters wide and it was meant as public thermae.
The building consists of a big central courtyard surrounded by areas with pavement heating, which have been considered as: tepidarium, caldarium, laconicum as the usual thermal sequence required.
A big open area was located outside the building, probably used as a garden and originally fenced by outer walls.

Probably, the building was adorned with rich architectural furnitures: some witnesses are still visible today. Many marble slab in different geometric shapes were found, which can be related to pavements or coverings, as well as a lot of mosaic tesseras.

The coverage was probably made of terracotta tiles and completed to its end by largely decorated antae-fixae; up to now, a palmette antae-fixae and an antae-fixae figuring a tragic mask were found.
The archaeological information we have, confirm the construction of a building in the first decades of the 1st century a.C.
According to this information, the building was abandoned in the second half of the III century a.C., because of the big lack of security due to the transit of the barbarian populations: Marcomanni, Suevi, Sarmatians who, after having passed Lombardy were stopped by Emperor Gallieno, in 268 a.C in an unknown location on the Garda lake.

After this period, the building purpose was changed from thermae to a private residence and the originary pavimentation was dismantled.
A violent flood which took place within the end of the VI century a.C has kept the last pieces, unfortunately crumbling, of the building in time.

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