Ravenna, 14 June 2024 – “We don’t bury all the historical artifacts we findbut Let’s value them appropriately. In the long run, they could represent a nice added value for Ravenna city of art“. One could summarize the thoughts of this way Mauro Mambelli, president of Ascom Confcommercio who spoke on the topic in light of recent discovery of a Roman Villa in Classe, during excavation works for the Snam regasification plant. The archaeologists of Gea Srl of Parma are now at work in the area of approximately one thousand square meters under the direction of Sara Morsiani of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Ravenna. In addition to the splendid structure, important finds such as amphorae, ampoules and well-maintained wooden beams were also recovered which will occupy their space in the display cases of the Classis museum. What will happen to the villa instead? It will probably be covered, after having been subjected to photographic survey and careful studies by the group of archaeologists.
“A serious one It would be a mistake to pretend not to have seen such magnificence – says Mambelli –. We all know that when you dig in the city, you always find something, but you can’t pretend nothing has happened, always citing the problem of the lack of economic resources and personnel. I know that in this case, the discovery occurred in an isolated field, within a military zone that does not allow much room for maneuver. But why not try to recover the villa anyway, instead of burying it permanently and placing a pole with a commemorative plaque? Ravenna has container museums like Classis who need new materials to be able to hope in the future to ensure that more and more people are encouraged to pay for the ticket”. Mambelli’s position on the matter is not new, he had already expressed himself in this sense in the past when the remains of a church in Piazza Kennedy, also in that case later covered over.
“In many cities like Rome – remember – there are open-air excavations where possible, or streets with part of the flooring in glass to allow you to see what lies beneath. Perhaps this solution could not have been adopted in Via Salara when a beautiful Roman bridge was found over the 1980s Padenna torrent? Seeing him moved me very much and the thought that none of our children or grandchildren will ever be able to admire him saddens me enormously. It’s fine that Ravenna already boasts eight UNESCO monuments, but it wouldn’t be bad to further increase our wealth.” Mambelli also cites another example, that of civic tower in via Paolo Costa, which was ‘cut off’ in the past to stabilize it and avoid the risk of collapse. “I learned that some dismantled pieces – he says – such as the bell tower and a pair of mullioned windows have been kept in a shed for some time, waiting to be relocated. But we all know that it will never happen given what is happening in Bologna with the two towers…”.
