In San Casciano dei Bagni 24 bronze statues from the Roman era have been discovered | Wired Italy

Beyond 24 bronze statues from the Roman era have surfaced from excavations of a votive deposit a San Casciano dei Bagni, in the province of Siena. Busts or whole figures, five of which almost one meter high, depicting divinities, emperors, women and children, which according to the Ministry of Culture they might rewrite the history of Etruscan and Roman statuary. The discovery took place thanks to the work of the archaeologist Jacopo Tabolli, a young professor at the University for Foreigners of Siena.

It is the most important Italian find of bronze statuary from the Etruscan and Roman ages, after the discovery of the famous ones Riace’s bronzeswhich took place 50 years ago, in 1972. “A discovery that will rewrite history and on which I am already working further 60 experts of all the world”, said Tabolli, who underlines how the importance of the discovery is linked precisely to the bronze material of the statues, given that, until now, statues of terracotta.

Not only statues, but also various votive and non-votive objects five thousand coins in gold, silver and bronze were found in the excavation, begun in 2019 at the sacred basin of an Etruscan-Roman sanctuary, located near the thermal spring of the Large bathroom in San Casciano dei Bagni, in the province of Siena. An exceptional discovery, made possible also thanks to the collaboration between specialists from different disciplines, give him architects to the geologistscome on archaeobotanists to the experts of epigraphy And numismatics.

The bronzes of San Casciano depict some of the divinities connected to the medicine which were venerated in the thermal areas, of which the Etruscans and Romans knew the health benefits, as the goddess of health and cleanliness Hygieia and the god of medical arts Apollo. The exceptional state of storage of the statues within the hot spring water also allowed to preserve the inscriptions in Etruscan and Latin which were engraved during their making.

In the inscriptions you can read the names of rich people Etruscan families of the Umbrian and internal Tuscan territory, from the Velimna of Perugia to the Marcni of the Sienese countryside. Next to onomastics and dedicatory forms in Etruscan are also found inscriptions in Latinwhich mention the aquae calidae, the hot springs of the Great Bath, where the bronzes were found. Most of these masterpieces of antiquity dates back to between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD, a historical period of important transformations in ancient Tuscany, in the ride between Etruscans and Romans.

The bronzes and other discoveries will remain in San Casciano dei Bagni, where a new museum inside a sixteenth-century building just purchased by the Directorate-General for Museums of the Ministry of Culture. Museum to which a archaeological park which will involve the entire area of ​​the excavations and the ancient thermal pools.