The
Colombarone archaeological site
The Colombarone excavations were begun in 1983, with the dual purpose locating the area studied in the second half of the 1700s by the erudite Annibale degli Abbati Olivieri Giordani of Pesaro and to determine the function of the structures found at that time and mapped by the Pesaro architect Gian Andrea Lazzarini.
Based on what was written by Olivieri, these structures must have belonged to the paleochristian basilica of San Cristoforo "ad Aquilam", situated along the Flaminian road about 50 miles from Ravenna where in 743 Esarca Eutiche had gone to meet Pope Zaccaria. Instead, the surprising thing which has come to light in the most recent years of excavations is that the findings belong to an important late antique residential complex which rose up along the Flaminian road at the end of the III - beginning of the IV century after Christ. It is therefore one of those aristocratic residences - built simultaneously with the expansion of the great land owners in response to the new political/social situation - the best known of which is, as regards Italy, the large villa in Piazza Armerina.
The Colombarone excavations were begun in 1983, with the dual purpose locating the area studied in the second half of the 1700s by the erudite Annibale degli Abbati Olivieri Giordani of Pesaro and to determine the function of the structures found at that time and mapped by the Pesaro architect Gian Andrea Lazzarini.
Based on what was written by Olivieri, these structures must have belonged to the paleochristian basilica of San Cristoforo "ad Aquilam", situated along the Flaminian road about 50 miles from Ravenna where in 743 Esarca Eutiche had gone to meet Pope Zaccaria. Instead, the surprising thing which has come to light in the most recent years of excavations is that the findings belong to an important late antique residential complex which rose up along the Flaminian road at the end of the III - beginning of the IV century after Christ. It is therefore one of those aristocratic residences - built simultaneously with the expansion of the great land owners in response to the new political/social situation - the best known of which is, as regards Italy, the large villa in Piazza Armerina.
The Colombarone villa is characterised by the presence of five rooms in alignment with each other and all paved in mosaic, with white, black and polychrome tiles creating geometric and floral patterns. On the whole, it can be said that the structures that are coming to light at Colombarone constitute a significant element not only for the history and culture of the Pesaro territory, but for that of the entire region.
