Excavations in the Altino Archaeological Park (northern Italy) have brought to light the first monumental structures of the forum of this ancient Roman city, a prosperous commercial city that It ended up abandoned to found Venice.
The work, begun in October 2025, has unearthed a portion of the Roman monumental center that includes commercial premises (tabernae), the walls of the «cavea» (the stands) of the main theater and an urban section of the Via Annia, an important Roman road from the 2nd century BC that connected Padua with Aquileia.
The findings occurred in an area of 26 hectares which represents a third of the buried city and which had never been explored through systematic excavations, since its structure was only known from aerial geophysical surveys, a non-invasive scientific exploration method that allows structures to be located beneath the subsoil without the need to excavate, carried out 20 years ago.
a rich city
Historically, Altino was one of the richest urban centers in northern Italy until, between the 5th and 7th centuries, successive barbarian invasions forced the population to take refuge on the islets of the lagoon, a swampy environment difficult to access for land armies that gave rise to the first stable settlements of Venice.
The remains found in the 602 square meters investigated so far reveal how the decline of the Roman city occurred and its subsequent reconversion into a quarry of materials for the new city, according to a statement from the Ministry of Culture.
The director of the National Archaeological Museums of Venice, Marianna Bressan, explained that evidence shows that the public buildings of the Roman forum suffered a medieval «surgical plundering», as the inhabitants dismantled the Altino structures to transport stones, bricks and marbles to the lagoon and reuse them in the construction of the first Venetian palaces.
For his part, the general director of Museums of Italy, Massimo Osanna, highlighted that the campaign inaugurates a new phase of studies at the site and defended that scientific knowledge is the main tool to safeguard heritage.
The field work, carried out in collaboration with the University of Padua (north), concluded its first phase this Thursday with an open day that allowed the public to observe the remains on the ground before the recovered pieces are transferred for analysis in the laboratory.
EFE Agency.
GML
