In June 2005, on a piece of municipal land situated opposite Via Fogazzaro No.24, a cremation burial came to light during the excavation of a trench, using a bulldozer, for the laying of a new sewer pipe.
The burial is certainly part of a vast Roman necropolis, already excavated during several campaigns in the locality of “Casina Pace”: in 1957 by Eng. Sutermeister and between 1998 and 2002 by the Superintendency, excavations which have so far recovered a total of 152 burials. The square pit, with straight sides and flat bottom, is orientated on an E-W alignment, its dimensions being 60 × 90 cm and depth 50 cm. The level taken on the bottom resulted as being at 90 cm below road level. It was cut to the SE by the trench which removed a part. The fill contained several fragments of tile which were probably part of the tomb’s tile “a cassetta” structure. All that survived of the tomb group were fragments of an olpe, a plate, one or two jars, bronze cosmetic (?) tweezers, a small iron razor and several nails.
Some of the material may have come from the ustrinum as they presented surface traces of burning. It can be suggested that the burial was robbed or at least disturbed in ancient times as the objects from the tomb group were broken and thrown back into the bottom of the pit by its north side and the tile structure had been almost totally removed.
Despite the scarcity and bad state of preservation of the finds, a date of the 2nd-3rd century A.D can be suggested for this burial. (Cristiano Brandolini)