In June-July 2012, excavations took place at Sella della Valoria, a natural pass crossing the highest ridge between the territories of Luni and Parma (1224 m a.s.l.) situated 2 km east of the present Cisa road pass. The site was a sacred area in the Roman period where rituals with offerings took place.

Almost all of the coins recovered, dating from the Republican to late antique periods, were found inside a small votive pit. It is suggested that, like the well-known context from the Gran San Bernardo pass, this was an offering made to the divinity _ pro itu reditu_ in the hope of being granted a safe journey. Four bronze statuettes were also found, two in votive pits, one of which has been identified as a hand of Jupiter Sabazios. The metal finds were very badly preserved due to the advanced state of preservation caused by several factors among which the soil acidity, possible exposure to heat during a ritual, the finds’ superficial position that exposed them to the chlorides deposited in the soil during 20 centuries of pasturage. This find provides new information but also raises historical questions of some importance, which the 2013 campaign will attempt to answer. However, it is certain that this was a pass used during the Roman period, situated at the top of what was to become the route of the via Franchigena centuries later.

This pass was certainly the one crossed by the Roman road between Parma and Luni, even though its use was not constant. As the 300 finds show, it was very busy between the 2nd and 1st century B.C., in the full imperial period it was virtually abandoned, perhaps replaced by an alternative route (probably the present Cisa pass). In the 3rd and 4th centuries, and perhaps later, the Valoria regained the importance of the decades following the foundation of the two Roman colonies. It was eventually abandoned and substituted by the Monte Bardone pass.

Future research will look at the land reclamation in the area destine for votive offerings and attempt to identify the sacellum, that must have existed. At the moment, the divinity to which it was dedicated remains unknown. However, a suggestion may be drawn from the Peutingerian Tablet on which, in correspondence with the point where the Apennine chain borders the col veliate, is indicated “In Alpe Pennino”. If this can be substantiated, for example by the find of an offering dedicated to Giove Pennino, we could have, after those of Gran San Bernardo and Scheggia/Gubbio on the via Flaminia, a third attestation of an important natural pass dedicated to this god.