Time.news – An excavation to consolidate a private building and, under the crumbling tuff, a tunnel emerges. Digging further, the remains of an ancient furnace, a military tower, ancient prisons and dungeons come to light.
This happened ten years ago, and today those environments constitute the path of a immersive museum that the association Benevento Lombard he returned to the city that a thousand years ago was the capital of one of the most important Italian states, which included Campania, except the city of Naples, Basilicata, part of Puglia and Molise to reach lower Lazio.
“It was a completely accidental discovery – the president of the association founded in 2006, Alessio Fragnito, explains to Time.news – the restoration and consolidation works were all done with private funds, following the advice of architects, archaeologists, historians“. The Lombard museum has been open for three days, in compliance with all anti Covid regulations, with guided tours reserved for groups of four people at a time. The route lasts 45 minutes and crosses the undergrounds of Benevento until it reaches the urban borders of the time with a secret passage, which the papal rectors used in case of escape.
“These tunnels can be found under many houses in the Samnite capital – says Fragnito – but many have preferred to hide them for fear that the Superintendency would block the work. We, on the other hand, unearthed them and delivered everything we found”. Among the finds, there is also a Lombard signet ring that was exhibited in the Mann international exhibition in Naples and then in the museum of St. Petersburg. “And we hope that it can also be exhibited here in Benevento”, the wish.
Lombard inscription
Ceramics, ornaments, decorated portals and with writings. In the basement there are also important testimonies of a glorious past that the Benevento Longobarda association wants to reconstruct, albeit virtually, to offer visitors a vivid experience of the Lombard era, in its various phases. “We have reconstructed an armory – recalls the president, who will offer himself as a guide in visits wearing period costumes – and, by studying the sources, we have also deepened the fighting style of the Lombards. Hence the idea of an arms school, where we practice with swords and shields. The swords are real and there is a lot of work to do before learning above all not to get hurt “.
Lombard weapons and jewelry
The reconstructions of the hand-to-hand battles have allowed the association to bring historical representations around Italy, collaborating with various museums, institutions and other associations. There are still many works to be done. The prison area is not yet open to the public, being in very narrow rooms and in need of consolidation works. “On the one hand, Covid did not allow us to open earlier – underlines Fragnito – but on the other hand it allowed us to proceed more quickly with the works. There is always something to do, but we are convinced that visitors will like it. ours is a voluntary work to make known a historical period of which we are proud “.
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