Area archeologica di Augusta Bagiennorum

Archaeological park of the ancient Roman city of Augusta Bagiennorum at Roncaglia: theatre, sacred area, forum and basilica along an educational route.

Temporarily closedFree admission

Website Directions

Temporarily closed. The site is temporarily closed for restoration and maintenance of the archaeological structures and for the replacement of the wooden stage of the theatre; no reopening date has been given.

About the museum

Augusta Bagiennorum was founded by the Romans at the end of the 1st century BC on the Roncaglia plain, in the middle Tanaro valley, in a strategic position for controlling the routes between the Po Valley, the Ligurian coast and the Alpine passes. The city, which covered about 21 hectares, was protected by a ditch, an earth rampart with a wooden palisade, corner towers in masonry and monumental gates.

The exact site of the settlement was identified by the scholars Giuseppe Assandria and Giovanni Vacchetta between the late 19th century and 1925. Today only part of the area, about five hectares, is fenced off and open to the public, equipped with bilingual information panels. Visitors can enter through the gate of the theatre, which preserves the quadriporticus behind the stage, or by following the route that starts from the small rural chapel of San Pietro, built in the 15th century on the remains of the extra-urban section of the Roman aqueduct.

The route leads to the public part of the city: the sacred area with the temple podium, the crossing of the decumanus maximus and one of the main cardines, and the forum with the civic basilica, whose structures are still largely to be explored. Excavations by the Università di Torino are ongoing, and the area lies within a special nature reserve. Finds from the excavations are displayed in the Museo civico archeologico di Bene Vagienna, in via Roma.

Highlights

Roman theatre with quadriporticus behind the stage
Sacred area with temple podium
Crossing of decumanus maximus and cardo, forum and civic basilica
15th-century rural chapel of San Pietro above the Roman aqueduct
Bilingual information panels and ongoing university excavations

Permanent exhibition

Percorso archeologico di Augusta Bagiennorum – Open-air route past the theatre, sacred area, road crossing, forum and basilica of the ancient Roman city, with bilingual explanatory panels.

Operated by: Ministero della Cultura (Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Piemonte)
Visitors per year: approx. 10,783