Scheda punto di interesse

In 1899, following the demolition of the sixteenth-century convent of San Filippo to realize the "Luigi Rossi" School, different building structures from the Roman period (hereinafter re-buried for the most part) came to light: fragments of inscriptions, architectural elements and a series of sculptures, preserved in the local Civic Museum, two of which depict the emperor Claudius and probably his child Britannico.

They discovered the foundations of twenty columns arranged along three sides which formed a quadrangular peristyle surrounded by a porch and masonry related to one or more buildings located in connection with the neighboring Cardus and Decumanus of the city. These remains were interpreted as a gym with thermal area, or as a macellum.

The research was resumed in 2006 when the works for the school building transformation into a media center (Montanari) started again; it was the opportunity to resume archaeological investigations with stratigraphic method by the University of Bologna and with the help of Montanari Foundation.

The main building revealed has been interpreted as an Augusteum, building for the dynastic cult of the emperors, with vestibule and cell paved with marble slabs and a long altar for cult statues along the back wall.