The Romans in Val Polcevera: the Tavola Bronzea

Get on board and explore Val Polcevera

The famous Tavola Bronzea (bronze tablet) 117 b. C. (cm 47.5x37.5), treasured by the Museo civico di archeologia ligure (Villa Pallavicini, Genoa-Pegli), is the first evidence of the Latin language in Liguria, the idiom being introduced by settlers, soldiers, functionaries and tradesmen. Accidentally found in 1506 by a farmer named Pedemonte in a stream located in the rural, inner area of Serra Riccò, it refers to an arbitration through which Roman magistrates settled a dispute on boundaries between the Genuates (i.e. the Genoese) and the Viturii Langenses (i.e. inhabitants of the village of Langasco): the latter were also imposed a tribute, payable in wine or local crops (wheat).

During the Roman Age, the Val Polcevera thrived with active commercial relations from and to the port of Genoa. Even in the troubled season of the Barbarian Invasions, its quiet Apennine neighbourhoods (e.g. San Cipriano) repopulated, farming terraces granting survival along the track of the ancient Via Postumia, which lead wayfarers on a 3-day journey to Milan.

Nowadays, the Val Polcevera provides tourists with an array of resources: excursions, museums, sanctuaries, a narrow-gauged railway (the Trenino di Casella), wine, salumi (does Sant'Olcese sound familiar to you?), traditional pasta shapes (corzetti, maccheroni)...

This is the fascinating world of tastes and crafts that LiguriabyLuisa discloses to foreign markets and buyers.

Would you like to know more? Contact me and detail your needs (be they tourist, professional…).

Luisa