Located seven miles north of Venice and close to Marco Polo airport are the remains of the Roman city of Altinium. Located close to the modern town of Altino, it was suddenly abandoned due to barbarian incursions into northern Italy and its inhabitants fled, occupying islands in the venetian lagoon that were to become part of the city of Venice.
The city was lost for years until its rediscovery by accident in 2007. Because it has not been built over, it provides a unique view of a Roman city as well as an insight into some of the original inhabitants of Venice.
Roman History of Altinium
Altinium was a wealthy Roman harbour town on the edge of the Venetian lagoon. It was a roman municipium from the first century AD and at its peak an important centre for trade with the Adriatic.
The city was deserted in 452AD when its citizens fled the invasion of Attila the Hun. The city was never reoccupied, leaving its buildings to sink into the ground when it was partially flooded after a rise in the water level of the Venetian lagoon.
It remained lost until its accidental rediscovery in 2007.
The Rediscovery of Altinium
The city was rediscovered by a private company that was mapping the open farmland which covers the area today. A dry summer meant that the crops were suffering from drought and outlines of features from the city showed up in crop marks. Areas of lighter crops grew over bricks and stonework whilst darker patches of crops correlated to pits or canals
Archaeological Investigations of Altinium
Italian archaeologists mapped the city by using infra red aerial photography. Using a digital elevation model (DEM) they have reconstructed the city, and its environment.
Altinium was surrounded by rivers and small canals, a marshy landscape that matches the description of the city and its environs given by the geographer Strabo. The DEM shows that it was built on high ground 2-3m above the lagoon, which would have reached the foot of the mound. The city was slightly bigger than Pompeii and outlines of temples, theatres, a basilica, a market, streets, an amphitheatre and the city walls are all discernable. In addition, it appears a large canal ran through the centre of the city to the lagoon. This would have been used to transport luxury trade goods unloaded at Altinium to other inland roman cities such as Verona.
Aerial pictures continue to be taken in different conditions to hopefully spot previously unrevealed features. It is hoped that mapping of the city will be completed by the end of 2009. The site will then be more closely investigated by the Universities of Venice and Padua and the Veneto region superintendent of archaeology who will be supervising investigation by remote sensing and excavation.
Altinium and Venice
Altinium’s history is not just consigned to the remains of the city. For its memory lived on in the tales of its people who became the earliest venetians after they fled the mainland and colonised the northern lagoon islands. They named some of the islands they occupied after parts of their former home. Torcello was named after a ‘little tower’ in Altinium which was supposedly used to spy out the island as a possible refuge by a local bishop. It is also possible that stone from the city was used to build many of Venice’s earliest inhabited islands churches and palaces.
The Times Online
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