We spent the third day of our northern Italy excursion in Valcamonica, a valley in Lombardy. There we visited the Minerva sanctuary in Breno in the morning and the Roman theatre and amphitheatre in Cividate Camuno in the early afternoon. In the late afternoon we visited the National Archaeological Museum of Valcamonica in Cividate Camuno. As we made the journey on foot, we saw first-hand how large the town once was. Remains of Roman buildings still characterise the townscape of Cividate Camuno today.

The National Archaeological Museum of Valcamonica in Cividate Camuno is a state institute for public use and has been financially supported by the state since 1981. The aim of the museum is to preserve and enhance the archaeological heritage from the Roman period of Cividate Camuno and the entire Valcamonica.

The ongoing discoveries in the Valcamonica valley led to the need to set up a museum in which the discoveries could be presented to the public. The museum covers the period of Romanisation of the Alps. Due to the large number of discoveries, several exhibits and exhibitions were added to the museum in 2010.

During our visit to the museum, the statue of Minerva stood out among the exhibits. The statue of Minerva was found in 1986 in the sanctuary of Breno, more precisely in the village of Spinera, and was the subject of an initial restoration in 1987 with the aim of reassembling the body. The statue was restored again in 2000. Since then, the Minerva statue has been the museum's main attraction. During our visit, Minerva was at the centre of a light installation. The statue was alternately illuminated with red and blue light. The aim was to create the effect that the statue was on fire when the red light was on and under a waterfall when the blue light was on. To make it look really authentic, the appropriate sounds were played in the background. With the red light you could hear the crackling of the fire, with the blue light the sound of rushing water. However, the desired effect did not materialise for our excursion group. Many found the light installation kitschy.

The burnt alpine hut went down better with our excursion group. The third and final room of the museum, which consists of three halls, depicts the everyday life of people in Valcamonica at the time of the Romans. Of all the exhibits, a burnt wooden beam made the biggest impression. It is a banished piece of wood that was once part of a small mountain hut that stood in Valcamonica. The special thing about the hut was that it had once been burnt down, which meant that a wooden beam was preserved by the fire and thus remained intact for the researchers. Using the beam, the archaeologists were able to determine how old the mountain hut is and in which era it was built. They were also able to reconstruct the mountain hut step by step.

The visit to the National Archaeological Museum of Valcamonica was the perfect end to our third excursion day. The museum gave us another brief, compact and detailed overview of how Romanisation took place in Valcamonica and how people lived here under Roman rule. At the same time, you were able to admire all the artefacts found in the area once again and were also given background information on the Temple of Minerva and the Roman park.

www.museoarcheologico.valcamonicaromana.beniculturali.it