A few kilometers from Venice and Portogruaro is Concordia Sagittaria, where you can also drop by during the day to admire the Roman remains in the four main locations. A place that oozes history where you can spend a pleasant day just a few kilometers from Venice.
There are many Roman settlements around Venezia, especially the modern one Concordia Sagittaria it is built on a large and partially preserved Roman city, although this is, for the most part, buried under meters of earth. Yes, because the historical stratification, the landslides, the floods have deposited clay, debris and soil leaving many finds in the subsoil.
The origins of the city date back to before the Roman domination, around the XNUMXth-XNUMXth century. BC Shortly after it began to become an important traffic and trade route, favored by its proximity to the sea and thanks to the presence of the Lemene river.
It was probably founded around 42 BC Iulia Concordia, a Roman colony located on via Annia (which connected Adria to Aquileia) and via Postumia (conjunction between Genoa and Aquileia). The archaeological tour of the city begins in Town Hall (in Renaissance style), on the bank of the river, in the rooms of which funeral urns, vases and remains of flooring are exhibited.
Not far away is the beautiful early Christian complex found under the foundations of the Romanesque Cathedral of Santo Stefano. An open-air museum with sarcophagi, tombstones, pavements, a part of via Annia and the necropolis with, still visible, the saccello di Faustiniana (sacred enclosure), with finely decorated Istrian limestone jambs.
In this place they settled four layers of archeology: the Roman remains, elements of the later early Christian church Basilica Apostolorum Maior, the Carolingian era and then above, the church of 1000, still the main place of worship in the city. At the entrance to the museum space there is also a video with explanations for children, information panels and maps.
Adjacent to the Cathedral it is possible to visit the splendid one medieval baptistery in which frescoes and ancient elements are well preserved.
Leaving the center, the route winds through the residential streets of the town, where, among villas, streets and fields, various Roman finds are visible: the thermal baths, some sections of the walls and a bridge at a point where the river no longer passes because its course, over the centuries, has been naturally diverted.
As in any Roman city, Iulia Concordia could not miss the theater, a place for recreation and meeting. Excavations and studies have identified the position of this building, but the lack of funds prevented it from being brought to light and they considered it more appropriate to leave it buried under the ground while waiting to be able to recover and restore it. To identify the steps there are box hedges but at the moment we can only guess and imagine how this area must have been so important in Roman society and culture.
Many artifacts found in the city were collected towards the end of the 700th century and have been preserved in Portogruaro, where in 1885 the Concordiese National Museum, in the shape of a basilica with three naves. In this exhibition space you can see stone finds, funerary monuments, statues and ceramics of considerable value as evidence of a great empire and a domination rich in history and art.
The times below must be verified at the Tourist Office of the city of Venice.
Museum rooms of the Town Hall
Concordia Sagittaria, via Roma
Free entry
Monday closed
Tuesday and Wednesday for school groups by reservation
Thursday 10.00-12.00 15.00-17.00
Friday 10.00-12.00
Saturday and Sunday 10.00-13.00 15.00-19.00 (from 1.10 to 30.03 closing at 17.00)
Paleochristian complex
Concordia Sagittaria, Piazza Cardinal Costantini
Free entry
Everyday 8.30-19.00
Baptistery
Concordia Sagittaria, Piazza Cardinal Costantini
Free entry
Every day 8.00-12.00 14.00-19.00
Concordiese National Museum
Portogruaro, via Seminario
Admission: full € 3,00 reduced € 1,50 under 18 free
Everyday 8.30-19.00
