Ivrea, from the gas excavations the remains of the ancient Roman Baptistery

The site between via Cattedrale, piazza Castello and via delle Torri

IVREA. The excavations between via Cattedrale, Piazza Castello and via delle Torri for the laying of new pipelines of the methane gas network bring to light new archaeological data on the ancient Eporedia. In particular, it is a cross-section of the history of Ivrea extended from the Roman to the Romanesque age, which confirms the richness of the archaeological deposit in the “upper city”. Near the Castle, previous archaeological investigations had already identified the northwestern corner of a public building from the Roman age, probably a temple, founded on the rocky substrate outcropping in this part of the city. Even now, on the occasion of the replacement of the gas network, structures referable to public buildings of the Roman era have emerged: these are two angular bases visible for 1 x 2 m, surprisingly preserved in elevation for almost a meter and covered with a thick layer of cocciopesto, painted red. An articulated sequence of stratigraphic contexts and soils has also been identified, under study, which follow one another after the Roman age and on which, according to the Municipality, “it is premature to formulate hypotheses except for the remains of a central plan, whose internal walls are plastered, which could be interpreted as the ancient baptistery ».

Ivrea is an autonomous diocese between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century and the historiographical tradition believes that the first bishop was Eulogius, around the middle of the 5th century, who is also credited with building the first episcopal church. From the early Christian phase of the cathedral, fragments of the pavement have been identified around the 2000s, on the occasion of the restoration of the crypt and of the contextual stratigraphic investigations directed by the then Archaeological Superintendency of Piedmont.

Perhaps the episcopal church was already equipped with an autonomous and external baptistery from the beginning but the limits of the current excavation did not allow to verify the structure of the paleo-Christian complex. Surely the building with a central plan that can be interpreted as a baptistery has structural characteristics (masonry equipment, characterization of the mortars) that are more oriented towards the Romanesque era. Some burials also date back to this period, one in particular that leaned on the outside of the baptistery, of anthropomorphic shape, with the characteristic stone “cushion” for the deposition of the head and covered with plaster / cocciopesto. The stone covering slabs of another privileged tomb, leaning against the probable entrance side, have still been found. During the Middle Ages, or perhaps even later, a pit / ossuary was dug in the outer space of the building to bury the skeletal remains from the reclamation of the cemetery areas surrounding the Cathedral. The study of the walls must be accompanied by that of the materials recovered in the filling layers and relating to the demolition of the buildings and their decorative finishes: marble slabs of various colors, fragments of painted plaster, remains of cocciopesto floors.