Città diPontremoli

The museumin piagnarocastleThe Museum of Statue Stele Lunigianesi dis-played in the Piagnaro Castle of Pontremolioffers the possibility of an evocative travelthrough time to discover ancient testimoniescarved in the stones.The stele statues, recovered in the territoryof historical Lunigiana, are still mysteriousobjects and the most recent statues datefrom the iron age, VIII-VI centuries B.C. Theinterpretations on their real meaning andfunction still remains a mystery. There aremany unanswered questions but a visit to themuseum offers the possibility of a solution:the statues in their immobility and silence,they have much to tell.The Piagnaro castle, that accommodates themuseum, dominates the city of Pontremoliand has been since its origins ( around the10th century) a nodal point in the defence sys-tem of the ancient walled village defined inthe Middle Ages “key and door of Tuscany”.In fact the city is built at the feet of the castlefollowing itself the ancient distance of Via

Francigena, covered throughout centurieswith pilgrims, merchants and armies.The strategic position of the castle makes ita fortification of fundamental importance forthe protection of the walled village belowand for the control of the roads and valleysthat lead to the Appennine Passes.This fortification, destroyed and reconstruct-ed many times through the centuries, intro-duces a very articulated structure and itdeveloped from the imposing keep that dom-inates the higher and most ancient part, inorder to arrive to the massive 16th and 17th

bastions.The Piagnaro Castle, in the past centre ofmilitary governors, barracks and elementaryschool, accommodated from 1875 the Muse-um of the Lunigianesi Stele statues dedicat-ed today to its founder Augusto CesareAmbrosi.

THE MUSEUM OF

Statue Stele Lunigianesi

In Piagnaro castle of Pontremoli

The Museumof Statue Stele Lunigianesi

“Augusto Cesare Ambrosi”

www.statuestele.org

Piagnaro CastlePONTREMOLI(MASSA CARRARA)

OPENING HOURS:October-April: 9-12 a.m. 2,30-6 p.m.May-September: 9-12,30 a.m. 3-6,30 p.m.Closed on Mondays

TICKET:Full price: 4,00 euroReduced: 2,00 euro(Groups over 10 people,and children fromsix to sixteen years)

INFORMATIONS:Ticket officePhone 0187.831439

HOW TO GET THERE:

BY CAR:- Parma-La Spezia A15Motorway Exit Pontremoli- S.S. Cisa

BY TRAIN:LineParma-La SpeziaStation: Pontremoli

Pontremoli

Genova

Parma - Milano

Pisa

A12

A15

La Spezia

Ferrovie

Autostrade

Lunigiana

and different and present abetter formal elaboration.The Canossa Stele repre-sents a squared daggerinserted in the sheath anddecorated with 3 spires. Onthe other hand the Minuc-ciano stele associates thedagger presence to a Simi-laun- type hatchet in whichit is possible to distinguishthe hilt blade that stillseems lithic. Even thefemale representationsshows more cared particu-lars.The Treschietto Stele isdecorated, on the neck,with a choker, an ornament

particularly used in the bronze age. But in thisstatue it is the breastdefinition to attractthe attention becauseit is very well-finishedwith nipples.Such evident femaleattributes broughtsome scholars torefer the female stelestatues to the god-dess mater cult, sym-bol of life and fertility. Many other statuesof this group pres-ents also unequivo-cal marks of their re-employment, duringthe centuries, asbuilding materials.The Malgrate III stat-ue, without head, hasbeen rough-shapedand bushhammered

Stele statues are divided in three main groupsfor the different technical elaboration and theirname is due to the finding place.

GROUP A

It includes the mostancient stele statuescharacterized by avery stylized elabora-tion, more similar tothe stelae than to thestatues: the head ishardly drafted anddoes not take off thebody, the face is styl-ized, ornaments andattributes are veryschematic. Such characteristicsare clearly visible inthe Casola Stele inwhich the one distinction between the body andthe head is a clavicular line from which the armsdescend lightly down, the face has a typical Ushape and tablet-shaped eyes.The stele also presents, at the bottom, a convexblade dagger with a semicircular hilt pommel.

GROUP B

It is the most numerous group:the stele statues show morestylistic elaboration: the head isseparated from the body and itis half-moon shaped.The (always U shaped or circlemarked) presents some partic-ulars as eyes and, in somecases, ears.The ornaments, as weaponsand jewels, are more numerous

In the river Magra valley a singular artistic phe-nomenon developed in the late prehistory andthe proto-history: the stele statues.They are anthropomorphic steles carved in thesandstone stone and raised (from the 3rd millen-nium B.C.) by the population that inhabited theLunigiana in antiquity.The human body representations distinguishbetween female (characterized from the breastpresence) and male representation (character-ized from the weapons presence), even if somestele statues do not introduce distinguishingmarks of sexual identity.It has still not been possible to establish if theyrepresent sheer divinities - in that case femalerepresentations would seem to lead back to thecult of the goddess mater, life and fertility sym-bol - or if it is a matter of warriors who werewanted to be commemorative or to whom theprotection of the territory or the places of inter-ment was entrusted.The first stele statue was recovered in the riverVara valley in 1827 and since then other findsfollowed and intensified until today: the sevenstele statues recently recovered in Groppolibrought the total number of the finds up to sev-enty. A lot of stele statues were recovered dur-ing farm works, digging operations, or noticedbecause they were partially exposed in the soil.Other statues were found inside civil and reli-gious buildings, used as re-employment materi-al.In the time that precedes the Romans arrivalthe stele statues offer us important informationon the culture and religious practices:weapons, ornaments and inscriptions reveal tous a complex world rich in contact with differ-ent populations while many mysteries remainunsolved.The Museum of lunigianesi Stele statues wantsto preserve and testify this singular phenome-non through the exposure of the original findscompleted with explicative boards.

Casola

in the lower part to be re-employed as bracketin a private house where, then, it was recov-ered.

GROUP C

It assembles themost recent stelestatues which can bedistinguished fromthe previous onesbecause of a furthervariation in theanatomical shapes orin the ornaments. Themain characteristic isthat they are three-dimensionally con-ceived as statues (fora global vision notonly frontal).The face, the arms,the weapons and theornaments are differ-ent while some inscriptions appear.The Bigliolo Stele contains all the characteris-tics of the most recent group. It is carved in around shape; the shoulders are elaborated inmore realistic shape and are no longer square.The face is defined in its particulars as theweapons are. It has an inscription on the chest,

in Etruscan charac-ters, its meaning isstill uncertain.The Montecorto Steleis another interestingstele: it is mutilatedand squared, as aresult of being usedagain in medievalbuilding; also in thiscase it representshilted weapons: ahatchet and a javelin.

Minucciano III

Taponecco

Treschietto

Bigliolo

Montecorto