Museum of the Roman Centuriation
The Museum
The Museum was opened in 1999 and moved to its current location in 2009. It displays archaeological materials dating from prehistoric to contemporary times, which come from the territory of the centuriation northeast of Padua.
The Centuriation
The centuriation in the northeastern area of Padua is the regular subdivision of the vast territory now divided among 17 different municipalities, implemented in the second half of the first century B.C. and aimed at its reclamation, cultivation and defense. It takes its name from the division of the land into centurie, corresponding to squares of about 710 meters on a side (= 20 actus). Each lot was assigned to settlers by draw, usually veterans, who were thus rewarded for their service in the army. It is still clearly legible on the roads and terrain today.
The Museum itinerary
The museum is divided into three sections, dedicated to the pre-protohistoric, Roman, and Late antiquity ages. Two showcases are dedicated to the pre-protohistoric and Late antiquity ages, while the display of Roman-age artifacts is thematically divided into four different rooms, in which different topics are addressed.
Visiting the Museum and the activities
The visit can be done autonomously, including using the museum’s audio guide on your cell phone, which can be downloaded for free from App and Play Store. The museum staff offers guided tours, which are also provided upon request for individuals or groups. Educational workshops for children and various activities for adults are also offered.
Before the centuriation
The showcase collects materials dating back to the prehistoric period, such as some flint tools, and protohistoric, before the establishment of the Roman centuriation. It is precisely to the Bronze Age (13th-12th centuries BC) that the first permanent settlement in the area is dated, evidenced by a bronze axe and arrowhead.
Room I
The centuriation and the territory
The first hall is dedicated to the Roman centuriation in all its aspects: cardines and decumani, the groma and other Roman surveyor’s tools, units of measurement, Roman roads, centuriations in the Mediterranean and those in Padua. A showcase is dedicated entirely for the funerary context.
Room II
Agriculture and livestock farming
This is where the typical activities of the centuriation landscape are addressed: agriculture and cattle breeding, as well as land allocation and boundary worship. The most interesting element is the burial of a horse that dates back to the Roman age and has been remarkably preserved to the present day.
Room III
The house
The third hall is focused on the Roman house, its structural elements, and the domestic world in its different aspects, such as pottery, weaving, clothing, cosmetics, domestic cults, games, and furniture .The reconstruction of a loom and kitchen the small showcase with the two-faced marble herm stand out.
Room IV
Economic and productive activities
The fourth and last hall displays evidence of the economic activities of the centuriation territory, including the production of tiles, bricks and trade, represented by the coins, scales, steelyard balance and amphora, which carried food supplies such as oil, wine and fish sauces.
After the centuriation
This section collects evidence dating from the 6th century AD to the contemporary age found in the area. Following the barbarian invasions and Lombard dominion (5th-8th centuries AD), the centuriation territory was abandoned and was reoccupied only from the 12th century onward. The most recent object is a bronze saber, which was part of the 1843 Non commission officers and Soldiers’ infantry Corps equipment.
Museum info
- Monday CLOSED
- Tuesday 9 am – 12.30 pm
- Wendsday 9 am – 12.30 pm
- Thursday 9 am – 12.30 pm
- Friday 9 am – 12.30 pm and 3pm – 6pm
- Saturday 9 am – 12.30 pm and 3pm – 6pm
- Sunday 10 am – 12.30pm and 3pm – 6pm
For information and reservations:
Museum phone 049 9336321 or cultura@comune.borgoricco.pd.it
Tel servizio didattico: museocenturiazione.servizi@gmail.com oppure telefonare al +39 392 4594788
Closed on: January 1 and 6, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, April 25, May 1, June 2, August 15, November 1, December 25- 26 (unless otherwise arranged in concomitance with special needs or events).
On December 24 and December 31, the Museum remains open only in the morning.
- FULL PRICE € 3,00
- REDUCED € 1,00 (schools, children aged 7 to 14 and adults over 65)
- FREE: School leaders, children up to 6 years of age, disabled perople and their caregiver, ICOM members, residents in the City of Borgoricco and every first Sunday of the month.
Each year the Museum prepares educational offerings for schools of all order and grade. The activities include guided tours, educational workshops and targeted insight studies of certain topics which relate to the history and archaeology of the territory, including excursions in the centuriation area.
It is also possible to conduct classroom lessons, both in-person and remotely with an educational guide in the museum and children are at school.
All educational services offered by the Museum from 1.9.2020 to 31.8.2025 are entrusted exclusively to: SCATOLA CULTURA SCS with Headquarters in Chiampo (VI).
For information and reservations please write to: museocenturiazione.servizi@gmail.com or call +39 392 4594788 or +39 347 9941448 Tuesdays and Thursdays 9 a.m. > 12 p.m., Wednesdays 2 p.m. > 5 p.m., or leave a message or send a text message and you will be called back.
DOWNLOAD the educational offerings for all schools of all order and grade HERE BELOW:
- educational offering for kindergarden school
- educational offering for elementary school
- educational offering for middle school
- educational ofering for high school
PLEASE NOTE! the reservation will be effective only through sending all the required information with the following form:
DOWNLOAD THE FORM TO BOOK THE ACTIVITY
ONLINE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY: Guided online tour with an educational guide in the museum and class connected at school. Duration: 1 h . The class is then provided with tutorials, worksheets and directions to conduct a paired workshop. Cost: €100.
Guided tour service to the Roman Centuriation Museum and the Aldo Rossi Architectural Complex (Civic Center and Borgoricco City Hall), by experts in archaeology and architecture:
- Maximum 25 people per group
- Duration 1 hour and 30 min.
- In Italian : 80 €
- English, French or German : 100 €
- The entrance ticket to the museum must be added to the cost of the service.
For information and reservations write to: museocenturiazione.servizi@gmail.com or call +39 392 4594788 or +39 347 9941448 on Tuesday and Thursday at 9.00 > 12.00, Wednesday at 14.00 > 17.00, or leave a message or send an SMS and you will be called back.
Would you like to celebrate your birthday at the fantasticAldo Rossi Cultural Center in Borgoricco?
Choose between the DAY option and the NIGHT option!
Arrange the birthday theme with our operators: many are the themes to choose from.
costs: option DAY € 200.00, option NIGHT € 400.00;
food, drinks, tablecloths expenses are excluded
info and reservations: museocenturiazione.servizi@gmail.com
3479941448 also SMS and WA
Activities organized by Scatola Cultura Scs
Click here to download the poster: Birthday at the Museum!
What to see in the area
In Favariego you can find the San Nicolò Church built around the year 1000 with recovered material from the roman period. There are two 14the century frescos inside depicting San Nicolò and San Cristoforo.
Mentioned as early as 1085 as a donation, the San Leonardo church, the current parish church of Borgoricco, was built in 1772 with a single nave. On the ceiling there is a beautiful fresco by G.B. Canal.
Villa Bressanin has a beautiful romantic garden of the second half of the nineteenth century. Originally the Villa was a seventeenth-century residence of the Venetian nobles Calbo, now it is a retirement home for the elderly.
