BAGNACAVALLO
Emilia, Italy.
The site is
in the plain 19 km from Ravenna. it was a Roman pagus
at the border of the centurial area to the E of Faventia,
and the center of the extensive territory between Senio
and Ronco, to which it appears to have belonged. There
is not sufficient data to indicate that it had autonomous
civil government but the site is rich in Roman age
archaeological material.
The probable existence nearby of a sanctuary for diverse cults of salutary divinities is attested by four cippi.
Three bear inscriptions that mention Quies, Salus, and
Feronia, whose cult is thus documented for the first time
in the Cisalpine region. Feronia, given the significance of
“lady of the forests,” thus coincides with the existence
nearby of the parish church of S. Pietro in Silvis, in ancient times in the middle of a wooded area. it was located
near the wooded strip that separated the centurial plain
from the lagoons before Ravenna. Other evidence is present in the Classical architectural elements employed in
the construction of the church, and in an altar lacking
title or dedication which was found at Boncellino and is
now in the Museo Civico at Bologna. Dedications to
other divinities, Jupiter Libertas and Jupiter Obsequiens,
provide evidence of a cult of freedmen. it is possible
that the cult of Jupiter was supplanted by the cult of St.
Peter. The sanctuary continued in use for about five centuries.
The necropolis, which contains numerous tombs and
inscriptions, has been found in the area of the modern
brick furnace. Bagnacavallo was probably the seat of a
collegium iuvenum Ioviensium recorded by an inscription
in which the patron, C. Mansuanius, is mentioned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CIL XI, 657-659; P. Ducati,
RömMitt
23 (1908) 131; P. E. Arias,
FA VII (1956) 264 n. 3608;
M. A. Veggi Donati,
Ricerche e documentazioni su Bagnacavallo romana (1960); G. Susini, “Il santuario di
Feronia e delle divinità salutari a Bagnacavallo,”
Studi
Romagnoli (1962); id., “La stele del curiale Mansuanio,”
Atti e Mem. Deputaz. di Storia Patria per le Romagne,
n.s. 9 (1957-58) 1962 35ff; L. Balduzzi,
Atti Mem. Deputazione Storia Patria per le Romagne 2, 1 (1974) 1-11.
G. BERMOND MONTANARI
