VICETIA
(Vicenza) Veneto, Italy.
A city at
the N foot of the Berici hills, on the river Togisonus
(Bacchiglione). A prehistoric nucleus extending into the
suburban area must have been a very important center
of early Venetic culture. In 148 B.C. the Via Postumia
passed through the center of the city and by 135 B.C.
its territory had been noticeably extended (
CIL V, 2490).
It was one of the municipal towns in N Italy (49 B.C.)
and belonged to the tenth Augustan region. It was the
home of the grammarian Remmius Palaemon (Suet.
Gram. 23). There is evidence of the cults of Diana,
Fortuna, Nemesis, the Nymphs, Venus, and the Imperial
Genius.
The Roman city was rectangular in plan (500 x 560
m) with internal blocks about 60 m square. It was surrounded by a brick wall of which considerable remains have come to light in Piazza Castello. The urban plan is probably of the 1st c. B.C., with the Via Postumia constituting the decumanus. This road crossed the Togisonus
at the E end of the urban area. Remains of a bridge there
were partially preserved until 1889 (Ponte degli Angeli).
A second bridge, Ponte S. Paolo, destroyed in 1875,
crossed the river Retrone on the S side of the city, where
the road led to the theater. Each bridge had three low
arches, with technical details of the early Imperial period.
Inside the city, under the area of the mediaeval piazzas,
parts of public buildings have been found which probably belong to the forum. Elsewhere fragments of mosaic pavement have been found, probably from private houses. A cryptoporticus belonged to a structure enclosed in a
city block in the SW part of the urban area. It was 3.4 m
wide, branching out to surround the structure on three
sides. It was part of a rich domus of the 1st c A.D. and
remained in use for several centuries. The most important relic of the ancient city—which, however, is outside
the walls—is the theater, called “di Berga” from the
name of the mediaeval quarter in which its ruins are preserved. The cavea, with a maximum diameter of 76.7 m, faced N and was subdivided into an ima cavea on a full substructure and a summa cavea with a radial substructure covered by barrel vaults. The lower part of the
facade is partially preserved and has half-column pilasters. The stage enclosure, joined to the cavea through the
crypts, exhibits three niches with a semicircular plan,
framed by columns and rich in sculptural decoration
(portrait statues of the Julio-Claudian period and friezes
in relief). Several phases are distinguishable; the original
phase, dating from the first half of the 1st c. A.D., was
restored and enriched in the course of the 2d c. A.D.
Outside the city walls in the suburb of Lobia are preserved the remains of an aqueduct, its concrete covered by decorative tufa. Datable to the first Imperial age, the aqueduct carried water to a storage place near the walls
of the city. In the heart of the W necropolis is the ruin
of a small basilica above the tombs of SS. Felice and
Fortunato with mosaic pavements from the first half of
the 4th c. In the 5th c. it was supplanted by a basilica
with three naves, with a quadriporticus, baptistery, and
martyrion in the form of a Greek cross. Its interior walls
are decorated with mosaics. Another Late Antique complex has been discovered under the area of the cathedral.
On remains of houses from the 1st c. A.D. rest the remains of a basilica from the 5th c. with mosaic pavements. Finds from the area include early Venetic stipe,
funerary stelai, series of reliefs, inscriptions, and minor
objects. These, together with material of various provenance, have been donated to the local Museo Civico.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cic.
Fam. 11.19.2;
Strab. 5.214; Tac.
Hist. 3.8; Plin.
HN 3.121,130,132; 6.218; Ptol. 3.1.30;
Ael. 14.8; Paul.
Diac. 2.14; 5.23;
CIL v, 306ff.
V. Barichella,
Alcune notizie sul teatro di Berga
(1869); id.,
Relazione sul ponte sopra il Retrone (1875);
H. Dütschke,
Antike Bildwerke in Oberitalien V (1882)
1-24; B. Morsolin, “L'acquedotto romano di Vicenza e
il teatro di Berga,”
Memorie Storiche Dep. St. Patr. III (1884); A. De Bon,
La romanità del territorio vicentino
(1937); G. Fasolo,
Guida al Museo Civico di Vicenza
(1940); F. Franco, “Il teatro romano dell'antica Berga,”
Atti III Conv. Naz. Stor. Arch. (1941) 171-82; G. Brusin
et al.,
Studi Mistrorigo (1958) 20ff, 41ff, 749ff; Brusin,
“Danzatrici orgiastiche su monumenti funerari della Venetia,”
AttiVen 119 (1960-61) 389-99; G. Radke, “Vicetia,”
PW 8A (1958) 2053-54; C. Anti,
Cisalpina (1959)
257; C. Gasparotto,
Carta archeologica d'Italia, I.G.M.,
F. 50 (1959) 83ff; G. Fogolari,
Paleoveneti a Vicenza (1963);
EAA 7 (1966) 1162 (L. Beschi).
L. BESCHI
