Fano (Italy). “ We have been waiting for this discovery for more than two thousand years and today we can say that we have found the basilica of Vitruvius. » The mayor of Fano and the world of transalpine archeology are exultant. In this small town in Marche, in the heart of the peninsula, the remains of an ancient basilica were unearthed during work to redevelop a square. This is the only building that the famous Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (1st century BC) – known as Vitruvius – claimed to have personally designed and supervised. Until now the history of this monument, the subject of fruitless research since the Renaissance and lively debates about its existence, was based only on writings. In the fifth book of his monumental treatise De ArchitecturaVitruvius nicknamed “the father of architecture” described with rare luxury of detail a public basilica built at Fanum Fortunae. He attributed a “summam dignitatem and venusstatem” (supreme dignity and beauty).
The building conforms in all respects to its description
The vain attempts to locate it had ended up fueling doubts about its material reality, relegating it to the rank of an ideal theoretical model. The collaboration between the municipal administration, the Superintendence and local universities as part of a preventive archeology project made it possible to confirm that Vitruvius was not only a theoretician but also a builder. During the redevelopment work on Piazza Andrea Costa, archaeologists came across remains whose dimensions aroused their curiosity. They found with amazement the careful description of Vitruvius’ treatise which mentioned a building with a rectangular plan with a very specific arrangement of its columns: eight on the long side and four on the short side, with the deliberate omission of two columns at the point of opening onto the forum. Field surveys confirm exactly this configuration. If certainties are rare in archaeology, this impressive correspondence closes the centuries-old diatribe on the existence of the Vitruvian basilica.
The building not only stood out for its layout, but also for its imposing gigantism. The exhumed fragments reveal the bases of columns with a diameter of approximately 1.50 meters. According to archaeologists’ calculations, the total height of these columns was close to 15 meters, giving the basilica an overwhelming majesty that once dominated the center of the Roman Forum, facing the Temple of Jupiter. The entire urban plan of ancient Fano, already recognized as an important center in the Augustan era, is being reinterpreted. Vitruvius had mentioned other neighboring structures at the Temple of Jupiter and its basilica such as baths and a covered market. A vast monumental complex which should soon be the subject of a new vast campaign of archaeological excavations if the necessary financial resources allow it. The urgent preservation of the basilica’s remains is now the top priority, a mission estimated to cost one million euros to continue excavations. In the future, the project aims not only to open this exceptional site to visitors, but also to seek classification as a UNESCO world heritage site.
