The remains of Vitruvius' Basilica re-emerge in Fano. Exceptional' discovery

An 'exceptional' archaeological discovery in Fano, destined to write a page of history and one that can be likened to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, the school of Pythagoras in Crotone, or the Lapis Niger in Rome, proof of the existence of the Royal Age. The parallel was made by Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli to express the importance of the discovery of the remains of the Roman Basilica of Vitruvius, a founding figure of western architecture, who was born in ancient Fanum Fortunae, today Fano, in the province of Pesaro Urbino.

In the first century A.D. Marcus Vitruvius Pollonius designed and realised this architectural work, the only one he later attributed to himself in his De Architectura. Vitruvius' Basilica surfaced in the city centre of Fano, during excavations for the redevelopment of Piazza Andrea Costa: it was a building with a rectangular plan, surrounded by a perimeter of eight columns on the long sides and four on the short sides. Confirmation of the discovery came from a final survey that returned the fifth corner column and the correspondence of its position, orientation and planimetric description to that made by Vitruvius. The columns, five Roman feet in diameter (147-150 cm) and approximately 15 metres high, were leaning against pillars and pilasters supporting an upper floor. This result is part of a path of research that has been underway for years: in 2022, imposing wall structures and precious marble flooring were found in Via Vitruvio, indicating the presence of high-class public buildings. The investigations will continue on the construction site, which is set to expand and is financed with Pnrr funds.

In the meantime, the discovery has arrived, for which the role of the Superintendency, the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Fano, the Marche Region, the Vitruvian Studies Centre, and the Universities of Urbino and Politecnica was decisive. "At this moment in time," said Giuli, who was connected by videoconference to the event in Fano, "history is divided between before the discovery of the Basilica of Vitruvius and after the discovery of the Basilica of Vitruvius. The history books will report, historicise this day'. 'Until now,' he added, 'we only had written knowledge of the sources, we had Palladio and others who worked on the great work of Vitruvius. Now we have contextual data, like having discovered the school of Pythagoras in Crotone, because according to Pythagoras, cited by Vitruvius, numbers and their relationships have a spatial configuration. Today we have found the spatial configuration theorised by Pythagoras, realised and canonised by Vitruvius'.

At the centre of the discovery is the city of Fano, led by mayor Luca Serfilippi, already chosen as the "city of Augustus", and "colonia Iulia", and now the scene of "an internationally important result, capable of overturning centuries of hypotheses, debates and research, which restores to the city a central role in the history of Roman architecture and to historiographical reflection on Vitruvian heritage". "The column behind us changes the history of our region," writes Marche president Francesco Acquaroli in a post, portrayed in a selfie with mayor Serfilippi and former first citizen Massimo Seri: a "find of absolute value that places the Marche region once again at the centre of international cultural dynamics and that we will work together with all the players to make the most of".