It is one of the most important testimonies of the Roman world in Northern Italy, the ancient city of Veleia discovered in the late '700 on the hills of Piacenza, in the municipality of Lugagnano Val D'Arda (PC).
Its name derives from that of a Ligurian tribe, the Veleiates or Eleates.
The settlement was distributed on a series of terraces diversified in the building phases. It is possible to recognize the structures of the forum with the paving stone, surrounded by an archade overlooked by stores and public areas; the basilica, that is the remains of a single-nave building, seat of the imperial cult, in which were placed 12 large marble statues (now preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Parma) representing the members of the family of the Augustan-Julian-Claudian age. Upstream of the forum is what remains of housing districts and a spa building.
The discovery of the city is due to the Tabula alimentaria traianea, still the largest known bronze inscription of the entire Roman world (also preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Parma).
An Antiquarium is located inside the archaeological area.
Next to the casts of the Tabula Alimentaria Trajan and the Lex de Gallia Cisalpina, the museum also preserves artifacts that illustrate the most significant moments in the history of Veleia: the Ligurian origins, the construction of the main public monuments, the evidence of the furnishings and lifestyle of private homes, the memory of the gladiatorial shows, the funeral rites.
In summer, Veleia is the scene of the Festival of Ancient Theatre, an appointment now unmissable to relive, through the scene, the myths that belong to a collective past.
