The exhibition “Made in Roma and Aquileia” will be staged in Palazzo Meizlik in Aquileia from Saturday February 11th to May 31st, promoted and organized by Fondazione Aquileia in collaboration with the Department for Cultural Development of Roma Capitale and the General Direction of Cultural Heritage of Rome – Trajan’s Markets of the Imperial Fora, the Polo Museale del Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Municipality of Aquileia and the Associazione Nazionale per Aquileia. Other partners include Trieste Airport, Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Fiumicello e Aiello, Confindustria and Palmanova Outlet Village.
The exhibition itinerary, curated by Annalisa Giovannini, Marta Novello and Cristiano Tiussi, combines as many as 156 objects from the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia with 150 artefacts coming from the successful exhibition recently staged in Trajan’s Markets in Rome. The exhibits include a bronze collar of a slave, glassware, lamps, gemstones, all sorts of amphorae, medical instrumentation and several other objects of daily use in Antiquity. All objects bear trade stamps, brands, signatures, and the most varied signs of property and ownership. A trade stamp, brand or seal are all small though significant ways through which Aquileia, like Rome, narrates the evolution of the relationship between producer/seller and buyer and, at the same time, the one between the buyer and the object purchased.
A manufacturer who stamps his name on the object he produces advertises his expertise, guarantees the object’s quality; the purchasers of the item express their confidence in the manufacturer, preferring this product to others. This set of events has never ended, continuing through the centuries until today.
The names of the entrepreneurs build up, providing information about owners, men and women (yes, women) both bold and judicious in business management, often administering a large number of staff, seeking and finding increasingly important and numerous market opportunities.
Producing, exporting and importing: Aquileia, a city founded in 181 BC on the border between the Mediterranean Sea and the world beyond the Alps, is with its vast river port a real microcosm.
Debora Serracchiani, President of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia highlights that «the exhibition offers the chance to confirm from an unprecedented perspective the excellence of the manufacturing economy of Friuli Venezia Giulia, whose quality standards are acknowledged worldwide today. The exhibits witness that, as early as two thousand years ago, technical skills, quality and taste made Aquileia a reference for the society of Antiquity, when commercial routes already connected faraway places. This is another case when our past can teach us something: still today, the challenge of globalization can only be won if you produce and offer the best».
The President of Fondazione Aquileia Antonio Zanardi Landi says: «We are confident that the exhibition will make the most of a simple notion we firmly trust: the products of the area where Aquileia has been the main reference for several centuries feature standards of excellence ideally connected to their two-thousand-year-old tradition and to a philosophy of production that is deeply rooted in the Roman world and in the big cities of the Roman Empire. In other words, it is not by chance that several large producers of special steel and iron, great winemakers, world-leading manufacturers of drugs and medication, renowned goldsmiths, creative glassware artists and so on from Friuli Venezia Giulia and the neighbouring territories successfully work and enjoy a high reputation all over the world today. Their current success is connected to the research for excellence that started in this area even before the rise of the Roman Empire, at a time when a large portion of Europe was still inhabited by nomadic populations who lived on subsistence economy».
Gianni Torrenti, Councillor for Cultural Activities for the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, maintains that «Symbols have constantly told the story of men and their values. In this area, symbols and manufactured products speak of a society rich in culture, a place at a crossroads of traders, exchanges and refined arts. The seals exhibited in Aquileia have the capacity to explicitly represent both the producers’ belonging to a community and their individual diversity: they speak of the special identity of this area, diverse, multifaceted, and yet very firm in character».
Cristiano Tiussi, archaeologist and Director of Fondazione Aquileia, defines the exhibition as «an extraordinary travel into the world of the manufacturing brands and property marks of the Roman times, as well as in the most varied range of wording about ownership. While to a fairly different extent from today, their use is surprisingly modern. These marks show the pride for one’s job, for the quality of the product, and sometimes go as far as providing some sort of “traceability”, of certification of origin. Back in Roman times, all sorts of things came with a brand or mark, including bricks and glass, metal objects, medicines and jewels. Unfortunately, as shown by the collar of a slave on display, even human beings were marked, something that makes us horrified today but was common practice at the time.
The exhibition also targets a strongly didactic purpose and offers a number of events thanks to the collaboration with the Didactic Service of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia: starting from Sunday 19th February, a rich programme of guided visits for families will allow visiting both the exhibition and the National Archaeological Museum for a special price (€6); starting from March, free guided visits and workshops will be offered to schools in collaboration with Studio Didattico Nordest. The exhibition will be opened from Tuesdays to Fridays from 10 am to 5 pm, on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 6 pm. Entrance fee is € 4 at full price; € 2 at reduced price for the holders of Unico ticket and Palmanova Outlet Village fidelity card; free entrance for children under 18 years of age and holders of FVG Card. For a detailed list of entitlement to reductions and gratuitousness, please refer to www.fondazioneaquileia.it
The precious exhibits come from the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia and from some important Roman and international museums. Among the latter, on grounds of their historic importance as leading manufacturing centres of the Roman Empire, special mention is owed to the Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt Köln (Germany) and the Archeološki muzej u Splitu (Croatia).
The exhibition comes with a remarkable catalogue published by Gangemi Editore and curated by Annalisa Giovannini for the exhibition of Aquileia and by Lucrezia Ungaro, Marina Milella and Simone Pastor for the exhibition recently staged in Rome. Our special thanks go to the Director of Cultural Heritage of Rome, Claudio Parisi Presicce, for originally conceiving the exhibition.
Location
Palazzo Meizlik
Via Patriarca Popone 7 – Aquileia (Ud)
Duration
From 12th February to 31st May 2017
Opening times
Tuesdays to Fridays from 10 am to 5 om (Feb-Mar), from 10 am to 18 pm (Apr-May)
Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 6 pm
Entrance fees
€ 4 full price
€ 2 reduced price (groups, people aged 18-25, holders of UNICO ticket, Palmanova Outlet Village fidelity card, partners BCC di Fiumicello e Aiello)
Free entrance
- Children under 18
- FVG Card
and all categories falling in the Mibact list
Informazioni e prenotazioni gruppi
Si prega di contattare la biglietteria al 3317195960
Calendario visite didattiche per famiglie e bambini
a cura dei Servizi educativi del Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia
Biglietto speciale Mostra+ M.A.N.+ visita guidata € 6
www.fondazioneaquileia.it www.museoarcheologicoaquileia.beniculturali.it
Prenotazione obbligatoria telefonando al 0431 91035 (lun-ven 9-13) o scrivendo museoaquileiadidattica@beniculturali.it
Iniziativa “Speciale Scuole”
Ogni mercoledì mattina nei mesi di marzo aprile e maggio visita alla mostra e laboratorio didattico gratuiti SU PRENOTAZIONE a cura di Studio D - Didattica Nordest
contatti:
marta.nardin@studiodidatticanordest.it
Emanuela Pozzo 347.4406788 (fino a fine febbraio)
Marta Nardin 340.9333827 (da marzo a maggio)
Prenotazione visite guidate
Sarà sempre possibile prenotare tutti i giorni la visita guidata per gruppi, scuole o individuali contattando direttamente le associazioni di guide turistiche del Friuli Venezia Giulia: l’elenco completo al seguente link
http://www.turismofvg.it/POI/Map?Filter=2790#Filter=2790&PagerStartIndex=0
Ufficio Stampa
Erica Zanon
3475422876
ufficiostampa@fondazioneaquileia.it
