The Museum of Roman Centuriation

❝Signs of agriculture systems from Roman times are still present today in a territory northeast of Padua. Here, an evocative Centuriation "cultural landscape" is preserved. The museum display area emphasizes how we must refer back to the surrounding territory in order to better understand and appreciate this important historical heritage.❞

The Museum of Roman Centuriation illustrates the unique characteristics of the geographical area that stretches to the northeast of Padua, an area still recognizable by the impressive subdivision of agrarian land carried out in Roman times, known as Centuriation. The Museum, in Borgoricco, constantly makes reference to this special and historically rich territory. The museum displays the techniques and implements used to carry out Centuriation, types of settlements, and the agricultural and commercial activities which characterized the rural world during the Roman period. The highly regularised dividing up of the land with pivot points, Decumans, parallel and perpendicular lines placed at 710 metres (20 Roman actus) apart, served to create agricultural land for the colonies and war veterans in compensation for services rendered to the Roman army. Simultaneously, Centuriation was an efficient means of land reclamation and allowed for the land to be governed from an hydraulic point of view. Indeed, the Centuriation axes corresponded to principal roads and, often to collection canals which were indispensable for excess water drainage of surrounding fields. Another important territorial feature is the sinuous course of the Muson Vecchio river, which breaks up the rigid symmetry of Centuriation, delimiting Paduan Centuriation to the west, and, to the east, on the opposite bank, Altino Centuriation. This highly articulate agrarian and territorial organization is an authentic "cultural landscape" of the Roman rural world and one of the best preserved in Europe. Centuriation, therefore, is a "constructed landscape".
The museum comprises four rooms which seek to heighten awareness of land and socio-cultural aspects of Roman gridding, also through multimedia installations. In the Green room, the geographical particularity of Centuriation and its execution are covered, with the support of very informative panels and the display of specific instruments such as the surveyor's cross. The Red and Orange rooms deal with agricultural, livestock and domestic themes. The Blue room focuses on economic activity, with the impressive reconstruction of an antique Roman furnace.