Just a few kilometers from Modena, specifically in Montale, a hamlet of Castelnuovo Rangone, is the Terramara di Montale Archaeological Park and Open-air Museum, dedicated to the appreciation of the terramare civilization, typical villages that arose in Emilia and the central area of the Po Valley around the middle of the second millennium B.C. Reachable in about 45 minutes by car from our farmhouse, the Terramara of Montale is an interesting visit for families traveling with children.
Terramare were settlements with man-made fortifications consisting of mighty earthworks reinforced by wooden palisades and surrounded by ditches with water. The huts were generally raised on platforms supported by poles, very similar to pile dwellings, but positioned on land and not in lake or river areas, a system to insulate them from moisture in the ground. The houses, built of earth and wood, were frequently rebuilt and as a result layers of rubble piled up, giving rise to real hillocks. The size of the dwellings ranged from 1-2 hectares in the earliest phases to 20 hectares in the most advanced phases. Studies have shown that these dwellings were the expression of a particularly wealthy and technologically and culturally advanced society that disappeared around 1200 BCE. Excavations in the Montale knoll, begun in the second half of the 1800s and resumed after more than a century, have uncovered the remains of an earthworks.
The Terramara di Montale complex includes an Archaeological Area, an Outdoor Museum and spaces for educational activities. The Archaeological Area, enclosed by a structure whose profile traces the original relief of the hillock, allows visitors to “read” directly on the ground the traces of more than four centuries of village life. Among the archaeological remains, pottery prevails, but numerous bronze, deer horn and amber artifacts are also attested. The open-air museum, on the other hand, offers a life-size reconstruction of a part of the terramaric village, as deduced from the archaeological data. Inside the dwellings, the furniture and objects have been faithfully reproduced based on originals found in the Montale excavations or from archaeological contexts of the same period. In addition, experimental cultures of some of the plants grown by the villagers have been planted in the open-air museum sector.
Particularly interesting are the demonstrations of Experimental Archaeology that experts in Bronze Age craft techniques offer from time to time to make people understand through direct experience methods and procedures used by the terramare artisans. Thus visitors have the opportunity to witness the reproduction of different craft activities: from pottery modeling to the production of bronze weapons and tools; from weaving with weight looms to woodworking and deer horn.
For more information regarding hours and admission, visit the official website of the Terramara of Montale.
AGRITURISMO IL BRUGNOLO
Welcome to il Brugnolo
If you’re looking for completely independent apartments surrounded by greenery you really are in the right place here!
In fact, Brugnolo is immersed in the green nature of the Emilian countryside. For your relaxation, for that of your children, and again for the runs of your 4-legged friends, you will have 6000 square meters of park at your disposal!
