Angera archive

Directed between 1975 and 1986 by Prof. Gemma Sena Chiesa (University of Milan) and Prof. Maria Paola Lavizzari Pedrazzini (University of Pavia), the archaeological excavations at Angera (Varese) represented a crucial milestone in the study of minor settlements in northern Italy and made it possible to clarify several aspects of Late Antiquity, which had until then been little explored. The research initially focused, in the 1970s, on the settlement’s necropolis, and later, between 1980 and 1986, on the inhabited area and the extra‑vicus zone.

The results of the investigations were published in four volumes (Erma di Bretschneider, 1985 and 1995), while the original excavation documentation (photographs, slides, diaries, notes, drawings, inventories) now forms an archive preserved in the Archaeology Section of the Department of Cultural and Environmental Heritage.

In 2025, in collaboration with Dr Anna Bernardoni (Civic Archaeological and Diffused Museum of Angera), the ArcheoMeMi group launched a project for the reordering and digitization of the Angera Archive, with the aim of enabling remote consultation of the documentation and ensuring its proper conservation. Among the planned activities, the project includes the organization, in 2026, of a photographic exhibition in Angera to celebrate forty years since the conclusion of the excavations, presenting to the public materials and contexts that continue to be preserved and promoted in the local area.

Publications

Bernardoni, A., Intagliata, E.E. 2025. “La Statale ad Angera (VA): verso il riordino dell’Archivio Angera a quarant’anni dalla conclusione degli scavi”, LANX. Rivista della Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni Archeologici 33, 90–101. https://doi.org/10.54103/2035-4797/30376