Edited by Gian Pietro Brogiolo

All’insegna del Giglio

The architectural and decorative remains of the church of San Salvatore have drawn the attention of art historians on the monastery of Brescia since the last century, but only with the excavations it was possible to point out chronologies and building events of the monastic period to obtain new information on the settlement sequence prior to the foundation of the monastery.

After the essays edited by Pietro del Ponte in 1876 in the church of S. Salvatore and in the south-west courtyard, it was not until 1958 that the research was resumed. Three phases of the excavation have been carried out since that year:

  1. the campaigns of 1957-62, promoted by the director of the Civic Museums of Brescia Gaetano Panazza, inside and near S. Salvatore; the excavations were carried out by the assistant Guarneri, who had learned from Lamboglia the techniques of stratigraphic excavation.
  2. the emergency excavations carried out in 1967-71, still by Gaetano Panazza, in the Roman era houses area, where the construction of the new Museum of Natural History was planned;
  3. the long season of interventions, also of emergency, carried out from 1980 to 1992, in occasion of the intense activities of restructure of the monastic complex, destined to accommodate the new center of the Civic Museums.

This publication concerns the finds collected in the last phase of excavations. Only some classes of materials has the same consideration of those found previously.