(ANSA) - ROME, FEBRUARY 27 - Elegant and light, amazing for the complexity and refinement of the tin and bronze decorations, incredible in its completeness, with the traces of the cushions, of the ropes to hold the wreaths, even the imprints of two ears of corn left on a seat.
In Pompeii, the excavations of the villa of Civita Giuliana never cease to amaze and restore an extraordinary parade float, painted red and covered with erotic-themed decorations, perhaps destined for the cult of Ceres and Venus or more probably for an aristocratic wedding ceremony.
"For Italy ununicum-anticipates to ANSA Massimo Osanna, outgoing director of the Archaeological Park and scientific director of the excavation - a discovery of great importance for the advancement of knowledge of the ancient world".
A discovery, underlines the minister of culture Dario Franceschini, "of great scientific value".
It could be, explains the archaeologist, a Pilentum, or what ancient sources describe as a ceremonial carriage, a vehicle used only by the elites and only ceremonial uncontested.
"One like this has never been seen in Italy.
The comparison can only be made with a series of carriages found fifteen years ago in a tomb in Thrace, in northern Greece on the border with Bulgaria", says Osanna.
One of these Thracian chariots in particular, he points out, "looks a lot like ours, but it's not decorated."
The pilenta, cited by Claudiano and others, could in fact be painted in blue or red, as in the case of the Pompeian find.
Reserved for the more affluent classes, they were used for religious cults, but they were a bit like a high-profile car.
(HANDLE).
