Le faticose vie del sacro nell’Alto Garda bresciano, verso il santuario di Iuppiter Aeternus di Villanuova sul Clisi (Valle Sabbia)

Recent archaeological research in the Valle Sabbia in the territory of Brescia (BS - Northern Italy) has led to the discovery of a new place of worship from the Roman era, possibly built on an ancient indigenous sanctuary. The Valle Sabbia is one of the alpine valleys of Lombardy, north of Brescia (the Colonia Augusta Civica Brixia). The territory, crossed by the river Chiese, stretches between Lake Idro and Lake Garda, in a favourable geographical position that puts it in direct contact with the plain on one side and the Alps on the other. Since 2000, campaigns of archaeological excavations have led to the discovery of different contexts that can be interpreted as sacred, with frequenting from prehistoric times to Roman times and which have as recurrent characteristic a close relationship with the surrounding landscape, with a clear preference for mountainous and wooded contexts. The most important novelties, concerning the Roman period, emerge in Villanuova sul Clisi, where on a panoramic hill overlooking the entire Valle Sabbia and Garda Lake, various wall structures have emerged that define a complex built on several levels, with a rectangular main room of about 11×4,20 m, made with large structures confining the summit plateau, and other lateral ones. The recovered materials indicate a visitation from the 1st to the 4th century A.D.: in addition to coins, fibulae and ceramics, some miniature metal ex-voto with dedications to Iuppiter Aeternus, various graffiti on plaster and a stone altar also inscribed have been uncovered