Calomino abstract 2008
Processing coin finds data in Northern Italy: the case of Veneto and Verona
Since 1986 the “Centro Regionale di Catalogazione dei Beni Numismatici del Veneto” has promoted a programme of cataloguing and processing coin finds data in the Region of Veneto, supervised by prof. Giovanni Gorini (University of Padova); the project consists in the cooperation of both Municipal and State Museums, gathering all the coins found in the towns and in the countryside of the region. The final purpose of this database is the publication of a series of volumes collecting each town coin finds, named Ritrovamenti monetali di età romana in Veneto –RMRVe – (Coin Finds of the Roman Age in Veneto) and following the model of Fundmünzen in Germany and Austria. Even if the majority of the catalogued coins belong to the Roman Age, Greek and Celtic coins of pre-roman age and barbaric-byzantine coins minted after the fall of the Roman Empire are included.
Up to now, the series contains thirteen volumes, including many important city finds such as those of Altino (the roman center of Altinum, preceding the foundation of Venice), Vicenza (roman Vicetia) and Oderzo (roman Opitergium). A new volume, concerning coin finds in Verona, one of the most important roman town in Veneto and in the whole Northern Italy, is now in preparation; this work is revealing a huge amount of coins coming both from public and private roman buildings, as well as from the river Adige. Most of the coins are collected in the Castelvecchio Museum and in the Archaeological Museum of Verona and they will be published for the first time.
In addition to this systematic process of publication, the Region of Veneto has adopted a filing coins informatic database, that has been projected by a team of Italian numismatic researchers and approved by the Italian Ministry of Culture. This is an on-line database that allows curators and researchers from all over the world to access to catalogued ancient, medieval and modern coins belonging both to archaeological finds and to historical public collections.