24 bronze statues in perfect condition, votive offerings and other objects, but also five thousand coins in gold, silver and bronze. These are the new exceptional discoveries returned by the excavation campaign to the Etruscan-Roman sanctuary connected to the ancient sacred basin of the thermo-mineral springs of the Bagno Grande di San Casciano dei Bagni, in the province of Siena. The excavation, started in 2019 and promoted by the Ministry of Culture (MiC) and the Tuscan municipality with the coordination of Jacopo Tabolli of the University for Foreigners of Siena, led to these new extraordinary finds in the first weeks of October. In San Casciano, thanks to the recent funding of the MiC, a new museum will be created to house the exhibits. "A discovery that will rewrite history and on which more than 60 experts from all over the world are already working," says the etruscologist responsible for the excavation, Professor Jacopo Tabolli. As a matter of fact, 50 years after the discovery in 1972 of the famous Riace Bronzes, the history of the ancient bronze statuary of the Etruscan and Roman age is rewritten in San Casciano dei Bagni. That of the Tuscan site is the largest deposit of bronze statues of the Etruscan and Roman age ever discovered in ancient Italy and one of the most significant in the whole Mediterranean especially because, until now, this era was mainly known for its terracotta statues. "An exceptional discovery, which confirms once again that Italy is a country of immense and unique treasures. The stratification of different civilizations is a unicum of Italian culture", declares the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano who yesterday, on the occasion of one of his first visits outside Rome, was at the laboratory of the Central Institute for Restoration in Grosseto, where the study activities and the first interventions on bronzes are underway. "I wanted to personally congratulate the archaeologists and the research team," the minister concluded.
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