Eppan (Bolzano), remains of an early Christian church from the 5th-6th century discovered.

Important find in Eppan on the Wine Road (Bolzano), where, on the Lamprecht hill, the remains of an early Christian church from the 5th-6th centuries, a period during which Christianity spread rapidly in South Tyrol, were discovered. The church, it turns out, was rebuilt after being destroyed by a violent fire. The discovery is the result of an archaeological excavation followed by the Office for Archaeological Heritage of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano’s Provincial Cultural Heritage Office, under the scientific direction of Catrin Marzoli, director of the office, and carried out in the field by Gino Bombonato’s ASAR company.

But that’s not all: about twenty burials were in fact discovered along the western exterior side of the church: male and female individuals were found including infants, children and adults. The burial ground is located in a corridor bordered by the church and another building. It would appear to be a large water cistern with a vaulted ceiling.

“Now the interesting question,” observes the provincial superintendent, Karin Dalla Torre, "is whether castrum Appianum, mentioned in the 8th century by the historian Paul Deacon, author of the History of the Lombards, is to be located precisely on Lamprecht Hill.“ In fact, the finding leaves room for this hypothesis: we know that on the Lamprecht hill, in the vicinity of Ganda di Sopra and a short distance from the famous ”Ice Holes," a castrum was located, that is, a fortification used by the local population as a place of refuge after the fall of the Roman Empire, during the incursions of Germanic peoples. The Franks, in 590, were the protagonists of a violent raid along the Adige Valley, during which they destroyed several fortified installations, just like the one on Lamprecht Hill.

“Every archaeological discovery,” said provincial councillor, Maria Hochgruber Kuenzer, “is like a tile in a mosaic that allows us to reconstruct and understand the past.”

Image: the recovered remains. Photo: ASP/Office of Archaeological Heritage

Eppan (Bolzano), remains of an early Christian church from the 5th-6th century discovered.

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