A day of role-playing games set in Lombard Italy in Brescia.

A day of role-playing with fantasy setting in theItaly of the Lombards: the event, titled Before the Rooster crows, will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2023, in Brescia, in the Basilica of San Salvatore, and will involve a hundred participants organized in two groups and coordinated by eight Game Masters who will lead the players back in time, to the age of the Lombards. The initiative is conceived by theAssociazione Italia Langobardorum, the managing body of the UNESCO serial site “The Lombards in Italy. Places of Power (568-774 AD).”

Inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, the world’s best-known fantasy role-playing game, the Before the Rooster crows adventure can also be downloaded by the public to play independently; it is produced by theAssociazione Italia Langobardorum in collaboration with Gummy Industries and was conceived and written by Emilio Palmerini and Giada Taribelli, with a comic book antecedent scripted and illustrated by Francesco Mazziotta of the “Don’t Say Dragons” collective. The plot of the game takes place at the time of Lombard rule in Italy, between 568 and 774 AD, within a monastic community that witnesses the occurrence of unexplained disappearances. The solution to the mystery is entrusted to a group of adventurers, corresponding to the characters played by the players, who have been imagined to represent each of the seven places that, with their monumental groups, constitute the UNESCO serial site of the Lombards in Italy, and which are the Gastaldaga area and the episcopal complex in Cividale del Friuli, the monastery of San Salvatore - Santa Giulia and thearchaeological area of the Capitolium in Brescia, the Castrum with the Tower of Torba and the Church of Santa Maria Foris Portas in Torba and in Castelseprio, the Basilica of San Salvatore in Spoleto, the Tempietto del Clitunno in Campello sul Clitunno, the Complex of Santa Sofia in Benevento, and the Sanctuary of San Michele in Monte Sant’Angelo.

The purpose of the adventure, both in its packaged and downloadable version and in its live-played version on Nov. 18 in Brescia, Italy, is not only to help spread awareness of the UNESCO serial site of the Lombards in Italy, which contains the main monumental evidence traceable to that civilization, but also to improve understanding of the Lombard cultural world, overturning that negative representation of the Lombards, associated with the idea of barbarism and decadence that recent historiography has disproved, emphasizing their fundamental ability to have assimilated Roman tradition, the spirituality of Christianity, Byzantine influence and Germanic values, giving rise to a new culture.

To participate in the Nov. 18 day, registration is required through the Eventbrite portal at the link: https://www.eventbrite.it/e/biglietti-prima-che-il-gallo-canti-739295080487?aff=oddtdtcreator

The decision, conceived by the game’s creators, to have individual players take on the role of a Lombard hero, instead assigning the Franks the part of the antagonists, as opposed to the well-known Manzonian narrative, should be read in this light. Fondazione Brescia Musei will offer players a free guided tour of the Lombard section of the San Salvatore - Santa Giulia Museum and will give them a free ticket to visit the archaeological park of Roman Brixia as well.

“That of the ’Lombards in Italy’ is among the few UNESCO sites to have taken the path of gaming to stimulate knowledge and visits to the fascinating architecture preserved and become a world heritage site,” said Danilo Chiodetti, president of the Italia Langobardorum Association. “An innovative way that of gaming, with which we have aimed at the tourist enhancement of the architectural heritage of extraordinary beauty of which we are custodians, but with which in particular we have paid attention to the involvement of young targets, so as to also bring younger generations and new audiences closer to the cultural heritage and its values. A winning way that we have chosen, so much so that the Association has already been involved to tell in several appointments the innovative actions we are putting in place: at the BMTA - Borsa Mediterranea del Turismo Archeologico fair in Paestum, next Friday, Nov. 3; at Tourisma - Salone dell’Archeologia e del Turismo Culturale in Florence, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024; and at CAST - Convegno di Archeologia, Storia e gioco da Tavolo, scheduled for Saturday, March 1, 2024.”

“Gaming again protagonist in the Brescia Civic Museums, this time with the intriguing ’drama’ built by the role-playing game around the story of the Lombard civilization, of which we as Fondazione Brescia Musei are great popularizers, together with the network of UNESCO sites The Lombards in Italy. Making history of civilization through museum play means developing inclusion and participation, promoting new languages applied to heritage education and implementing new communication strategies, in line with the principles that an open museum must concretely and convincingly support,” commented Francesca Bazoli, president of Fondazione Brescia Musei. “Our satisfaction therefore because after Geronimo Stilton, the protagonist of our museum adventures, a new topos of popular culture, that of one of the most famous role-playing games in the world, enters our museums through the front door.”

Pictured, Basilica of San Salvatore in Brescia

A day of role-playing games set in Lombard Italy in Brescia.

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