Archaeological Mira - Rivista di Venezia August November 2008
Around the area of Mira there used to be a commercial junction between the Riviera del Brenta and Rialto brought to light by the excavations around the area of the monastery of Saints Ilario and Benedetto.
There is a science that allows mankind to rewrite history, to retrace through its unknown footprints, through unexplored paths and lifting the veil on a past that we did not know existed. It is Archeology
A constantly evolving science, which precisely in Venice has one of its most important university branches. Precisely thanks to the department of Science of Archeology and Near East at the University Ca' Foscari, curricula of Medieval Archeology, in the next weeks one of the most important monastic settlements of the Lagoon area dating between the VIII and X century A.D. will be brought back to light. The area, currently used for agricultural purposes, will be involved in the archeological intervention that belongs to an area of the monastic complex of the Saints Ilario and Benedetto, inside the town of Mira, at Dogaletto.
In 2007 the archeological research had already supplied the first notions in order to promote the project of reconstructing the upper-medieval phases of the monastery.
Analyses had proven how the site fully qualified in the then little known extent of the foundation and development of the settlements that characterized the upper-medieval period. Its importance is due to the fact that, from the evidences handed down, it showed to be a fundamental crossroad in the commercial relations between the Riviera del Brenta and Rialto, with a noticeable logistic support to the connections between Venice and hinterland. The excavations will allow us to collect ceramics, glass, metals and bones, which will give the scholars important information to rewrite the history of a settlement that has been neglected for too long.
