The exhibition offers an evocative journey from the Adda to the Lambro, from the Ticino to the Po, able to narrate the daily life of the Lombard territory in the Middle Ages.
Among the masterpieces on display, a document with the original monogram of Federico Barbarossa, a papal bull of Pope Alexander III, as well as important archaeological finds.
For the first time in its history, the Ambrosian Library is opening its vault to exhibit a precious selection of medieval documents of great historical value.
The Waters of Medieval Lombardy exhibition, scheduled from 6 October to 11 November 2015, at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, will present 14 parchments dating back to the period between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, which have landscapes and waterways as their subject Lombard, able to tell the daily life in the Middle Ages, emphasizing how much this natural element was of primary importance in the life of the entire region.
The initiative, curated by Rita Pezzola and Federico Gallo, in collaboration with the BIM Bacino Imbrifero Montano dell'Adda and the Ad Fontes cultural association, offers unique materials such as an imperial document with the original monogram of Federico Barbarossa, a papal bull of Pope Alexander III, or a cartula convenientae from 1116, never exhibited before, which indicates the location of a well near Porta Ticinese in Milan.
“The precious asset of water – says mgr. Franco Buzzi, prefect of the Ambrosiana Library - has always been an occasion for "peace" and "war" among men: from the biblical wells of Abraham and Jacob, to the tiring agreements for the control of the irrigation ditches in Lombardy, between the Middle Ages and the nineteenth century, through the modern theme of the Commercial Right to sail the seas. The exhibition, of great historical-documentary value, by Rita Pezzola and Federico Gallo in the Ambrosiana, makes us understand how this theme, very varied over the times, has also been at home here".
“I have been studying the parchments of the Veneranda Biblioteca for several years, says Rita Pezzola. Editions of documentary sources of ancient monasteries have been made and the history of this extremely precious collection, made up of over 12.000 pieces, is being reconstructed. The exhibition, which tells, in a discursive form, the stories of everyday life that the parchments convey, has its roots in this research activity".
For his part, Federico Gallo points out that, “For the first time in its centuries-old history, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana is displaying some of the oldest and most precious documents on parchment it conserves. They are royal and imperial diplomas, papal bulls and notarial documents, from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century. They are united by the theme of water and in the exhibition they are divided into themes structured according to a marked didactic intent”.
“The BIM Adda – in the words of its president, Carla Cioccarelli – with this cultural event, leaves Valtellina and Valchiavenna to celebrate an important anniversary such as that of its 60th year of life. We are investing above all in the training of our children through this exhibition, because thanks to the collaboration with schools they will have a unique opportunity to learn about archaeological documents and finds. In the Biblioteca Ambrosiana we have found an ideal interlocutor for having a truly international outlook. We are the largest Bim in Italy and we had a duty to look beyond our province for a celebration of such importance".
"In the wake of the associative path that we have been tracing for ten years - asserts Ugo Zecca, president of the Ad Fontes cultural association - the exhibition in which we are pleased to collaborate combines and places in constant dialogue scientific research, in its highest form, and the interdisciplinary communication of contents that constitute a significant opportunity for educational and human growth, with particular attention to the educational and knowledge activity carried out by schools".
The exhibition itinerary, organized into thematic sections, takes the form of a long journey, starting from Valtellina following the entire course of the Adda, and then continuing along Lake Como; then, through the Lambro and the Ticino to reach the Po.
Ancient documents will tell of commercial exchanges between the Valtellina and the plain, they will tell of boats that ply the Lario carrying the precious wine of Valtellina, of warehouses on the Comacina Island that store wine and oil "in vasis ligneis", according to the definition that was already of Pliny the Elder, and all the other foods, usually produced in the outbuildings of the Como and Milanese monasteries and intended to supply the city markets.
The deeds of ancient notaries will speak of lunches based on fish and turnips, of battles and wars, in particular of the ten-year war fought between Como and Milan (1118-1127). Lake Como has always been an exceptional military and strategic context: in late antiquity the figure of the Praefectus classis Comensis cum curis eiusdem civitatis is well documented, an admiral of the Lario fleet, also endowed with extensive powers over the city of Como, the whose charge could only find confirmation in Ravenna; and in the Longobard age we remember the value of the magister militum Francione, barricaded for months on the Comacina Island.
The possession of the waters and the right of navigability of a junction of enormous importance such as Lake Como will be the subject of two parchments: the imperial document of Federico Barbarossa, signed with his official monogram, in which Federico I takes under his protection of the monastery of San Carpoforo di Como, with all its assets, granting the right to navigate the Lario with one of the ships of its fleet; this is contrasted with the papal bull of Alexander III, which in turn offers protection to the monastery of San Benedetto in Val Perlana with all its possessions on the eastern side of Lake Como, as well as those in the Valtellina. This parchment is of great historical importance unknown until today, as, for the first time, it defines, pieve by pieve, the entire structure of the diocese of Como.
The journey of medieval Lombardy Waters will meet the plain, where the importance of water as an irrigation source will be highlighted, as evidenced by the controversies both on the exploitation of the Lambro river and for the well at Porta Ticinese in Milan; in particular, the latter document dated 1116 mentions a well known as “de Massalia”, located in the suburb of Porta Ticinese.
The itinerary ends on the Ticino and on the Po. Very interesting in this regard are the Diploma dated 4 December 881, in which Charles the Fat grants the monastery of Santa Maria Teodote di Pavia various rights to exploit the waters of the Ticino, the Po and its tributary Agogna and the Diploma of 834, issued in the court of Pavia, with which King Lothair I granted the same monastery the possibility of fishing along the two rivers.
Alongside the ancient writings, the exhibition will offer archaeological finds - accompanied by drawings by Remo Rachini - from some Lombard museums and public collections that collaborated on the project, together with the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage for Lombardy. The finds were found in the places documented by the texts and make the theme of each section concrete and immediately understandable. Among these we note a Lombard shield of the VI-VII century, in forged and hammered iron with studs in bronze foil (Como Civic Archaeological Museum), a splendid example of silver coin of Federico Barbarossa, minted in the Como mint, which it was found in an excavation near the church of San Martino di Serravalle (So), the church buried by the landslide in the 1987 flood. Or again, the oil lamp with fisherman, a molded terracotta (II-III century AD) , from the Civic Archaeological Museum of Como, depicting a seated fisherman, with the typical headdress, holding a rod, against the background of a lake landscape.
The finds are described in files created by high-profile archaeologists, who belong to research institutions traditionally linked to the Ambrosiana or with which an unprecedented collaboration has been established: Walter Basile (Superintendence for the archaeological heritage of Lombardy), Paola Bordigone ( Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan), Maila Chiaravalle (Italian Numismatic Society), Paola Marina De Marchi (Civico Museo di Arsago Seprio), Paolo De Vingo (University of Turin), Isabella Nobile (Civic Archaeological Museum of Como) and Marco Sannazaro (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan).
