Cividate Camuno, Italy: travel guide to Roman Valle Camonica and its archaeological park

Cividate Camuno is a small town in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, set on the river Oglio in the middle of the Valle Camonica, one of the great Alpine valleys of northern Italy. With around 2,600 inhabitants it is a modest place today, but in Roman times it was the capital of the whole valley, and it preserves some of the most important Roman remains in the Alps.

For travellers searching for Cividate Camuno, Roman Valle Camonica, the archaeological park or the National Museum of the Valle Camonica, the town is a key stop for anyone interested in the ancient and prehistoric history of the region.

Roman Civitas Camunnorum

After the Roman conquest of the valley in 16 BC, Cividate became the Civitas Camunnorum, the administrative, political and religious centre of the Camunni people, who were granted Roman citizenship in the late 1st century AD. The Archaeological Park of the Theatre and Amphitheatre preserves the remains of a Roman theatre, built into the hillside, and an amphitheatre that could hold some 5,500 spectators, along with traces of baths and service buildings. Finds from the town and the wider valley, including a rare statue of Minerva, are displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of the Valle Camonica.

Town and valley

Above the town, the early-medieval church of Santo Stefano, linked to a legend of Charlemagne, and a medieval tower recall its later history. The Valle Camonica itself is world-famous for its prehistoric rock carvings, which in 1979 became Italy's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Cividate makes an excellent base for exploring this ancient landscape.

Practical information

Cividate Camuno lies about 64 kilometres north of Brescia, reached by road and by the regional railway that runs up the Valle Camonica, close to the town of Breno and the rock-art parks further up the valley.