Roman Column

Very little remains of the Maranello of ancient Roman times… but there is something. For example, the Roman Column that still stands on the Via Claudia, a symbol of a bygone world. Until a few centuries ago, it was here that the town criers used to read new regulations, proclamations and communications regarding the life of the community to the townspeople.

Other discoveries in the Maranello area, such as the remains of kilns, utensils, mosaic floors, vases and amphorae bear witness to the history of the Roman period. The Via Claudia itself is a tangible reminder of the age, even though there had been a road along its route since much more remote times. In fact, before the arrival of the Romans, the mountains above Modena had been occupied by the Liguri Friniates, a tribe driven eastward out of their native Liguria by the Empire’s expansion.

The Roman legions expelled them from this refuge, too, between 189 and 179 B.C.E. The road along the Apennine foothills was restored, improved and put back into service by the Consul Claudius, after whom it was named, and it gradually evolved from a highway running past the edge of the settlement into one of the main roads of modern Maranello.