Longobards exhibition opens in Pavia with international tour

The exhibition 'Longobardi. Un popolo che cambia la storia' opens September 1, 2017 at Castello Visconteo in Pavia, tracing the Lombard people's impact on Italy from 568 AD to the end of the first millennium. It results from collaboration among Castello Visconteo, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN), and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. After Pavia (until December 3, 2017), the show travels to Naples (December 15, 2017 – March 25, 2018) and St. Petersburg (April–June 2018). Curated by Gian Pietro Brogiolo and Federico Marazzi with a team including Ermanno Arslan, Carlo Bertelli, Caterina Giostra, Saverio Lomartire, and Fabio Pagano, scientific direction by Susanna Zatti, Paolo Giulierini, and Yuri Piotrovsky. Organized by Villaggio Globale International, the exhibition features over 300 works, 32 Lombard sites, and 58 complete funerary assemblages. It is structured in 8 sections with innovative archaeological display blending creativity, design, and multimedia. Highlights include recent multidisciplinary necropolis findings never before shown, and artifacts from royal and court contexts reused in later structures. Paolo Giulierini notes the exhibition offers a chance to broaden perspectives on the ancient era, emphasizing the indelible Lombard mark in Campania, especially Capua and Benevento.