← Back to the mapThe Roman-era Corinthian colonnade Colonne di San Lorenzo in Milan, ancient Mediolanum
Modern photograph of the Colonne di San Lorenzo, Milan · Wikimedia Commons

Milan

Italia · Roman province·Italy·Founded 590 BCE (Insubres); Roman 222 BCE

Roman Mediolanum, the largest city in northern Italy. In 117 CE, a booming provincial hub — not yet the imperial residence it would become in the 3rd century.

A major living metropolis of around 1.4 million; Roman-era remains like the Columns of San Lorenzo survive as isolated fragments within the modern city.

Excavation history

1936
Alda Levi — Located the site of Milan's long-vanished Roman amphitheatre amid the Porta Ticinese district's urban fabric.
1950s-1970s
Alda Levi and successors — Excavation, interrupted by World War II, resumed after the war and continued into the 1970s, uncovering seven of the foundation walls that had supported the amphitheatre's seating.

Notable finds

Patera di Parabiago
Patera di Parabiago
Diggers in a Roman-era cemetery at Parabiago, just outside Milan, unearthed this 39cm gilt-silver ceremonial dish in 1907. Its embossed scene packs Cybele and Attis riding a lion-drawn chariot into a single cosmic tableau of sun, moon, and zodiac.
Civico Museo Archeologico di Milano
Mosaic Pavements of the Via Circo Domus
Building work at Via Circo in 1877 uncovered three polychrome floor mosaics from the reception rooms of a wealthy Mediolanum townhouse dated to the second half of the 2nd century CE, lifted, restored, and reassembled for museum display in 1967.
Civico Museo Archeologico di Milano
Sarcophagus of Gaius Valerius Petronianus
A worker digging a field in the Lambrate district on 20 March 1905 struck this marble sarcophagus three meters underground, carved with four scenes of the deceased lawyer's career, including a slave presenting him wax writing tablets.
Civico Museo Archeologico di Milano
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Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →