Portus

The Sea of the Ancient Romans

17 September 2019 - 12 December 2019

Location: China Port Museum, Ningbo

Curators: Rita Auriemma, Renato Sebastiani, Mirella Serlorenzi, Pierfrancesco Talamo, Gabriella Angeli Bufalini

“Portus: the sea of the ancient Romans” is an unique exhibition on the sea and ports of ancient Rome, bringing together 130 artefacts from various important Italian museums. The exhibition leads the visitor on a journey to retrace the routes of the Romans following their ancient imagination, engineering and technology, their refined artistic and artisan production: revealing connections between peoples and cultures. Ocean myths, seaport construction, shipbuilding technology and maritime commerce are narrated with the help of wonderful marine archaeological discoveries.

A particularly fascinating and academically important display is the reconstruction of a decorated environment from the Roman villa of Pietra Papa, exclusively produced for this exhibition together with the National Roman Museum.

Bronzes, statues, pottery and fascinating coins are loaned by: The National Roman Museum, The Special Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Rome, The Archaeological Park of the Ancient Appian Way, The Archaeological Park of the Phlegraean Fields and The Museum of the Ancient Sea and Navigation.

The exhibition on Portus was the ending chapter of a trilogy of exhibitions on the Mediterranean Sea presented to the Chinese audience, produced under the cultural exchange program and the Forum Italy-China.

"The narrative proposed through the exhibition tells the intense relationship between Rome and the sea: the maritime aspect of the great power that built its Mediterranean empire along the sea and along the rivers."

Rita Auriemma, Archaeologist and Curator