:: tongobriga ::

Archaeological excavations recently carried out made possible to confirm that the paleo-Christian basilica, which corresponds to the occupation of the area in the 5th and 6th centuries, was located in the same place occupied today by the parish church and its churchyard. The building of the original basilica exceeded in both width and length, the area occupied by the present temple and possessed an exquisite pavement made of polychromous mosaic with tesselae of six different colours (white, grey, yellow, orange, red and light green). It had ten, probably more, different motifs, which range from the most beautiful and simple quadrangular tablet in grey and white checker to complex arcaded compositions, intertwined four leaved knots in yellow, red and green tones that fill regular spaces, delimited by strips of symmetric vegetal motifs that repeat themselves.

The richness of the flooring, as well as the considerable dimension of the paleo-Christian church, is not compatible with the idea of decline associated with Roman towns and cities in post-imperial times: it represents a significant economic investment, which was certainly linked to a flourishing cultural and religious life within this area since the end of the 1st century on the Roman town.