Fabbricare in Valle Staffora. Riflessioni sulla fornace di Massinigo e il suo contesto.

The brick kiln discovered in the 1950s in Santa Margherita Staffora, in the mountains of southern Staffora valley (Pavia), is the most renowned yet puzzling evidence of Roman age in the area. The kiln does not appear to be linked to any residential structure: a closer look at the scant finds that have been brought to light in the area over the past two centuries (graves, concentrations of bricks and tiles, spo-radic pottery sherds, coin hoards, a few inscriptions) leads to recognise the unmistakeable traces of scattered settlements. The main road goes through the area north-south along the Staffora, but several secondary paths connected it since prehistory with the Tidone and Trebbia valleys to the East and the Curone valley to the West along streams, ridges and mountain passes.The kiln is located at 757 m asl on the slopes of mount Scaparina, along the road leading to the Brallo pass. Geologically, the site is on a paleo-landslide, where thin outcrops of clay are frequent; water is abundant, from both streams and springs. It is surrounded by woods that could be exploited for fuel.Looking for parallels, it appears increasingly evident that “upland kilns” are a feature, whose meaning still awaits in-depth analysis. Territorial studied carried out for the Regio X and Regio VIII highlighted a significant number of such structures, all of which are close to streams of water, seemingly isolated – or however not within large settlements –, and afar from major consumption areas.The analysis of both archaeological and documentary evidence – namely the information provided by the Tabula Alimentaria – from the ager of Veleia showed that, out of the several kilns testified in the region, at least a few were located in upland areas (saltus). They were part of large estates that en-compassed both fundi (lowland fields) and saltus, closely interconnectedand complementary to each other. It is noticeable that the western part of the ager Veleiatis, where a concentration of upland kilns is recorded, borders the area of Massinigo: the hypothesis of a similar land management in the two areas is therefore quite likely.