A Roman's day
Libarna - Libarnum in Latin - is the name of a location near Arquata, on the border between Piemonte and Liguria. Until 400 a.C. this was the name of a blooming Roman town born across the ancient via Postumia built here in 148 b.C.. In the imperial age it was a trade center for all the Scrivia valley, together with Dertona, the modern Tortona. It resisted for long time against Goti and other Barbarian tribes' attacks ,but finally it was abandoned by villagers that began to live on the hills around there, more secure. Then it was used as a quarry for constructions. In the 1800 it was re-discovered by a monk. Actually some remains of houses and shops are visible, plus a beautiful amphitheatre and a fully preserved theatre. But many other buildings rest buried under the statal way n°35 and under the railways Milano-Genova and Novi-Genova, built in 1850. Precisely: the railway. This lost city remain now between the two lines mentioned before, whose diverted short before the location to reach the shores of Scrivia river. During many travels did passing here, the possibility of taking pictures at Libarna was near to zero, because thick bushes. But - in February 1999 - the surprise: every bush was cut out to show all the beauty of this ancient site and his railways. So it was possible to take some nice pictures of trains with Roman remains. Then the frequency of train traffic induce me to come back more and more times. Frequent freights and InterCities on both lines plus many local runs done by old emu's ALe.840/540 was a sure meaning of attention. So i could see on old stones of via Postumia the traces of ancient roman carts. But in April 2000, invading bushes came back to infest the zone, so every sight began hidden another time. Libarna is now sleeping again, so you travelers can't see this beautiful place of history.