The San Basilio Cultural and Tourist Center was inaugurated in 1995 to house some artifacts discovered during archaeological excavations that took place in San Basilio (a district of Ariano nel Polesine - Rovigo) between the late 1970s and early 1980s. The artifacts are displayed in three showcases.
In the first, the oldest finds are preserved, including domestic ceramics from both the Paleovenetian and Etruscan periods, produced locally and discovered in a settlement from the 6th-5th centuries BC.
This settlement was located close to the coastline.
In the second showcase, instead, there is "fine" tableware ceramics, oil lamps for nighttime illumination, bone or horn needles and pins, glass items, and terra sigillata, found in a Roman villa unearthed in the 1980s, just a few hundred meters from the San Basilio Center.
In the third showcase, parts of the villa are displayed, including some roof tiles, fragments of painted plaster, and numerous amphorae that were found, symbolizing the significant flow of goods along the river and land routes.
In the vicinity of the villa, two large blocks of pink marble from Domegliara (VR) have also been found, squared, with broken edges and traces of processing, one of which is located outside the Center.
Nearby the Museum, you can visit the Romanesque chapel and the archaeological excavations.
