The Roman urn of the Atti family was seized from the farm garden –

A Roman urn with an important inscription was discovered in Portogruaro, a small town on the outskirts of Venice in northern Italy. The urn dates from the 1st century BC to the mid-1st century AD. On the front of the box is an inscription in Latin capital letters that was commissioned by Attius Lucullus. Attius Lucullus was a member of the Atti family, a well-known family in the area and mentioned in numerous inscriptions from nearby ancient Artinum.

The box is made of limestone and is diamond-shaped with a square base. There is a square cavity cut into the top for the ashes. Originally, the cavity was covered by a lid, but the lid has long since disappeared, along with the ashes of the deceased. The inscription is so worn that only part of it can be made out with the naked eye. It reads:

L(ucio) Attio Sex(ti) f(ilio) to the father,

Uncle,

[-] Atio L(uci) the son of his brother,

[-] Attius L(uci) f(ilius) Lucullus

Four members of the Attius family are listed: the Oblate Attius Lucullus, his father Lucius, his uncle Caius, and his brother.

The limestone box was found in a field near the farmhouse in the late 1960s or early 1970s, but was never reported by the finder. It remained in the garden of the cottage, although it was acquired by different owners. When the current owners bought the farmhouse in 2023, they reported the urn to the Archaeological Inspectorate, which launched an investigation.

At the end of the investigation, in January 2024, the Pordenone Public Prosecutor’s Office confiscated the urn on the grounds that the current owner had no legal title and transferred it to the Concordi National Museum in Portogruaro. The Carabinieri for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Venice has now handed the urn over to the Concordi National Museum. Researchers are now conducting further inspections in the hope of identifying the faded parts of the inscription.