DESCRIPTION
The earliest mention of the name Tavernelle, in its Latin form, is in a “Bavaro Code” document (Sec. VII-X), where, among places neighboring with two fundi, placed on the Via Flaminia, 7/8 miles away from “Forum Sempronii“, it is cited “Casalis Tavernula“. While casalis seems to indicate a plot of land on which stood a house and where the cultures were distributed, Tavernula certainly repeated, in the diminutive form, the Latin word taberna, i.e. inn, tavern. And is to a taberna that we should ascribe the origin of the name and the village of Tavernelle.
Until few years ago, it was assumed that the inn that gave birth to Tavernelle left nothing but the vague memory in the name; Today (1999), thanks to archaeological discoveries made in the local parish church, we also know something of its structures. Actually, not much has emerged from the ground: the line of the outer and inner walls, the foundation of the pillars of a portico, drainage channels and slightly more, enough, however, to get an idea, albeit generic of the nature and characteristics of the building.
Among the objects recovered during the excavations (pottery of various kinds, amphorae, coins) we highlight a marble head of Attis, the mythological character linked to the worship of the goddess Cybele. This discovery leads us to assume that near the inn, or in connection with it, should have rise a shrine dedicated to this deity. In the neighboring municipality of Forum Sempronii had been erected a temple to the same Goddess, of which remains the memory in an inscription.
Mario Luni, Oscar Mei
