Cividate for its magnificent prehistoric and historic remains is one of the major places of interest in the central Alps.
Centrally located in the mid-valley it was the ancient Roman "Civitas Camunnorum" a very small town of the Imperial period with a theatre, an amphitheatre, public buildings, private villas, baths and a temple, once a religious, political and commercial centre in Valcamonica.
But apart from the Roman ruins, Cividate offers other valuable testimonies of the past. There are still traces of human presence in the Late Paleolithic age (16000 -17000 years ago), as the last glaciers retreated towards the north, in the Mesolithic period (VI millennium B.C.), in the Neolithic period (V – IV millennium B.C.) and even in the Bronze and Iron ages (III – I millennium B.C.).
Moreover after the Roman times, we can find a unique and early expression of the ritual customs of early-Christian age, the Late Medieval and Renaissance times.
Thanks to the outstanding value of some findings and the long period considered, we can say that Cividate is a microcosm which synthetizes the events of prehistoric and historic times in the Alps.
And certainly Valcamonica with its several concentrations of rock engravings and archeological sites offers a unique composition from prehistoric to Christian times.
But why Cividate? And why all the different periods are present only here.
First of all the geographical position. Located in the middle Valcamonica it is in a natural defence position and at the entrance to a few of the most important transit roads. In fact, thanks to its strategic position, the Romans developed a dense road network here.