Abstract
Cisalpine Gaul has long occupied a marginal position in research into craftsmanship in Roman times. Archaeological data on urban craft installations was lacking due to the continuity of occupation of almost all the towns in Northern Italy, which therefore limited Cisalpine craftsmanship for a long time to almost exclusively historical-epigraphical studies. We studied the data provided by inscriptions mentioning the people involved in the various activities in this field. In 2000, the European project "CRAFT - Structure, location and economic role of ancient crafts in Italy and the western provinces of the Roman Empire" attempted to reconstruct the productive and economic framework based on archaeological documentation concerning crafts. The "Craftsmanship and Production in the Cisalpine" study was directed by Sara Santoro of the University of Parma. The main results showed an absolute predominance of ceramic production indices, the almost exclusive omnipresence of stone craftsmanship in the Alps, the existence of significant and relatively homogeneous metallurgical activity (iron, bronze, lead, precious metals) and the sporadic attestation of other productive activities. The high visibility of ceramic production contrasts with its lack of attestation in written sources (literary and epigraphic); conversely, the low archaeological traceability of textile production contrasts with its high visibility in written sources: this means that textiles had a greater social importance, which is reflected in epigraphy. These results have been confirmed by archaeological work in the Padua and Venice area, where it has been easier to detect the remains of textile production, which held a very important place there alongside, of course, the production of ceramics and glass.
