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The religious processions which preceded the beginning of the games probably set off from one of the important religious locations in the town or its immediate vicinity, depending upon the festivity being celebrated; these would have been the temple on the hill of San Stefano or the sanctuary of Minerva in nearby Spinera, in the modern municipal area of Breno. The plan of the building underneath the church of San Stefano is incompletely known, but its religious significance is likely, given its dominant position over the town, aligned with the decumanus and immediately above the forum. The sanctuary of Minerva was found in 1986 on the river Oglio in an area used in prehistoric times for passage and exchange and in the Iron Age for cult activities connected with the water which flowed out of the caves. It was a complex with side wings and long porticos, which enclosed a huge courtyard, and pronaos with entrance stairs and numerous rooms decorated with frescos and mosaics. |
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