The Goths in Casoli

In a house in Via della Mora, we find a sandstone block measuring 65 x 25 cm. which clearly bears a Germanic inscription carved in Gothic letters, thus proving the presence of Goths and Lombards in this region. 13 symbols in a slightly varied Gothic alphabet, known as “type I”, are found in the central zone of the block.
Philological, linguistic and dialectological researchhas led Professor Ambrosini to put forward the hypothesis that any difficulties in reading the inscription arising from the slight difference between some of the symbols and the canonical Gothic alphabet may be overcome if the following two hypotheses are accepted: the use of the Gothic alphabet by Lombard speakers and the influence of the Latin alphabet on the Gothic one or on the form which the Lombards gave to it.
Consequently, the inscription would have the following meaning:

“uuotom a(o)veis si”
To the furious possessed (uuotom)
grace (a(o)veis) let there be (si)

A careful analysis of the site leads us to believe that the stone block is lying in its original position, along the edge of a wall the lower part of which protrudes and which was perhaps originally at ground level.
Considering that, on the opposite side of this wall, was found another stone bearing a figure representing an angel (Saint Michael, who was particularly venerated by the Lombards), it may be surmised that the wall formed the central section of an open building which lay along the ancient Lombard road and was used as a hospital, or rather, as a lazaret.
The caves located behind the building were probably shelters for the sick, watched over by the same building-loggia, while the stone inscription served as both a sign showing the building’s function and as an imprecation for the recovery of its patients.
Other possible uses cannot, however, be ruled out: for example, as a shelter for travellers.This hypothesis is backed up by the position of the building on a road which, almost beyond doubt, was part of the ancient via Lombarda connecting Emilia with Tuscany, a fact still not well known: it apparently descended from the Apennines through the Sestaione valley, running along the south of the Val di Lima (passing through Casoli) and then ascending to the plateau of the Pizzorne.


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