The “Museo delle Statue Stele” of Lunigiana, located in the Castle of Piagnaro in Pontremoli, houses a remarkable collection of artifacts from the ancient peoples who once inhabited Lunigiana. The museum was founded thanks to the efforts of Professor Augusto Cesare Ambrosi, who assembled the archaeological collection in the 1950s and 1960s with the aim of gathering all the statues in a single exhibition venue.
The Statue Stele, created between the fourth and first millennium BC, represent male and female human figures in abstract forms, carved from sandstone. These statues—distinguished by their “carabiniere hat”-shaped heads and U-shaped faces—were discovered throughout the Magra River basin. A total of 80 statues have been found and are classified into three groups based on the attributes represented in the stone.
The statues likely served a cultic or ritual function and were originally placed vertically in the ground. Many feature carved details such as eyes, faces, clothing, necklaces, and weapons.
