Description
The archeological area of the Necropolis of Monsorino, located in the municipality of Golasecca in the Ticino Park, is testimony to the “Culture of Golasecca”, which is an example of a protohistoric civilization of the late bronze age (IX-IV century B.C.) in the alpine-padan territory.
The civilization of Golasecca probably reached its peak during the sixth century B.C., when it played the role of trade mediatorbetween the italic people and the transalpine regions thanks to itsdominion over the waterways and the alpine passes.
Three circular burial grounds, two rectangular ones, and small groups of graves, each probably belonging to a different family, were dug up on the archeological site where excavations have been carried out since the last years of the nineteenth century, and can still be visited.
However, the most interesting evidence of the Golasecca civilization are the “cromlechs”. Cromlechs are megaliths arranged in a circle surrounding a burial ground.
The reason behind these celtic altar-tombs is still unknown to scholars, but it’s believed that the way the stones are arranged might mirror specific constellations and thus be connected to religious and spiritual believes of the Celts.
During excavations a number of funeral urns were also dug up, with grave goods such as ceramics and bronze and iron objects that can be admired at the Civic Museum of Sesto Calende and at the Sforza Castle in Milan.
