Historic Parchment Archive Restored and Open to Public in Arco
After a long and forced exile, lasting several years, it has returned to “home,” finally entrusted to the care of its rightful owners. And starting next Monday, thanks to the intervention of Councilor Ruggero Morandi, it will be made available for viewing and admiration by anyone interested.
Return and Preservation of the Parchment Archive
Last Thursday, the head of the Library and Archival Heritage Service of the Province returned the parchment archive to the historic archive of the Arcense municipality after a lengthy process of conditioning, restoration, and microfilming. A total of 196 parchments from Arco and 14 from the former municipality of Romarzollo have thus been restored. The parchment archive is undoubtedly the oldest preserved in the historic archive, but also the most valuable and characteristic, as the documents are written on parchment, i.e., on animal hide properly tanned and treated.
The first five pieces of the archive preserved in Arco, dated 1201 and 1202 (but including other later documents), relate to the dispute with Riva over the possession of Linfano: a topic that, after about 800 years, remains highly relevant today. The bundle also contains statutes handed over by the counts to the citizens of Arco: verdicts, indulgences, investitures, papal bulls and excommunications, foreclosures, sales, exchanges, emphyteusis, orders, and decrees.
The archive of the former Romarzollo municipality also contains contracts, orders, verdicts, and documents that are no longer ratified today, including the vote for the Saint Joseph festival against harmful insects. These documents date back to an era when the population was overwhelmingly illiterate; therefore, they had to be drafted with precise chancery rules to make them immediately recognizable by everyone.
Characteristics of the Documents and Archivist Activities
For this purpose, the so-called extrinsic characters of the document were used, which are those outer features immediately visible even before analyzing the content of the text. Among these are, first of all, the subject matter, a particular handwriting, and the special marks that identify the notary and the signatories (such as crosses of various forms, notarial signs, the rota, and various types of monograms).
The most distinctive and recognizable features, however, were the seals. But not all documents preserved in the Arcense archive still bear intact seals, as some, unfortunately, have been lost, and others, which were attached, have detached from the writing support. Several seals are still clearly visible and will thus be available for analysis by expert scholars.
It will now be the task of archivist Marialisa Avi to draft the inventory, completing what has already been prepared, as well as the summaries of individual parchments. She will seek to identify the essential elements of the documents, indicating the actors and recipients of the legal action, the type of action taken, as well as the chronological and topical dates.
All the material is fully accessible to the users of the historic archive and to anyone interested in viewing it. The premises of the historic archive, located at Palazzo Giuliani in Piazza 3 Novembre, are open to the public in the mornings from Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 12 pm, and in the afternoons from Tuesday to Thursday, from 2 pm to 5 pm.
