LULP is hoping to go out to Libarna this July to do some work to create an online exhibition tour of a small museum in the local town of Serravalle Scrivia. We plan to create an online exhibit that can link to the fantastic website for the site of Libarna itself (http://www.libarna.al.it/en/) and help tell the story of the site from its foundations in the 2nd cent. BCE to its place in the modern world. We are seeking donations from people interested in the project. We know people are strapped for cash, but if you can spare even $5 that adds up and allows us to do our work. You can donate at www.ko-fi.com/LibarnaULP. Anything you can spare would be much appreciated

We have big plans for this small museum. As always, we want to work closely with the local administration the Soprintendenze Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio per le province di Alessandria, Asti, e Cuneo* (SABAP-Al for short) and the local community. It is, after all, their history.
First, a good thing to point out is that everything will be bilingual – in English and Italian. We plan to invite members of the SABAP-Al (especially Dott. Simone Lerma who works hard to help us carry out our research at Libarna), local archaeologists, magistrates, and school children working on the collection, as well as the people of the Libarna Arteventi Associazione (http://scoprilibarna.it/), particularly Antonio Santopietro and Iudica Dameri, and other local people interested in the site and its history to talk about certain artefacts in the collection either on video, sound bites, or written testimonials. We also have a wonderful ceramics/pottery specialist, Melania Semeraro, who we hope to get on video discussing the local types of pottery and highlighting some of the examples in the museum.

We hope to bring down some specialists in photogrammetry to create 3D images of particularly interesting artefacts, mostly those that our local experts and school children will be discussing. For the rest of the artefacts we have a photo turntable to take 360 degree images of the other artefacts. So, not only will you be able to see them in great detail, but you will find out their connections to Libarna and the region as a whole. Most importantly, that some museums have forgotten, is that they should weave a narrative to help the visitors understand the archaeological site, its history, its artefacts and how they all connect. This is what we seek to do online with this museum.

Right now we are in the early stages of planning; there is still a lot of uncertainty. I suspect it will be March or April before we have confidence that our project can move forward this July. But please, consider donating just a small sum to help us out and to bring this fascinating site, its history, and its artefacts to the world through the internet. Should we not be able to go to Italy in July due to COVID, know that the money raised will go to our first season of excavations in 2022.
So, please if you can spare a little money, you can donate it at www.ko-fi.com/LibarnaULP. There is no set time limit, so you can donate up through June if you can’t spare anything now. We know times are tough.
*It took me a long time to learn that, so just remember SABAP-Al 🙂 – Katie