The Statue Stele of Lunigiana: 5,000 years of mystery
Prehistoric stone sculptures, between 3,000 and 5,000 years old. Warriors with daggers, women with jewellery, mysterious figures. The greatest archaeological enigma of Lunigiana.
What the Statue Stele are
The Statue Stele are stone sculptures up to 2 metres tall, carved between the 3rd and 1st millennium BC. They depict stylised human figures: warriors with daggers and axes, women with jewellery and necklaces, androgynous figures.
They have been found in Lunigiana, Garfagnana and a few other areas of Europe. The highest concentration is precisely in Lunigiana.
Who carved them?
No one knows for certain. The main hypotheses:
- Pre-Indo-European populations that inhabited the area before the Ligurians
- Ancient Ligurians, the population that occupied north-western Italy before the Romans
- Populations linked to funerary or religious cults
The mystery is part of the fascination. We have no written texts, only the stones.
What they represent
The oldest statues (3rd millennium BC) depict only the head and neck. The more recent ones (2nd–1st millennium BC) are more detailed: weapons, jewellery, clothing, faces.
They probably represented ancestors, heroes, deities. They were placed in sacred sites or along ritual routes.
Where to see them
- Museum of Statue Stele in Pontremoli — The most important collection, inside the Castello del Piagnaro
- Museum of Villafranca in Lunigiana — Second collection
- Other statues — In various museums in the area and in some churches where they were reused as building material