Roman shipyard of Stifone (Narni)

The possibility that it had a connection to the Punic Wars shouldn't be excluded; for this reason, the volunteers who have been working to expand the knowledge of the site are hoping for more attention from archaeologists and public administrations.

The Greek geographer refers about "not big boats"; the Latin historian instead describes in detail the journey of the consul Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso and his wife Plancina who, in the 19, returning to Rome from the provinces of Syria, decided to leave the Via Flaminia and taking a ship at Narni.

[7] Some years later, the river port was visited by the superintendent for the regional archaeological heritage, Daniela Monacchi,[8] but the close presence of an ancient shipyard was not noticed, due to a body of stagnant water which has obstructed the passage.

Meanwhile, someone had decided to patrol the channel which hosts the remains of the shipyard, in particular a group of people from the close village of Nera Montoro who knew the old popular story regarding the presence of a similar structure.

This till the beginning of the new century, when a young free-lance journalist, Christian Armadori, taken to the place by the entrant archaeologist Claudio Maturi with the prospect of an article, has been stunned by the find insomuch as undertaking an appropriate research.

The remains are situated inside an artificial channel dug in the rock, about 280 m long, once united with the Nera River upstream and downstream, as showed by some maps of the land office.

The reasons of a shipyard quite far from the Tyrrhenian Sea, but however well linked with it through the river way, should be found on the abundance of raw material offered by the Umbrian territory (wood of different quality), with the area of Narni fall under the Roman domination since 299 BC.

In add, it is interesting to ascertain how the classical authors of that period did not supply clear information about the different position of the navy yard, included Polybius who has been the most important historians of the Punic Wars.

After having intercepted a correspondence between Hasdrubal and his brother Hannibal, the Roman legions decided to block the passage in proximity of the shipyard area, as it is clearly deductible by the geographical coordinates provided by the author.

The studies carried out by the free-lance journalist Christian Armadori with the support of volunteers Sara Uffreduzzi and Vittorio Budassi who were involved in the cultural association, was eventually published in February 2012 by an editor specialized in the archeological field, with the endorsement of experts of the University of Perugia and evaluated the credibility of the hypothesis.