Museo del Compito | Don Giorgio Franchini - The Ancient Roman Compitum -

According to the ancient Roman language the word Compitum means crossroad . The small town of San Giovanni in Compito, a few kilometres from the centre of Savignano sul Rubicone, has maintained its original toponym because during the Roman age it was in the middle of two important roads: Via Emilia, the consular road which connects Rimini to Piacenza, and another road which connects the Appennini mountains to the sea.
In 1995, during the works for the apportionment decided by Teodorani, a track of an ancient road 5 meters long was found. It crossed the Via emilia in a place which was probably the Compito itself (49, 52). There are two more sources which give important information regarding this and the name of that town: the Peutingeriana map and the Burdigalense or Hierosolymitanum itinerary.
The first one is named after its owner, Konrad Peutinger. It is the most important ancient illustrated itinerary. It is the medieval (XII- XIII century) copy of the original from the IV century A.C., based on the Agrippa Carta. It is a map, written in Latin, of the entire area; it is drawn on a parchment 34 cm high and 6,82 m long and is composed of 11 attached sheets. It could be compared to an old road map, so only roads, inns and miles are detailed. Because of the dimension of the parchment, the representation of places is deformed: on the top there is the north, the sea is very little and the environment is indicated by the main mountains and rivers. Roads are in red and each halting place is indicated by its name and the distance to the next one. On that map, 12 miles from Rimini and 8 from Cesena (which is exactly where San Giovanni in Compito is) there are the words: ad confluentes , that means ‘at the end of two rivers or roads’ (266).
The Burdigalense itinerary is the most ancient religious travel guide ever found. It was written by a pilgrim from Aquitania who went from Bordeaux to Jerusalem in 333 A.C and came back the year after. That is why it is called Burdigalense or Hierosolymitanum. In that document there is a list of all the places along the way, distinguishing them among civitates, mansiones and mutationes with distances between them.

On that map there is the indication for mutatio Competu, 12 miles from Rimini and 6 from Cesena. A mutatio was a place where imperial emissaries rested along their path or changed their horses. So it must be on the main roads. Compito was a simple mutatio when this itinerary was drawn, but during the republican age and the first part of the imperial age, according to the rests found, Compito had become an important town. It grew up across main roads and was characterized by a mansio, as written in the Peutingeriana map. A mansion was not only a halting place for imperial couriers, but also for travellers. In other words it could offer different services. According to the finds in the Compito area there was probably a temple and some inns, among the houses.

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