The panel was found in 1506 near Isola (Pedemonte di Serra Riccò) by a farmer, Agostino Pedemonte, while he was clearing land on his property; immediately taken to Genoa to be sold, the bronze panel was bought by a boilermaker; but in his workshop a scholar, perhaps A. Giustiniani, pointed out the find and its importance to the city government, who bought it and saved it from imminent destruction. A decree of 1507 informs us that the panel was affixed in the cathedral of San Lorenzo, near the chapel of St. John the Baptist, at the behest of the French governor Rodolfo de Lannoy and the council of elders, who commissioned the sculptor Viscardi to make a white marble frame to hold it for the occasion. At a date not specified by any official document, the panel was transferred from the cathedral to the now defunct Palazzo dei Padri del Comune, near Palazzo S. Giorgio, where it remained until 1838 when, due to the demolition of the building, it was transferred to Palazzo Ducale, then the seat of the municipal offices, and deposited in the civic treasury safe. In 1850, when the offices were moved to Palazzo Tursi, the table also followed its fate and found its place in the room to the right of the old council, the current mayor's office. In 1908, with the establishment of the Civic Museum in Palazzo Bianco, the panel was transferred here and walled in with its 16th-century frame on the south wall of the Roman room, and again in 1929, it found another location in the Podestà's office. During the Second World War, the panel was placed in the municipal treasury and, at the end of the conflict, relocated with its 16th-century frame to the mayor's office. In 1978, on the occasion of its first restoration, it was again exhibited to the public for a brief period during the 'Restorations of Liguria' exhibition and it was then that it was decided, after much reflection, to seek a new and, this time definitive, location for the panel in the Museum of Ligurian Archaeology in Genoa-Pegli.
Translation of the inscription:
Quintus and Marcus Minucius Rufus, son of Quintus, regarding the dispute between Genuati and Viturii, made a reconnaissance of the land and in the presence of the disputants they settled the dispute and established according to which rules they should own lagro and where the border should pass. They ordered them to follow the border and set the terms and, having done so, to come to Rome in person. In Rome in their presence, they pronounced the sentence by senate-consultation on 15 December under the consulship of Lucius Caecilius son of Quintus and Quintus Mucilius son of Quintus. Where agro deprived of the castle of Viturii, they may sell it and bequeath it. This agro will not be subject to tax.
Boundaries of the Langati's private agro. From the lower end of the brook springing from the spring in Mannicelo to the river Edo (here a term is placed); then up the river to the river Lemori and by the river Lemori up to the brook Comberanea, then by the brook Comberanea up to the Ceptiema valley (here two terms are placed, on either side of the Via Postumia). From these termini in a straight line to the rio Vindupale, from the rio Vindupale to the rio Neviasca, from the rio Neviasca down to the rio Porcobera, and from there down to the lower end of the rio Vinelasca (here a term is placed); up the Vinelasca river in a straight line, where a term is placed on this side of the Postojna Street, and another term on the other side of the street, from the term placed on the other side of the Postojna Street, in a straight line to the spring in Manicello, then down to the term placed by the Edo river.
The boundaries of the public land that the Laganensi possess are as follows. The first term is at the confluence of the Edo and the Porcobera. From here by the Edo river up to the foot of Mount Lemurino (term), up in a straight line to the Lemurina coast (term), again by the Lemurina coast (a term is placed here on the mountain overlooking the hollow), then straight up the coast to the top of Mount Lemurino ( term), then straight up the coast to the castle that was called Aliano ( term), then straight up the coast to Mount Giovenzione ( term), then straight up the coast to the Apennine mountain that was called Boplo ( term); then up straight along the coast to Mount Tudelone ( term); then down straight along the coast to the Veraglasca river, at the foot of Mount Berigiema ( term), then up straight along the coast to Mount Prenicco ( term), then down straight to the Tulelasca river ( term), then up straight along the Blustiemela coast to Mount Claxelo ( term) then down to the Lebriemela spring ( term), then straight along the Eniseca rivulet to the Porcobera river ( term), then down the Porcobera river to the Edo- Porcobera confluence, where a term is placed.
A lake that is declared public, the Laganensi Viturii inhabitants of the castle can possess and enjoy it. For this agro, the Laganensi Viturii will pay to the public treasury, in Genoa, 400 Victorian nummi each year.
If the Laganensi do not pay this sum and do not meet the Genuati's debt, unless the Genuensi are late in collecting the sum, in which case the Laganensi must pay to the Treasury of Genoa, of all that will have been produced in the agro, 1/20 of the wheat and 1/6 of the wine each year.
Whoever possesses (a farm) within these boundaries, Genuate or Viturio, on the date of 1 June of the Consulate of Lucius Caecilius and Quintus Mucilius, may continue to own and enjoy it. Such possessors shall pay the tax to the Langanensians according to their position, as well as the other Langanensians who possess and enjoy a farm in such agro.
In addition to these possessions, no one shall possess except with the approval of the majority of the Langanensi Viturii and on condition that he does not take over, Genuate or Viturio, to cultivate.
Whoever does not obey the opinion of the majority of the Langanensi Viturii shall not have or enjoy such agro. In the agro that shall be compascuo, let no one forbid or forcibly prevent the Genuate and Viturii from grazing their cattle, as in the rest of the compascuo Genuate agro; and let no one forbid them to gather wood and timber there and make use of it.
The tax of the first year the Langanensi Viturii must pay it to the treasury of Genoa on 1 January of the following year. As far as the Laganensi have enjoyed before 1 January next year, they do not have to pay any tax if they do not want to. When, in the year of the consulship of Lucius Caecilius and Quintus Mucio, the meadows of the agro are about to be cut (the meadows of the public agro owned by the Viturii Langanesi, that owned by the Odiati, that owned by the Mentovini and that owned by the Cavaturini), no one may cut or graze on them without the consent of the Langanensi, the Odiati, the Dectumini, the Cavaturini and the Mentovini, each for their own agro. If the Langati, Odiati, Dectumini, Cavaturini and Mentovini prefer to build, fence, or cut other meadows in that agro, they may do so on condition that the total size of the meadows does not exceed that of the past summer. The Viturii who, in disputes with the Genuenseses have been judged or condemned for insults, if anyone is in prison for such reasons, the Genuenseses will have to release them and acquit them before next 15 June. If anything contained in this sentence seems iniquitous to anyone, let them turn to us, every first day of the month, and be freed from all disputes public burdens.
The signing of the legates follows: Mocone Meticanio, son of Meticone.
Plauco Pelianus, son of Pelion.
Trad. G. Petracco Siccardi Bronze table of quadrangular shape.
