A pioneering archaeological cooperation between Italy and Tunisia is bringing to light a neglected chapter of Roman history in North Africa: vibrant wall paintings that once adorned homes and public buildings across the region. While world-famous mosaics have long defined the visual legacy of Roman Tunisia, a joint project is now rescuing hundreds of painted fragments from museum storerooms, revealing an equally rich culture of frescoes.
In an exclusive interview, Hejer Krimi, Director of Museums at Tunisia’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs, expressed strong appreciation for the project, carried out by the Tunisian National Heritage Institute (INP) and the University of Bologna. “The project stands out because it focuses on ‘forgotten collections,’ stored and sometimes even ignored,” Krimi stated. She emphasized that this work provides crucial specialized training in a field where local expertise is still developing.
“Until now, Roman wall paintings were known mainly through images from Italy and the Western world,” Krimi noted. “If this project continues, we will have a significant sample of wall paintings that have managed to survive time and climate.”
Excavating the Storerooms
The project’s co-scientific director, Professor Antonella Coralini of the University of Bologna—a leading global expert on Roman wall painting—recently concluded her third research mission in Tunisia. She confirms that “all or almost all the buildings in Roman Tunisia had walls and ceilings covered in brightly painted plaster.”
“Alongside the extraordinary mosaics, Tunisia possessed equally remarkable wall decorations, which are now very rare due to time, weathering, and demolition,” Coralini explained. The surviving fragments, primarily stored in the Bardo National and Carthage museums, form a vast puzzle. Her team has spent weeks cleaning, photographing, and attempting to reconstruct these decorative schemes in full public view at the museums.
A Refined, Hybrid Aesthetic
Analysis shows these paintings used expensive pigments like Egyptian blue and cinnabar red, depicting deities, mythological scenes, landscapes, and intricate floral motifs. They represented a colorful, fragile counterpart to the durable mosaics.
“Our work today is precisely to rescue them from oblivion, at least in part, and restore them to scientific knowledge and the public,” Coralini said.
A Broader “Magnificent” Cooperation
Krimi described the overall Italian-Tunisian archaeological partnership, which includes over 15 active missions, as “magnificent.” The findings from this and other joint ventures will be featured in a dedicated volume of the prestigious “Treccani” encyclopedia, scheduled for publication in spring 2026.
Anna Depalmas, President of the Italian Archaeological School of Carthage and the volume’s editor, stressed to Nova Agency that all projects are truly collaborative. “Each project is born from synergy between Tunisian archaeologists, all INP officials, and their Italian colleagues,” she said.
The volume will document active missions and include related initiatives, such as the “Magna Mater from Zama to Rome” exhibition—which facilitated the restoration of 30 artifacts in Italy—and projects linked to the twinning of the El Jem amphitheater with Rome’s Colosseum.
This ongoing work not only reconstructs ancient interiors but also rewrites the artistic narrative of Roman North Africa, proving its walls were once as vividly narrated as its floors.
TunisianMonitorOnline (BRC)
