Un insediamento di età romana dimenticato nel tempo

The settlement pattern in the Roman and early medieval periods of the Agno-Guà River Valley, to the northwest of Vicenza, has not yet been the focus of systematic archaeological investigations despite being of the most important socioeconomic areas in the Veneto region with finds of antiquities having been reported since the 16th century. This volume examines all the archaeological evidence from the environs of Tezze di Arzignano, a village to the south of Trissino, where the presence of a Roman settlement was reported as early as 1793, and from the wider valley area. These materials document the existence of a residential villa with high-quality furnishings at località Valbruna, which was occupied from the mid-1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE. Only a minimal portion of this site has been explored. The pottery, coins, inscriptions, tomb finds, and the remains of two stone bridges are indicative of the Roman presence in this territory and its relations with Vicenza, the Veneto, and other regions of the Empire. It may be inferred from this that the valley maintained economic and strategic relevance until the 8th century. A multimethodological analysis of these items, which come largely from stray finds and uncontrolled excavations, is also an attempt to save the past for the future – given the problems in the management of archaeological resources and the rapid and still ongoing transformations to the landscape and land use in the valley over the last fifty years.