Le premesse alla formazione dei centri protourbani nel Veneto

Moving from the crisis of the Terramare settlement system of north Italy, the author discusses the survival of some «peripheral» sites, particularly in eastern fringe of the network, the lowlands south of Verona, where one witnesses the rise of the centre of Frattesina. Such new pole interacts not only with the territory of Rovigo and in general with Veneto, but also with the Danubian-Carpathian region, with the Po plains and central Alps. Furthermore, Frattesina maintains and enhances its relationships with the Mediterranean and the Aegean world, through connections active since the Late Bronze age within the Terramare settlement network of the Verona lowlands. By the means of an analytical scrutiny of the material culture, the Final Bronze age of this part of northern Italy appears to have played a major role in the development of the Proto-villanovian phenomenon. At the same time, the author proposes that a high level of social differentiation, already evident in the graveyard of Olmo di Nogara, allowed the survival of a site such as Fondo Paviani (Verona), closely tied to the new and very relevant «port of trade» of Frattesina. Here, rich elitarian graves, where the practice of the deposition of a sword is resurrected, mark a new phase of social evolution. There is no «acculturation» process from the Tyrrhenian side. On the contrary, after the XIth century BC, we may reconstruct a parallel and compatible evolution, particularly evident in the Villanovian world in the centre of Bologna. This evidence of precocity in social evolution, quite likely promoted by the connection with the Mediterranean, explains the early urban developments in the Veneto region since the Final Bronze age. The same process, although with contradictory results in the same territorial context, will cause the rise of new centres such as Montagnana and Treviso. The collapse of Frattesina, after the fall of the Mediterranean links, will bring about a resetting of the political weight of the various centres of the Veneto region. The Early Iron age (IXth century BC) will give birth to new centres (Este, Padova, Concordia, Oderzo), that will soon acquire the role of early state-cities.