Les fortifications du premier âge du Fer de Verucchio (Rimini, Émilie-Romagne)

This paper deals with the fortification and delimitation structures in north-eastern Italy during the early Iron Age (10th-7th cent. BCE), as key elements of the urbanization phenomenon. Our main case-study is the site of Verucchio (Rimini), where recent excavations by the University of Pavia have substantially changed our perception of this crucial Villanovan central place. A series of boundary structures, including wooden palisades, ditches and perimeter earthworks have been documented in the settlement area of Pian del Monte. This series of evidence is strictly linked to the first phase of the urbanization process of the site, between late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age, when the hilltop became a central place of the regional district. The evidence from Verucchio will be compared with other relevant proto-urban settlements of the Po Plain, a region that played a key role in the exchanges between Central Europe and the Mediterranean world.