The site, situated in an area of springs, is constituted by a low, sub-circular morphological rise. It is delimited on two sides by the wide bed of the river Varmo, on the third side by an irrigation ditch fed by spring water and to the south by lowland which has now been reclaimed. There are no visible traces or historical records of perimeter defensive embankments around the site, which was identified in 1998 following a surface survey. Three excavation campaigns were undertaken with the authorization of the ministry as part of the province of Udine’s “Celts Project”, financed by the Region. The École Français de Rome took part in the first campaign. During the excavations eight trenches were opened covering an area of 2670m; all presented the same stratigraphic sequence: plough soil (40-45cm deep), sterile grayish soil (10-15cm deep) and light brown sterile clay-silt. The prehistoric occupation levels had been removed by agricultural activity. All that remained were traces of a dense network of man-made cavities of various shapes and sizes, the tops of which were cut by ploughing. These included post-holes, sub-circular pits, irregular shallow ditches, large deep square and sub-circular ditches. Concentrations of these structures alternate with areas where they are rare or absent; in particular, there are no traces of pits etc in a 20-40m wide strip around the edges of the site. This may be due to the presence of perimeter earthworks or a major incidence of agricultural leveling in this peripheral area. Almost all the c.150 cavities investigated contained a fill with scarcely any occupation evidence, produced by the trampling of the outer area of the settlement and gradually deposited within these structures. Occasionally refuse pits (including one containing carbonized cereals) or pits specifically connected to the production or disposal of baked clay artifacts, such as large firing rings, the walls of large storage vessels and/or moveable parts of kilns, were found. The pottery recovered comprised small, non-joining fragments which were quite abraded. This pottery dates the earliest occupation of the site to the 8th-7th century B.C. A second phase for which there is better evidence dates to the 6th-5th century B.C. (Maurizio Buora)