On the eastern stretch of the _Via Claudia Augusta_ in the direction of _Tridentum_, ancient Trento, stand the remains of a large architectural complex in a territory rich in rural settlements, villas and small villages. In 2004 investigations examined the south-western sector of the area, occupied by a vast open space-courtyard with square pilasters of varying sizes, a system of transverse channels and rooms facing onto it along the north, west and south sides. There were other open spaces to the west and south. The rooms were paved in opus signinum with make ups of bricks placed edge on or cobbles. Cisterns for water and channels were found within some rooms. Most of the construction can be attributed to phase IV, that is to the 1st-3rd century A.D. In 2005 excavation evidence suggested that some parts of the flooring was constituted by wooden planks as the walls presented ledges while the floor make ups were of rough cobbles and broken brick packed into earth. In other areas, perhaps for residential use, the floors were made up of opus signinum with pottery inclusions, white mortar with make ups of either broken bricks placed edge on or cobbles and broken brick. The walls had regular courses of cobbles and stones, with brick wedges fixed into grey mortar. (MiBAC)

Along the right bank of the river Adige, at the bottom of the Val Lagarina, which separates Monte Baldo from the Lessinia, lies the Veronese settlement of Brentino Belluno. In 2004, the Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Veneto, began an archaeological research project in this area, including an archaeological training school. It consists of a structural, ‘rustic’, complex of the Roman period. It extends over a large area (over 2000 sqm.), which had already been partly brought to light between 1968 and 1971 during the construction of the Verona-Brennero motorway: The complex has at least two courtyards and various rooms both for residential and productive purposes. Very probably it is a _mansio_, in use between the 1st and the late 5th-mid 6th centuries AD, with some occasional frequentation until the 13th century. The investigations have defined the extension of the entire complex, now fully documented, and allowed us to understand its function and topographic context. In 2009 the western limit of the mansio was identified, consisting of a long and substantial north-south wall, linked to a large external canal built with large, whole tiles. The discovery of a rectangular room with walls lined with white plaster and a cocciopesto pavement, still partly covered by the collapse of the ceiling demonstrated byimpressions of the canes in the plaster, supports the hypothesis that the residential area of the building was situated along the western side of the complex. To the west of the perimeter wall, the investigations revealed a long stretch of the _via glareata_ running north-south, consisting of packed pebbles, earth and small stones; the road surface has clearly been levelled and raised numerous times. It is probably a side road of the _Via Claudia Augusta Padana_ which, at its junction with the _via Postumia_ at Ostiglia sul Po, passing through Verona and crossing the Valle Atesina, continued in the direction of Trento, crossing the Alps towards Noricum (Austria) and Vindelicia, whilst the other tract continued towards eastern Veneto. To the west of this road a rustic building was also discovered, an isolated structure in the middle of agricultural land. It consists of two rooms with beaten earth floors, which were enlarged during the mid imperial to late antique period and separated by the road from the larger complex. Finally, the pre-Roman frequentation of the site was confirmed, as indicated by some structures of the Rhetian period used both as the foundations for the Roman walls and also to restrain the down wash of earth from uphill towards the valley

The 2010 excavations produced notable results both for the quantity of data and for their importance. With the removal of the cement piling put in after the excavations in the 1970s to separate the archaeological area from the private vineyards, the two zones that had previously been partially excavated were united. An open area excavation was undertaken which brought to light all of the rooms along the western side of the Roman _mansio-villa rustica_. Together with the rectangular room A 177, with _opus signinum_ floor and plastered wall, a further two rooms, side by side (A 21, 22) were exposed. Also rectangular in plan they had a residential function. Immediately south of these rooms was a very large rectangular room (A 188), with plastered walls, _opus signinum_ paving and a single-sloped roof, completely opening onto a courtyard. It is probable that this functioned as a vast warehouse. The area of the large courtyard (A 8), with a pillared portico, was cleaned in order to complete what was partially exposed in 2004 in the south zone, where a floor make up, comprising imbrices and _tegulae_ placed on edge, emerged. The edges of this floor were defined. Along the eastern side two small adjoining rooms were uncovered, one containing a hearth. Other structural evidence was partially uncovered on the northern side of the courtyard, where there was a wall apparently on the same alignment as the north wall of room A 177. A third intervention looked at the area west of the western perimeter of the rural complex, where a new trench was dug in order to document the north-south road identified in 2009 (a via glareata along which a small inhumation burial was found). An accurate geological analysis of the stratigraphy, with specific sampling, was undertaken: a layer of very pure silty-sand probably represents an alluvial deposit and could provide, if traceable across the entire area, a useful reference in terms of relative chronology with which to compare subsequent interventions levelling and raising the ground surface in relation to the road’s use, as well as the construction interventions in both the pre-Roman and Roman phases. Lastly, the excavations were extended to the west and south of the trial trench opened in 2009 abutting the Roman perimeter wall, in order to check the nature of the pre-Roman remains. The data acquired opens new prospects for the investigations in that not only do they confirm pre-Roman occupation, but document a permanent occupation with the presence of structures found in collapse. The continuation of this evidence to the south, in exactly the same area where a number of walls relating to structures of Roman date (in particular the tanks-cisterns) are present on the south-western side of the complex, clearly shows the high potential of this area which seems to be the site of both residential rooms and storage rooms.