Mt. Iudica is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dittaino and Gornalunga, in a position of absolute visual and strategic dominance over the Catania plain. It is occupied by the remains of an important, but still unknown indigenous settlement, Hellenized during the last quarter of the 6th century B.C. Already in the mid 6th century B.C., the settlement was flourishing, probably due to the growing trading contacts with the Calchidean colonies of eastern Sicily, Leontinoi being the most important. It is precisely the Calchidean expansion that means that the peace of the first half of the 6th century B.C. no longer continued. Indeed, the destruction and abandonment layers at Morgantina and Ramacca are a concrete example of the nature and cultural importance of the Calchidean advance in these territories. The process of Hellenisation in this anonymous centre is probably linked to these events, given that the colonial expansion must have followed the Gornalunga valley from east to west, towards Morgantina. The Calchideans’ need to control the indigenous inland centres and roads towards the interior is also attested by the construction of several _phrouria_ (military installations), like that identified on Mt. Turcisi, just east of Mt. Iudica, clearly functioning as a sentinel watching over the Catania plain, and the one probably present on Mt. Scapello, immediately north of Mt. Iudica.