Research begun in 1996 led to the discovery of an open settlement, already found in the 1950s by G. Leopardi. The excavations provided evidence of the lithic technology, the settlement and the reconquest of this mountainous region after the Ice Age. At present, Campo delle Piane is the only well preserved open settlement of the Epigravetian period known in the Abruzzo and is the earliest evidence of human occupation for the latest phase of the Epigravetian culture in the region. (MiBAC)