In September and October 2008 a survey and excavations were undertaken at Lake Cecita, on the site of Forge di Cecita – area 4.

The campaign aimed to establish the extension of a settlement, founded at the end of the 3rd century B.C., already identified by surveys in previous years, and to continue the study of a structure that was only partly investigated in 2007.

The excavation defined the building’s plan: two rectangular rooms between which was an open courtyard with a hearth for the preparation of pitch. The building stood on the summit of a morainic ridge and was heavily degraded due to the lake’s isobaric variations and the agricultural activities undertaken over the centuries. On the basis of the only course of foundation stones, laid in three lines, and the dispersal of the stones which must have been part of the wall, it was determined that the building must have had stone and wood walls. The presence of an upper storey, reached via a staircase whose housing was found in the courtyard, cannot be excluded. The recovery of numerous coins of various mintages, two lead discs, probably standard weights, and even a Roman As that had been deliberately broken to create submultiples, attests a flourishing trade in pitch and florid commercial activity throughout the area.

Excavation outside the pitch-producing farm revealed the development of the site in the area east of the latter.
To the north of the structure was a semicircular ditch, partly visible to the naked eye, which surrounded three quarters of what must have been the total extension of the site. This was interpreted as a defensive system. Moreover, finds of a carbonised horse, bronze rivets and fibulae relating to weapons or fittings and of numerous iron ballista bolts, some of which bearing the signs of impact, suggest there were frequent armed clashes in the area.

This site, which for most of the year is covered by the waters of the artificial lake created in order to supply hydroelectric power, may provide a clearer picture of the conflicts and trading relationships between the Romans and the Bretti in that period.