In the spring of 2008 Mr. Antonino Di Cicco discovered various painted and incised drawings on a long rock wall in the locality of Ristretta, south of Civitaluparella, at circa 750 m a.s.l. In the absence of a precise toponym for the site it was given the name “Parete Di Cicco”.

The first survey and excavation campaign was undertaken between the 3-26th August 2009.The painted and incised images covered circa 75 m2 of the wall’s surface. The following sequence of images was documented, from south-west to north-east: 1) small hammered cross 2) grid with orthogonal lines, above which an upside down trapezium and a number of segments, below these an oblong shape, all painted in black; 3) vertical sequence of red figures: (from the bottom) a drawn circle with cross and two rectangles with diagonals; 4) series of black marks, partially faded, which in some points look like italics and in others scribbles; 5) zig-zag and an “8” shaped mark, painted in black; 6) a panel almost 2 m wide and 1.80 m high with incised figures: men on horseback and standing, animals, crosses and a monstrance; there were a series of dates (1771, 1801 or 1804, 1811, 1818, 1822, 1839) and a name incised in capital letters: “NICCOLA CI ..CO”. Inside the panel there were a number of small black marks, whilst in the lower part small segments were just visible. Several pointed iron pieces and iron laminae were stuck into three fissures; 7) a number of geometric type figures and one anthropomorphic figure painted in black; 8) circle incised with hammer, without a quadrant and with a drawn cross; 9) a lightly hammered complex figure may be interpreted as a square with drawn cross or perhaps as three anthropomorphic figures linked by the hands; the rough outline of a similar figure was situated above the central panel to the left;
10) two groups of black lines of difficult interpretation;
11) two large red figures, complex and difficult to interpret as partially faded;
12) a heavily chiselled Latin cross.

A small trench was dug towards the south-western end of the wall, in correspondence with the red and black figures. This revealed the presence of greyish soil with small charcoal inclusions, partly mixed with brown soil, which appeared to be the intentional fill (perhaps in order to level the ground) of the gaps between a series of large natural rocks. The finds comprised only one flint micro flake, a small fragment of impasto pottery and three bronze artefacts: a sub-circular lamina (probably half of a bulla), a tubular fragment and a small flat circular button, with an eyelet and slightly raised decoration.

On the basis of the paintings and incisions (for colour, motifs, techniques) and the bronze finds, the rock art has been provisionally dated to the Bronze or Iron Age.