The history

The archaeological excavations conducted on the site from 1981 to today by the University of Milan have brought to light a small portion of this town with a long stratigraphic sequence, divided into nine main settlement phases. The inhabited area, which covers an area of about 12 hectares on a hump within the Mincio basin, was chosen by the Etruscans to take advantage of the possibility of landing boats that went up the Adriatic Sea and the river Po. For about 150 years it was an important centre of trade with Greece and central Europe, as highlighted by the extraordinary wealth and variety of finds recovered by archaeologists in several years of research. Its abandonment around 388 BC, along with the invasion of northern Italy by various Celtic tribes, determined the growth of the importance of Mantua as a centre that remained strongly dominated by the Etruscan culture until the beginning of the Roman era. Today, the park is aimed at making available to the public the results of the archaeological research through teaching workshops for all school ages, and experimental reconstructions for demonstration events for adults and children, such as the kilns for firing ceramics and the ``Casa dei pesi da telaio`` (House of loom weights), the life-size reconstruction of an Etruscan house excavated in the 1980s. For schools of all levels, there are workshops that allow you to deepen your knowledge of the archaeologist's work, the stratigraphic research methodology and various activities related to daily life at the time of the Etruscans. Visiting the Park during the opening periods of the excavation, it's possible to witness the work in the field and the inventory of the finds by the team of archaeologists from the University of Milan.