Versilia: genesi di un territorio. Dall’età preistorica all’arrivo dei Romani

The aim of this research is to create a wide survey of the archaeological remains present in Versilia and an employment analysis and transformation of the territory in the period from the prehistoric age to the arrival of the Romans. Versilia is a geographic region of north western Tuscany, bounded on the north by the mouth of Cinquale, east by the ridge of the Apuan Alps, south by Massaciuccoli Lake and on the west by the Mediterranean Sea. Recent excavation works increased the available documentation and knowledge of the area examined, and they allowed to make several assumptions about the vocation and population dynamics in the area since ancient times. During the Middle Palaeolithic we might suppose that there were several settlements in caves and open-air stations, in the coastal area and in the caves even at high altitudes; the upper Paleolithic period, instead, seems to be characterized by a decrease of the settlements, located mainly in the valleys and at the base of the mountains, proving that the groups who frequented the caves of the interior, probably for hunting, had to have their homes in the coastal plain. The findings related to the Copper age refer to the mountain area. The many mineral resources concentrated in high Versilia could justify the frequentation of the Versilia side of the Apuan Alps already during Eneolithic. During the late Bronze age and Iron initial, therefore, probably occurred a search of more comfortable seats and near the plain, but still in the vicinity of the mineral deposits. With the beginning of the Iron age the communities seem to choose seats in the plains due to the positive effects of the proximity to the most direct ways of communication, by land and sea, and places of trade. The port activities of the end of the VIII century B.C., located in the lagoon area of Lake Massaciuccoli, show how the Etruscans in Versilia between the VII and V century B.C. preferred to establish their settlements along the coastal plain and at the mouth of the major rivers. The contrast between hilly and mountainous hinterland, with few settlements, and coastal plain, more populated, remained unchanged until the end of the IV century B.C., a time of important changes. Archaeological finds allow to place before the end of the IV century. B.C. the formation of a coherent system of Ligurian settlements on the mountain sector. A lot of findings show that the III century B.C. was, for the Ligurian communities of Garfagnana and Versilia, a relatively stable period, which favored the establishment of trade relations with Pisa, mediated by Etruscan villages of the Versilia coast. During the wars between the Romans and Ligurians (III-II century B.C.), there was a ropture between the Ligurians and Etruscans, with further consequences about the population of Versilia.