Coazze near Gazzo Veronese, at the fringes of Veneto and Etruria Padana, NE Italy

The archaeological site of Coazze, near Gazzo Veronese (NE Italy) is located at the southwestern border of the Palaeovenetian territory, during the Final Bronze 3 and through the Iron Age. The systematic study of the finds resulting from almost 150 years of rescue and chance finds, planned excavations and surveys are allowing the proper definition of this proto-urban settlement, even if it has been hardly damaged by subsequent agrarian use. Its favourable geomorphological location, directly on the important riverine routes of the Tartaro and Adria Po Rivers, contributed to its relevant connective history, with testimonies of long-lasting contacts from the Alpine area to the Mediterranean, through deltaic emporia, such as Frattesina, San Basilio, and Adria. The relationship with the Etruscan sites founded in the Mincio Valley since the late 6th century BC, like Forcello, is particularly complex. Immediately before this period, between the end of 7th and early 6th century BC, there are clear signs at Coazze of the presence of a multiethnic community, in an expanding phase of the site, extending at least 61 ha. It is proposed that Coazze was then the crucial settlement of a polity that extended north-south along the resurgence rivers Tione and Tartaro. The asymmetric position of Coazze inside the polity is coherent with its role as a gateway community (sensu Hirth 1978). A crisis for the settlement is thought to have started in the 4th century BC, approximately at the time of the Forcello abandonment; the lowland area of Le Basse was in use during this phase, and the site continued to be involved in relevant trade and craft activities. The presence of Celtic materials in the 3rd to 2nd century BC is somehow still elusive. Coazze is an important case of a minor, but apparently independent town in the Palaeovenetian settlement network, with a peculiar history of interaction and connectedness.