Intrecci di elementi culturali dal tardo Neolitico alla piena età del Rame nella pianura a sud del Po.

The Po Valley has always been aspecial site of encounter between influences from the continental regions and from the Mediterranean world. This phenomenon was particularly marked in the centuries between the late Neolithic and the height of the Copper Age. The analysis of the role played by the southern Po Valley in the acquisition and re-elaboration of external influences of different origins is fundamental to an understanding of the cultural continuity and discontinuity in the development of the Copper Age communities. From the second quarter of the fourth millennium BC, Emilia was taken over by polymorphic groups of diverse provenance characterised by Alpine elements in particular, but also peninsular and possibly eastern European.

Between the end of the 4th and the 3rd millennia the southern elements became increasingly numerous, despite the persistence of others from the Alpine area and that north of the river Po. Until recently the lack of data from the eastern areas of the region prevented the de’nition of a complete picture. However, the multiplication of new discoveries now makes it possible to analyse both the role played by the coastal strip of Romagna, traditional gateway for Adriatic influences entering the Po Valley, and the times and modes in which Romagna was penetrated by the continental elements as mediated by the Emilian territories. [Publisher's text]