insediamento fortificato, struttura di fortificazione

The Italic settlement of Monte Vairano is defined above all by its circuit of walls. This perimeter runs for roughly three kilometres, enclosing an area of about fifty hectares that takes in four hills around a central valley, the Piana Melaina. The walls maintain a fairly consistent altitude between 900 and 950 metres, but their course is anything but straight: several sharp angles have been found, and outcrops of rock along the route were deliberately incorporated into the structure. Almost the entire circuit has been traced, forming an approximate trapezoid, with two indentations, one on the north side, another, less pronounced, on the south-east. Two distinct building techniques were employed, chosen according to the lie of the land. Where the ground slopes outward, the wall has only an outer face of large, dry-laid polygonal blocks, with a rubble-and-earth core. Where the ground slopes inward or is level, a double face was built: an outer one of large dressed blocks, and an inner one of small, roughly shaped stones set with some symmetry, serving as a counter-scarp.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.