The necropolis, Dormelletto
Itineraries From the Park all around
Minitour Dormello (2/3) 
The territory of Dormelletto is made up of three layers situated at growing altitudes. The lowest one, by the lake, is the most recently inhabited; the highest one, in the Park, witnessed the presence of a mid-Bronze Age necropolis (Cuchetta hillside) and traces from Iron Age and Roman settlements (eastern moraine, facing the Park).
The intermediate layer houses the present-day community, which between the end of the 3rd and the 1st century BC was preceded by a Gallic village. Only the village's necropolis was found in Via San Rocco, below the gymnasium and the Town Hall.
The village name was Dormello, that is to say hill (mello) at the door (duro) - meaning the "door to the fortress". The most suitable place for defence was the parochial church hill, where huts, and later houses, were probably built, and where a castle stood in the Middle Age. The present name Dormelletto, a diminutive, might indicate the place's decay.
In 1870 about 50 tombs from the Gallic period, in a two layer necropolis, were excavated.
The most ancient (about half of them, from the end of the 3rd and the 1st century BC) presented a simple burial in the ground, with a low tumulus marked by a stone. They contained a big ceremonial bowl and - since the bones dissolved - just the deceased's ornaments: bronze ankle bands and bangles, iron fibulae and so on.
The egg-shaped ankle bands were typical ornaments of Insubrian Gauls settled between Milan and Novara's territory.
The other cinerary tombs, with a small hole protected by pebbles, stone boards and bent tiles (half of the 2nd - 1st century BC). Equipment was richer in ceramic vases, sometimes decorated, like spin flasks. Usually another vase contained the deceased's ashes. Numerous were the farmer's sickles, rarer the arrow points, while just one shield remains were found.
Info
Other informations about itineraries From the Park all around are available on this web site, and nearby the described monument, in English.
Information provided by GASMA (Arona's Archeological, Historical, Mineralogical Group)
For guided tours please contact Associazione ProntoGuide
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Last updated: March 7th 2004