Roman kiln on Monte Zucchero - Bettola

On the slopes of Monte Zucchero at Piancavallo, less than a kilometre from Buzzetti, is a Roman kiln for the production of bricks. The construction, dated between the end of the 1st century BC and the first half of the 2nd century AD is of the vertical type with a square floor plan.
Constructed taking advantage of the lie of the land, with a slight embankment of a fairly gentle slope, the complex was entirely underground, dug out at a lower level than the ground.

The excavations brought to light a kiln with a combustion chamber with a central corridor, made up of two floors, separated by a perforated sector where the material to be cooked was placed. The lower chamber served as the boiler, an access corridor allowing fuel to be introduced. The perforated floor allowed the gas from the combustion chamber to rise into the upper chamber, used for cooking the material. It then escaped through openings in the vaulted covering (often temporary).

The combustion chamber was completely buried while access to the upper chamber (very well preserved) was from the upper part of the hill, at the back of the kiln. The opening of the prefurnium was the lowest, at ground level. The prefurnium, with a vault, was still sealed at the time of discovery. The central corridor of the combustion chamber was vaulted with ten little round arches in brick with a wedge-shaped section.
At the time of discovery the floor was in good condition, in baked tiles covered with a layer of clay.