Roman colonization of northern Italy during the late Republican Age brought about significant building activity in the newly acquired territories, involving the construction of new infrastructure that demanded large amounts of stone. Trachyte of the Euganean Hills was among the most commonly used materials for building roads, bridges, forum squares, and aqueducts. This paper addresses the recognition of the provenance quarry of Euganean trachyte used in Roman public infrastructure in northeastern Italy. Petrographic features and major- and trace-element composition of bulk rock and phenocrysts, analyzed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS),were used as provenance tracers. The provenance determinations allow for exploring the commercial, political, and economic dynamics involving the supply of trachyte for public works, and the management of Roman quarries, which likelywere in competition with each other and separately controlled by the most important nearby cities. Finally, broad insights into ancient trades in northern Italy and the main routes of stone distribution are discussed: most transport was done by ship, being more rapid and less costly, taking advantage of the Adriatic Sea, the Po River, and the many waterways close to the Euganean quarries

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In this paper, we discuss the presence of volcanic pozzolans in the structural mortars of the Roman Temple of Nora in Sardinia (3rd c. AD), represented by pyroclastic rocks (pumices and tuffs) employed as coarse and fine aggregates. The provenance of these materials from the Phlegraean Fields was highlighted through a multi-analytical approach, involving Polarized Light Microscopy on thin sections (PLM), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Quantitative Phase Analysis by X-ray Powder Diffraction (QPA-XRPD), and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) investigations. These volcanic pozzolans, outcropping in the Bay of Naples between Pozzuoli and the Vesuvius, are traditionally associated with the pulvis puteolana, the famous pozzolanic ash prescribed by Vitruvius and Pliny in order to confer strength and waterproofing capabilities to ancient concretes. This is the first evidence of the trade of this volcanic material from the Neapolitan area to Sardinia, starting at least by the Middle Imperial Age. The use of the pulvis puteolana in the Roman Temple of Nora seems primarily targeted to strengthen above-ground masonries, while waterproofing capabilities were not strictly pursued. This opens new questions about the construction reasons for which the demand and commercialization for this product was intended.