Modern research on Raetic

Modern research on the Raeti and Raetic based on both the classical sources and archaeological data begins with the work of Conte Benedetto Giovanelli, mayor of Trient, who published his book Trento città de’ rezj e colonia romana in 1825. Giovanelli referred to the information given by the classical historiographers, but argued a differing view considering the origin of the alpine Raeti: Following the French historian Nicolas Fréret, he held that it was the Etruscans who migrated to Central Italy from the North. (See also Mommsen, Römische Geschichte Bd 1, 6. Aufl, 1874: 120.) He connected the historical Raeti with inscriptions written in one of the Etruscan-derived scripts of Northern Italy: the inscription on the situla di Cembra, also Situla Giovanelli, bought by him in 1825, and later WE-1, also on a situla, found in 1845 during excavations prompted by Giovanelli himself.