The ancients appreciated the transparency and bright color, varying from yellow to red-brown of amber pearls, one of the most appreciated valuable assets in prehistory, fossil resin formed millions of years ago and found mainly along the Baltic Sea, but they attributed it also magical properties and therapeutic virtues.

The use of amber began in the early stages of prehistory, but intensified considerably in the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC) when, along the great rivers and Alpine passes of the Resia and Brenner, it reached southern Europe and, above all, , the Mycenaean world, in whose richest tombs thousands of pearls have been recovered. Northern Italy would have played a leading role in this trade to the Aegean.

Several amber pearls (“vaghi” is the archaeological term) have also been found in the inhabited areas and in the terramaricolous necropolises, dated between about 1600-1150 BC; intended only for high-ranking women, they were used in necklaces or as “fold-stops” for the bronze pins that closed the dresses.