Serpentine diabase ophiolite massifs in northern Italy are frequently underlain by heterogeneous breccias. In a study of this association near the village of Pregola it was concluded that the breccias were deposited during explosive activity directly preceding the extrusion of the ophiolites. The microfauna of the underlying breccia included Calpionella alpina, Stenosemellopsis hispanica and Stomiosphaera minutissima and indicate a lower Cretaceous age (probably Berriasian-Valanginian), for the ophiolitic extrusions in the area, rather than the previously accepted upper Jurassic dating.