Old open clusters as key tracers of Galactic chemical evolution. First results: NGC 3960

In the context of a large observational project on old open clusters, we employed FLAMES + UVES on VLT UT2 to collect new high resolution spectra for giant stars in 7 clusters with the aim of investigating the radial abundance distributions in the Galactic disk. The gradients of Fe, α and Fe-peak elements and their evolution with Galactic age are indeed one of the most critical constraints to the star formation history in the Galactic disk and to Galactic chemical evolution models. We present here our preliminary results on the metallicity and abundance ratios for red clump stars in the ∼1 Gyr old cluster NGC 3960, located at a Galactocentric distance R_gc∼8 kpc.