Fasti Online Home | Switch To Fasti Archaeological Conservation | Survey
logo

Excavation

  • Monte Giovi
  • Mugello
  •  
  • Italy
  • Tuscany
  • Florence
  • Vicchio

Tools

Credits

  • The Italian Database is the result of a collaboration between:

    MIBAC (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per i Beni Archeologici),

    ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione) and

    AIAC (Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica).

  • AIAC_logo logo

Summary (English)

  • Monte Giovi, on the border between the municipalities of Pontassieve and Vicchio di Mugello, is the main peak in the range marking the divide between the basins of the rivers Sieve and Arno and separating the Mugello from the Florentine plain. At its maximum height, 992.60 m a.s.l., a flat area was identified. It covers about 1300 m2 and is slightly raised with respect to the natural profile marked by the rocky outcrops. The area, already noted in aerial photographs taken in 1960 and 1970, is almost rectangular, circa 50 × 25 m, and the perimeter is marked by a saddle rising almost one metre above the interior plain and descending sharply on the exterior.

    The excavations in October 2011 investigated the south-eastern part of the area, concentrating on the saddle along the sides. Substantial layers of collapse emerged in this area and their partial removal exposed the remains of a great defensive wall over two metres wide, built using the emplekton technique. Two courses of the external facing were preserved, standing to an average height of about 70 cm. These were made up of sandstone blocks of various dimensions, the largest between 60 and 70 cm in length, arranged to form one or two rows depending on their size. The external facing, largely collapsed, was identified and the preliminary investigation suggests it was built using the same technique and the same sized stones. The emplekton between the two facings comprised medium-small stones mixed with earth and pottery, providing a preliminary terminus ante quem dating the defensive wall to the 4th century B.C. A layer showing clear traces of burning was exposed in the part abutting the inner facing, below the wall’s collapse. This related to the site’s abandonment phases and traces of burning were also seen on the stones in the facing, many of which showed a reddened strip of about 80 cm on the exterior. Numerous fragments of burnt wood and the remains of a palisade, also burnt and collapsed, were found within the layer. The posts, about 12 cm in diameter, were placed about 30 cm apart in an alignment consistent with that of the inner facing. This suggests that the posts either supported the wall or had some auxiliary function relating to it.

    The decision to fortify the summit of Monte Giovi, whether it was a military outpost or a cult site, was clearly the consequence of its orographical characteristics making it a strategic point for the direct control of the middle Arno valley, the Sieve valley, the plain of Sesto Fiorentino and also provided visual contact with the territories main peaks. The direct visual communication between the summits of Monte Giovi and Monte Morello is favoured by their similar heights (939 m Monte Morello, 992 m Monte Giovi). This suggests the two sites, situated at the western and eastern ends of the range to the north of Fiesole, in this period probably constituted bastions for the protection of the town from raids by the Celts who, from the beginning of the 4th century B.C., had begun to cross the Apennines (Liv. 5, 33-36).

  • Luca Cappuccini - Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Medioevo, Rinascimento e Linguistica 

Director

Team

  • Luigi Donati - Gruppo Archeologico di Dicmano

Research Body

  • Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Medioevo, Rinascimento e Linguistica

Funding Body

  • Unione dei Comuni Valdarno-Valdisieve

Images

  • No files have been added yet