In September 2007 the first excavation campaign began in the castle of Rontana, a fortified settlement situated on Monte Rotana near Brisighella (Ravenna). The site lies within the territory of the Vena del Gesso Romagnola Park. The _castrum_ of Rontana was first mentioned in 960, together with the parish church of Santa Maria which stands within it, in a document of the Archiepiscopal Archive of Ravenna. At that time the settlement belonged to Ugone di Rontana or della Pieve. In the following centuries the fortification was the object of many disputes and was listed amongst the properties of the church of Ravenna, the municipality of Faenza, of the Manfredi and the Venetian Republic. It was destroyed at the end of the 16th century by the Papal army. The work inside the castle was undertaken in order to study the birth of the phenomenon of incastellamento in Romagna through the examination of archaeological remains. The site, thanks to the extraordinarily well preserved deposit, will provide useful data regarding the archaeological stratification of the first occupation phases as well as information regarding possible occupation phases on the hilltop post-dating those mentioned in the 10th century written sources. In order to achieve these aims a large excavation area was opened (circa 100 m2 ) at the centre of the hilltop, corresponding to the courtyard of the 16th century Rocca. Below a deep deposit of building rubble from the destruction of the castle, several walled structures came to light belonging to various rooms in the “aristocratic” area. There was much evidence showing the occupants to be of high rank, in particular the glazed and painted pottery from diverse centres in Romagna, Tuscany and the Veneto. The rooms that were uncovered seemed to be arranged around a central space within which was situated a well-cistern, necessary for the survival of the fortified site during the many sieges it underwent during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. During the course of the excavations a topographical survey was also undertaken of the entire area occupied by the castle and surrounding settlement, in order to gain a detailed understanding of its plan. The excavations were also accompanied by studies and analyses of the architectural archaeology of the many standing walls preserved inside the fortified settlement, in particular the facings of a ruined ogival tower situated in the north-west corner of the Rocca. The excavations will continue next year with the opening of another two areas on the north slope of the castrum inside rooms whose functions and plans are at present unknown. This will lead to a better understanding of the site and its internal organisation.

On the basis of the research undertaken to date and in order to provide answers to the many questions posed by the nature and lay out of the settlement, several areas in three different zones of the castle were chosen for investigation. The excavation was undertaken thanks to the effort of Ivano Fabbri in the picturesque surroundings of the Parco del Carné. This year the archaeological investigation continued in the summit area (sector 1000), where a number of structures belonging to the late medieval and Renaissance castle were brought to light in 2007. These lay below collapse and abandonment levels dating to the end of the 16th century. The main aim of this trench was the identification of the structures connected with the castle’s first occupation phases. Research undertaken in other settlements of the same date, in nearby Tuscany, and the discovery of a large amount of residual pottery identified within the 16th century layers on the summit, indicated the possibility of recognising these first phases, documented by written sources, precisely in this sector of the excavation. In fact, trench 1000 produced archaic majolica to be associated with the construction of the castle in the 13th century, but also unglazed domestic ware datable to the 10th and 11th century. In this sector (90 m2) structures pertaining to the castle’s courtyard and several perimeter walls of the 16th century building were uncovered. Inside the courtyard the entire system for water collection was found still standing. This comprised two cisterns covered by brick vaults separated by three vertical wells, with truncated conical sections, over 5 m deep. The courtyard was paved with cobbles and beaten earth. These structures belonged to the late medieval and Renaissance castle. The rooms inside were gradually abandoned from the last decade of the 16th century onwards. The deposit covering the structures comprised circa 2m of stratification. Below this were numerous burials, placed on the paving of the rooms. In most cases the skeletons were disarticulated, probably as a result of the amassing of bodies or parts of. Taking into consideration the associated pottery a preliminary interpretation of this event may be that the castle’s inhabitants were the victims of a military reprisal on the part of Papal troops in 1591, an event amply described by contemporary sources. The stratigraphy below this occupation phase was not excavated and constitutes one of the main objectives for future excavation campaigns. A sector of approximately the same dimensions (80 m2 – sector 2000) was opened within the western quarter of the fortification, at the base of the castle. In this area a long wall of chalk blocks and mortar came to light. This crossed the plateau and the settlement area from the summit to the south as far as the opposite end at the northern edge of the castle. Here, according to the plans published by G. Cavina in the volume “Antichi fortilizi di Romagna”, there stood a round tower. The excavation also revealed the existence of a large building datable to the 13th century. Delimited to the east and west by two wide walls of plaster blocks bonded with strong mortar and articulated by imposing rectangular buttresses. The building occupied the entire western sector of the settlement and probably had a defensive function. Only next year’s excavations will provide a full understanding of the structure’s function and the identification of the flooring and possibly of the first strata to sediment in the area. The building seemed to have been abandoned from the 15th century onwards. In fact, there were no material finds of a later date, whilst there was an abundance of 13th and 14th century pottery. The last sector (sector 3000; 40 m2), was opened in the eastern quarter of the settlement, near the edge of the plateau. It is suggested that part of the line of the castle’s defensive walls stood here. The excavation, together with the cleaning of a vast expanse of the walls in chalk blocks visible at the edge of the castrum, led to the identification of several late medieval dwellings and of an earlier fortification made of wood, of which negative traces were found cut into the bedrock. These were associated with several layers containing 10th century pottery, the period to which the first written documentation regarding the fortified settlement dates.

Between August and September 2009 the third excavation campaign took place in the castle of Rontana (Brisighella-RA), a fortified settlement for which the earliest evidence dates to the 10th century (960 A.D.). Four main trenches have been opened to date: the first on the summit area of the castle. Here stand the ruins of a partially preserved ogival tower, similar to that of the nearby castle of Ceparano. In the case of Rontana, this was a adaptation of an earlier tower with a circular base to the new siege techniques involving the use of firearms, datable to the end of the 15th-first half of the 16th century. At that moment the entire summit area of the fortified village was enclosed within the Renaissance style ‘rocca’. The excavations uncovered the cobble paving and perimeter walls of the internal courtyard. At the centre of the quadrangular courtyard there was a circular well, fed by at least two vast vaulted cisterns and flanked by two vertical wells. The main well was completely excavated and reached a depth of 7.70 m, the same depth was probably also reached by the well lateral shafts. This was a system for water conservation and depuration that came into use in Romagna in the late medieval period, and was fairly widespread in Venice from the end of the 10th century onwards. Inside the cisterns the rainwater was filtered by a bed of sand or gravel and then collected in a central well. In the cisterns investigated here a deposit of circa 60 m2 of fluvial sand was partially removed from the vaulted space. The openings of the four shafts which collected the river water were covered by sandstone millstones which lay below the destruction layers of the castle (end of the 16th century). Inside the well there was a deposit of materials datable to between the end of the 15th and the second half of the 16th century, burnt at the moment when the castle of Rontana, in the hands of a group of brigands, was besieged by papal soldiers in 1591. Inside the ‘Rocca’ on the western side of the courtyard, the remains of over twenty individuals were found. The skeletons were disarticulated and had been buried casually and the burials sealed by mortar. The finds indicate that these summary burials were those of the brigands executed by the papal army in 1591. The same area had been used as a cemetery in the preceding centuries, as attested by numerous burials below the floor surface of the ‘Rocca’. A family burial in a coffin, found on the western edge of the excavation area, was of particular interest. It comprised the body of one adult together with four reductions, or successively disturbed burials, whose chronology has yet to be determined. A vast trapezoidal plateau developed on the north side of the summit area, situated at a depth of circa 6 m below the floor level of the Renaissance ‘Rocca’. The excavations brought to light an ample stretch of the walls which surrounded the castle on the east and west sides. The walls, built of chalk blocks bonded with strong mortar, were constructed at the end of the 13th century, probably by Maghinardo Pagani, who conquered the castle in 1292 and, according to written sources, rebuilt it in stone. The entire surface of the plateau was divided in half by a wall built using the same technique, reinforced with rectangular based buttresses. Abutting the structures traces of an iron making workshop and a dwelling were uncovered; large post holes on the eastern edge were probably related to the containment of an earlier defensive enclosure. Lastly, on the southern side of the site a tower with an ample rectangular base (circa 30 m2) was identified. Situated close to the curtain wall its entire ground floor was preserved, with walls stone of blocks circa 3.50m high, with a plaster facing on the exterior. The ground floor, covered by a barrel vault was used as a cistern, as attested by the presence of waterproof plaster even on the floor. This structure was probably also built at the end of the 13th century. However, substantial restoration work was visible, perhaps datable to the middle of the following century. The base of the tower was completely covered by buttressing with an oblique facing, made of stone bonded with strong mortar. The entry threshold was identified on the north side of the building, situated on the first floor of the tower, on the opposite side to the curtain wall.

Four excavation campaigns have been undertaken on the castle of Rontana between 2007 and 2010. The investigations concentrated on four main areas, situated in strategic positions for the comprehension and analysis of the site: the summit area (sector 1000), the “lower court” (sector 2000), the residential area (sector 3000) and the defences on the southern side of the fortification (sector 5000). Numerous burials relating to the castle’s first occupation phase (10th century) were found in the area of a large masonry-built structure, still largely to be excavated, on the summit plateau close to the ogival tower, which today still distinguishes the castle. On the southern side, where a sheer drop overlooks the Lamone valley, an imposing quadrangular tower came to light. Built of stone blocks, plastered both on the interior and exterior, it was reinforced in the second half of the 13th century by an oblique buttress which surrounds the structure’s entire perimeter. The first floor of the tower is preserved with an entrance on the north side at a height of about 3 m above ground level. To the exterior is a large open space paved with mortar separating it from the castle’s curtain wall, preserved here to a height of about one metre. Furthermore, a bread oven was identified, built abutting the Rocca, in the area defended by two buttressed walls and isolated from the rest of the settlement. In the east quarter a dwelling with a courtyard was identified, datable to the 13th century, with an earlier stratigraphy probably dating to the first occupation phases of the _castrum_.

The fifth campaign took place between August and September 2011. Two trenches were dug on the summit, on the west side and in the north-east corner, previously explored in 2007 and 2010. In order to gain an understanding of the building’s function, a new sector (10 x 5 m) was opened on the opposite side of the plateau, where a structure was exposed, measuring about 3.5 m and preserved to a standing height of at least 5 m. This was the western limit of a small stone building, probably an aristocratic church, situated within the fortifications of the 15th century Rocca. The substantial wall was connected to the ogival tower that was still standing on the site prior to the start of the excavations in 2007. A second ogival tower was uncovered in the north-east corner that completely modifies the castle’s appearance. The brick-built tower (9 m diam.), preserved to 6 m, presented at least three arquebus positions, two on the sides and one on the apex, orientated north towards the rest of the settlement. The tower stood on an imposing wall of chalk blocks which constituted the 13th century defences of the summit area, and of which two stretches were found on the north and west sides. A third trench was opened on the south side of the castle, where in previous years a quadrangular tower had come to light, with a vaulted cistern for water storage at its base. The deposit separating the structure from the curtain wall facing onto the Lamone valley was excavated. A palimpsest of four different construction phases was identified, from the original rock-cut palisade to the final phases of regular chalk blocks. The perimeter wall of another 13th century building, whose function is at present unknown, was uncovered inside a circular pit, almost 2.5 m deep. On the opposite side of the plateau, a rock-cut ditch separated the northern slope from the settlement on the summit. This zone was filled and levelled during the 13th century and the entire area bordered by a thick wall of chalk blocks, inside which were two workshops: one for iron working and the other for bread making. An earlier oven/kiln, whose function has still to be established, was found below the layers which raised the height of the plateau and will be excavated in future campaigns. A last trench, in the eastern sector of the castle, produced the earliest material. The late 13th century walls surrounding the site and some earlier structures (still to be dated) were uncovered. Some elements, which could further define the chronology of these first phases, were found in the bottom of a post-hole. The timber remains will undergo C14 and dendrochronological dating. A surface survey identified a large, previously unknown area of the castle situated on the south-eastern side of the woods. Here, defensive walls overlooking the Lamone valley were visible. They stood on a false plain at about 20 m below the summit area and can probably be interpreted as the _borgo_ of the castle, mentioned in the written sources.

This was the sixth excavation campaign at Rontana castle undertaken by the Archaeology Department of Bologna University and the Archaeological Superintendency of Emilia Romagna. Previous excavations were concentrated in four main areas situated on the summit area (sector 1000), later identified as the Rocca, and in other zones on the plateau to the north (sectors 2000 and 3000), and south of the fortifications (sector 5000). To further understanding of the settlement’s distribution and extension on the summit area, the trenches were enlarged with two new sectors at opposite ends of the Renaissance courtyard (sectors 7000-8000). The excavation of the stratigraphy associated with the first occupation phases of the castle was completed, on the west and east sides. The main aim was the reconstruction of the castle’s plan. The entire rise on which the modern cross stands is made up of accumulations of building rubble that had collapsed following the castle’s destruction and subsequent abandonment after its conquest by the Papal army in 1591. It was also seen that the brick-built ogival tower rested on/abutted an earlier wall of chalk blocks, on which at least two building phases were visible, as in the other sectors excavated between 2009 and 2011. North of the summit area, at about 6 m below the courtyard surface, the opening of sector 2000 revealed a wall of chalk blocks enclosing what may be interpreted as a redoubt built in front of the Rocca. Various artisan activities were concentrated in this zone, excavated between 2009-2011. A forge for ironworking and associated rock-cut channel were found north of this area. To the east was a semi-oval oven, its form suggesting it was used for baking bread, abandoned in the final quarter of the 14th century. The remains of another oven and a ditch relating to the first defensive system emerged to the south-west of the sector. On the north-eastern side of the site, a number of sections of stone wall were identified. These formed the furthest edge of the settlement. During the 2011 season, east of the summit area, on the plateau below the hill’s peak, numerous traces of houses were uncovered. It is likely that this was an exclusively residential area, whose existence was previously unknown. Its discovery considerably enlarged the overall area of the castle’s plan. Stone walls also appeared at several points on the external edges of the plateau, perhaps defences, although the absence of these structures on the opposite side makes it difficult to establish, for the moment, whether these were dwellings without an enclosure wall, but rather a _borgo_ abutting the main nucleus of the fortified village.

This season’s excavations concentrated on five different areas: on the summit, in the production quarter, in the residential quarter, along the defensive wall, and in the “borgo”. The most substantial evidence came from the edge of the settlement, where three different houses were identified, cut into the bedrock, and built of chalk blocks.The structures were completely faced with a layer of canes covered by a layer of compact plaster, of which numerous sections were found, both standing and in collapse. The houses abutted the curtain wall and were separated by small passageways that opened onto a road skirting them and then climbed towards the commercial area. In one of the rooms, there was a hearth supported on four small pillars and associated with a floor of chalky mortar that levelled the surface of the bedrock. These houses are similar to those visible in the rural landscape of the “Gessi romagnoli” (Chalk dwellings in Romagna) until the beginning of the 19th century. A new metalworking installation came to light just south of the houses. It was situated inside a vast square enclosed by a wall and was divided into various workshops with a kiln, a glass making structure and other productive structures. It may also have been used as a market area. On the “rocca”, excavations took place in areas towards the east and west. Two rooms were uncovered, decorated with painted wall plaster, and paved with tiles. They were separated by a small side entrance and associated with a funerary area with high status burials in coffins made from the stones cut during the construction of the 14th century well and cistern. Lastly, a number of burials were excavated in the area of the “borgo”, associated with an imposing building, whose plan has yet to be defined. These were burials in earth graves that the presence of metal hinges at the sides suggests were covered by wooden planks.

This was the seventh campaign of excavations in Rontana castle. Investigations were undertaken in new sectors uncovering new evidence that improved understanding of the interior organisation of the site and defined the function of several areas. The first trench (Sector 1000) was opened in one of the most important zones of the site of Monte Rontana, on the summit area of the castle. It was largely an extension of a sector excavated during all preceding campaigns. The trench was placed exactly at the centre between two ogival towers linked by a brick wall, that constitute the northern perimeter of the late medieval fortification. On the west side of this same area, the excavation continued of an important funerary area that related to occupation phases pre-dating the building of the fortification. There were two adjacent groups of burials, covered by a large late medieval ossuary. The burials were associated with three walls made of small worked-chalk blocks, positioned up against the chalky bedrock in order to create an even surface. The remains of about 30 individuals were excavated. The reductions overlay several articulated skeletons, only partially identified. The most interesting burial, aligned north-south, was associated with 13 crania. These were aristocratic burials, probably dating to a period when the entire area was used for funerary purposes. Another trench (sector 2000) was opened north of the late medieval ‘Rocca’ in an open area delimited by thick walls built of chalk blocks. A new area of iron smelting was uncovered together with the remains of stone arches that covered the spaces between the pilasters (already identified on the surface), which allowed the extension of the walkway along the castle’s curtain walls. Two more sectors (sectors 8000 and 14000) were excavated in the area north of the castle, in the residential zone. Two new houses were discovered, with floor surfaces cut into the chalk bedrock and small domestic hearths, datable to the second half of the 13th century. The final trench (sector 13000) was opened in the area of the ‘borgo’, south-east of the castle. Here, traces of an apse delimiting a small funerary aedicule were uncovered. Built of chalk blocks, it was situated along the access road leading to the castle from the south side of the Lamone valley. A large stone cistern with several chambers (sector 15000) was identified at the edge of the castle’s eastern plateau. It was situated close to a postern gate through which a small beaten earth road ran. This road bordered the buildings in this sector of the fortified village, until the final decades of the 16th century.

The 2015 excavations demonstrated that Rontana castle was founded by a rural community in the first half of the 10th century, in an area that had not been occupied by a permanent settlement (with the exception of a proto-historic use) prior to the medieval period. A parish church, with the same toponym, datable to the late 9th century is known, which also saw to the funerary needs of the neighbouring population. Several of the church’s walls emerged this season, together with part of the architectural decoration, similar to that of the parish church of Thò (Brisighella-Ra) of the same date, including a marble capital and several column drums of ammonitic red breccia from the Verona area, reused in the late medieval construction of the castle. This season, four new excavation areas were opened inside the castle, on the summit of the site, which produced finds dating from the late 9th century to the final decade of the 16th century, when the castle was abandoned. The last inhabitants were the bandits of Rontana, the _latrones_, defeated by the Papal army in 1591. In 2012, another tower was identified in the opposite corner to the surviving one. It was discovered this year that a residential room with an elegant herringbone pattern brick floor, had been built within this ogival tower. This room was added to the castle towards the end of the 15th century, when the settlement was placed under an administrator of the Venetian Republic, in order to control the Lamone valley. Excavations continued in the funerary area close to the courtyard. This season saw the beginning of a project in collaboration with the School of Medicine and the Department of Cultural Heritage to analyse the DNA of the medieval population from this territory and compare it with that of the present population of Brisighella. Samples were taken from two funerary cells in the cemetery of the church of S. Maria di Rontana, predating the construction of the castle, datable to a period between the end of the 13th century and the second half of the 14th century. On the opposite side of the castle, a floor make-up was removed in a rectangular room and the earliest phases of the church were found in this sector, but the excavation is still in an early stage. A new trench was opened in the productive/commercial area of the castle and the earliest structures were also uncovered here, with three residential rooms that were filled when the defences, attributed to Maghinardo Pagani, were built in the late 13th century. Two trenches were opened abutting the eastern curtain wall and in the area of the settlement, where a new house was identified with two parallel rooms, along a road that climbed the south side of the settlement and reached the summit area. During the coming campaign, trenches will be opened inside the castle and in the western part of the settlement in order to complete the picture of the fortified village, from its first occupation phases until its abandonment.

This was the 10th excavation campaign at Rontana castle (Brisighella, Ra). In past years, traces were found indicating that the site was occupied prior to the date known from written sources (960 A.D.), towards the end of the 9th century. In the first phase of fortification, datable to the mid 10th century, numerous traces were found, in a sector east of the plateau on which the castle stood, of a timber palisade that defended the site. The excavations uncovered several earlier phases, for example in the area demolished and obliterated when the late 13th century fortifications were built, in a space dedicated to craft working activities, within the trapezoidal courtyard delimited by stone arches, as occurred in the most important European fortified sites. The building of this structure led to the demolition of a vast residential quarter, partly rock-cut and partly masonry-built. The interiors were faced with a thick layer of chalky plaster, in some cases decorated with elegant stuccowork. There were also spaces for food preparation with floor level hearths paved with small stone slabs. Other elements of domestic equipment, including archaic majolica jugs and cooking vessels, were also present. During the course of the 14th century, the settlement also occupied a plateau lying much lower than the main one, in an area interpreted as the castle ‘borgo’. Several houses were found in this zone, built using a different technique involving the use of timber mixed with stones. In fact, the walls of these buildings were built on a base of stones bonded with chalk and the timber frameworks were fixed on this foundation. The floors were beaten earth, used to level the irregular surface of the bedrock, which was less compact here than over the rest of the site. Immediately beside the entrance, in the interior of the main room, there was the stone foundation for a staircase leading to the upper floor. There were usually two rooms on the ground floor. Several coins and everyday objects were found in the occupation levels, mainly datable to between the 14th and 15th century, often evidence of the commercial relationship with Tuscany. Three new trenches were opened in the Rocca area. An entire late 15th century room was found on the east side, paved in tiles laid in a herringbone pattern. The perimeter walls of this large rectangular room, found inside the Rocca, were preserved to a height of c. one metre and showed evidence of blocking and restoration, indicating continuity of use until just before the castle’s violent abandonment in 1591. On the north side, there were traces of a late medieval construction site relating to the building of the Rocca’s defensive walls. The foundations of the walls and of the central courtyard cut several areas of a vast cemetery, which was situated by the early medieval church.

The most important discovery made during this season’s excavations in the castle of Rontana (Brisighella, RA) was that of two walls, bonded with strong mortar and over one metre wide. They were associated with a late 6th/early 7th century A.D. context, dated by the presence of a Hayes 105 plate, on a site where thus far only post 9th century A.D. finds or residual materials from an extensive proto-historic presence datable to the 8th century B.C., have come to light. The walls were cut by the early medieval cemetery that was certainly linked to the parish church of S. Maria di Rontana, in use until the 13th century. The later fortifications, those associated with the _castrum_ mentioned in written sources (known from 960 A.D.), were formed by a timber palisade traces of which were found on all sides explored so far, close to the edges of the plateau on which the valley’s early medieval population lived. New defensive structures were also found in the trench opened on the castle’s eastern slope, part of a curtain wall built between the late 13th and early 15th centuries and already identified along the entire southern slope of Monte Rontana. The wall was built in roughly worked chalk blocks bonded with crumbly mortar, perhaps also chalk based. The identification of this stretch of wall clarifies the exposition of the undefended residential zone found below this side, already defines as a ‘borgo’, linked to the settlement’s main nucleus. Excavations here uncovered another nucleus of dwellings separate from the others by a beaten earth road, also identified on the north side, revealing the proto-urban organisation of this type of castle, in particular from the 14th century onwards. Other rooms were found in a row of buildings situated on the opposite side from the road, whose function remains to be clarified. A trench was also opened in the production quarter, close to a bread oven, identified during past campaigns. In this zone, the structures were built on a thick chalky mortar surface. The removal of this surface revealed two earlier phases, one linked to production activities (a glass kiln) datable to the 13th century, and one, certainly earlier but not datable with precision, on which the stone buttresses of the 14th century fortifications rested. This was initially identified as a ditch, considering the vertical cut of the two walls and the width of the space between them, filled with an artificial deposit. The excavation of the rest of the deposit was begun in order to check whether it was a rock-cut dwelling instead, like those identified in 2015-2016 in the rest of the plateau, and buried following the reorganisation of the castle’s late medieval defences.