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.

Si è svolta tra agosto e settembre del 2009 la terza campagna di scavi archeologici nel castello di Rontana (Brisighella-RA), un insediamento fortificato le cui prime attestazioni risalgono al X secolo (960 d.C.).

Al momento sono stati effettuati 4 saggi principali: il primo sull’area sommitale del castello. In questa area si conserva ancora parzialmente il rudere di un torrione a pianta ogivale simile a quello del vicino castello di Ceparano. Si tratta, nel caso di Rontana, di un adattamento di una precedente torre a base circolare alle nuove tecniche di assedio condotte con armi da fuoco, databile tra la fine del ‘400 e la prima metà del ‘500. In quel momento tutta l’area sommitale del villaggio fortificato venne inserita all’interno di una rocca di stile rinascimentale.

Gli scavi hanno riportato alla luce la pavimentazione e i muri perimetrali del cortile interno pavimentato in ciottoli. Al centro del cortile, a pianta quadrangolare è stato rinvenuto un pozzo circolare, alimentato da due vaste cisterne voltate e affiancato da due pozzi verticali. Il pozzo principale, esplorato interamente, raggiunge una profondità di m 7,70 e la stessa quota è raggiunta probabilmente dai condotti laterali. Si tratta di un sistema di conservazione e depurazione delle acque che si afferma in Romagna nel tardo Medioevo, piuttosto diffuso a Venezia a partire dalla fine del X secolo. All’interno delle cisterne l’acqua piovana veniva depurata da un letto di sabbia o ghiaia e raccolta quindi in un pozzo centrale. Nelle cisterne qui indagate è stato rinvenuto un accumulo di circa 60 m3 di sabbia fluviale, solo parzialmente asportata dall’ambiente voltato.
Le aperture dei 4 condotti che raccoglievano l’acqua fluviale sono coperte da macine in arenaria, coperte dagli strati di distruzione del castello (fine XVI secolo). All’interno del pozzo è stato identificato un deposito di materiali databili tra la fine del ‘400 e la metà del secolo successivo, bruciati al momento dell’assedio che le truppe pontificie portarono al castello di Rontana nel 1591, controllato da un gruppo di banditi.

Sul lato ovest del cortile, all’interno della Rocca, sono stati rinvenuti i resti di oltre 20 individui privi di connessione e sepolti in maniera casuale, successivamente sigillati da un tappo di malta. I materiali consentono di associare queste sepolture sommarie con quelle dei banditi giustiziati dall’esercito pontificio nel 1591.

La stessa area era stata utilizzata come cimitero anche nei secoli precedenti, come testimoniano le numerose sepolture identificate al di sotto del piano di frequentazione della Rocca. Di particolare rilievo una sepoltura familiare in cassa, rinvenuta sul margine ovest dell’area di scavo. Al suo interno è stato identificato il corpo di un adulto insieme a 4 riduzioni, la cui cronologia deve essere chiarita.

Sul lato nord dell’area sommitale si sviluppa un vasto pianoro di forma trapezoidale, situato ad una quota di circa 6 m al di sotto del piano di calpestio della Rocca rinascimentale. Gli scavi hanno riportato alla luce un ampio tratto delle mura che circondavano il castello sui lati est e ovest. Le mura, in blocchi di gesso legati in malta tenace, furono realizzate alla fine del XIII secolo, probabilmente da Maghinardo Pagani, che conquistò il castello nel 1292 e secondo le testimonianze scritte lo riedificò in pietra. L’intera superficie del pianoro è divisa a metà da un muro realizzato nella stessa tecnica edilizia, rafforzato da contrafforti a base rettangolare. A ridosso delle strutture sono state rinvenute tracce di una atelier di produzione del ferro e un edificio abitativo; sul margine orientale erano buche di palo di grandi dimensioni probabilmente funzionali al contenimento di un precedente recinto difensivo.

Sul lato meridionale del sito è stato identificato infine un torrione a base rettangolare ampio ca 30 mq., posto nelle vicinanze del muro di cinta; rimane interamente conservato il piano inferiore, con murature in blocchi alte ca m 3,5, interamente rivestite da intonaco sui paramenti esterni. Il piano inferiore, coperto da una volta a botte, era utilizzato come cisterna, come testimonia la presenza di intonaco idraulico anche sulla pavimentazione. Anche questa struttura fu probabilmente realizzata alla fine del XIII secolo. Presenta tuttavia restauri consistenti databili probabilmente alla metà del secolo successivo. La base della torre venne interamente rivestita da un contrafforte con paramento obliquo, realizzato in pietra e legato da malta tenace. Sul lato nord dell’edificio è stata infine identificata la soglia di ingresso, posta al primo piano della torre, sul lato opposto al muro di cinta.