Thanks to the profitable collaboration between the Archaeology Department of the University of Bologna, the Archaeological Superintendency of the Marche, the town council of Corinaldo and the bishop’s see, excavations were undertaken inside the church of Madonna del Piano. These provided much evidence about the earliest phases of this important monument, which as the earliest documents (1090) record must have been called S. Marie que dicitur in Portuno.
The excavation confirmed the existence of numerous early phases, which were often difficult to interpret due to the restricted nature of the trenches. The existence of an earlier cult building, of at least early medieval date (9th-10th century) was confirmed by excavations inside and outside the crypt, where below the pentagonal Romanesque apse an earlier circular apse came to light. Inside the crypt a small tile kiln of Roman date was uncovered, which was razed to ground level when the crypt was built. Therefore. it is possible that the primitive cult building was constructed above what was a production area in Roman times (the pars rustica of a villa suburbana?), entirely re-using the structures for building material.
Around the apse and in front of the façade two large cemetery areas were found. The burials, all without grave goods, were simple inhumations in earth graves, which in only a few cases were lined with fragments of tile and stones. Other investigations outside the church, in the southern sector, are bringing to light the buildings belonging to the monastery (a cloister?) and in the earliest levels a dump of tile wasters relating to the Roman kilns.
The site has been turned into a museum, through the creation of specific didactic routes (both inside and outside the church) and the creation of an exhibition space. (Giuseppe Lepore)