The teaching of medieval archaeology at Urbino University concentrates on the study of “incastellamento” in the historical sub-region of Montefeltro (Marche, Romagna).

In particular, the site of Monte Copiolo remains the only incastellated site in the Marche where extensive investigations have been ongoing for over ten years. The continuation of this work will further calibrate the results of this research, leading to an increasing understanding of the settlement in its entirety. Excavations on surrounding incastellated sites will make it possible to compare the Copiolo model with other contexts present in the sub-region of Montefeltro and thus gain as true a picture as possible of incastellamento in this territory.

From the start, we knew that excavating this castle would mean bringing to light the main seat of Montefeltro’s power, as it was the first residence of the counts of Montefeltro (later dukes of Urbino), lords of a vast territory spread between Romagna, Marche and Umbria, with M. Copiolo at its hub. For this and other reasons, it was decided to develop, above all in this context, stratigraphic excavations and, more generally, undertake surveys within the territory.
A general analysis of the excavated contexts (2002-2013) at Monte Copiolo produced a diachronic interpretation of the settlement. We believe this settlement follows the model of Toubert, in that it was founded and created by a strong seignieurial power, a lord that concentrated all his forces in this fortification and used it as a base from which to extend and consolidate his seigniorial territory.