10. Chiese, aristocrazie e comunità rurali. S. Andrea di Zagonara e la pieve di S. Stefano

The volume Between Land and Water. Archaeology at Zagonara and in the Lowland of Ravenna presents the most recent research on medieval Lowland of Romagna, placing it within a broader reflection on the transformation of rural landscapes between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Central to the study is the dynamic relationship between communities and environment in a lowland territory profoundly shaped by unstable watercourses, flooding, and geomorphological change. Through a multidisciplinary approach combining written sources, field survey, geoarchaeological investigation, stratigraphic excavation, artefact analysis, and anthropological and archaeobotanical research, the “Bassa Romandiola” project (active since 2009) has reconstructed a picture of rural settlement characterised by continuity, crisis, abandonment, and reorganisation. Within this framework, the excavation of the castle of Zagonara (since 2017) represents a key case study for understanding the emergence of villages, the role of rural aristocracies, economic organisation, and the conflicts that shaped the Romagna lowland.