Le fortificazioni e le difese del castello di Rontana nel Medioevo (VII-XIV sec.)

New excavations in the Apennine passes have give evidence of a 6th 7th century system of defence of the Byzantine territory of Ravenna. The first castle was settled at the top of the hill that dominates Lamone’s Valley and cross Toscana and Romagna. It is a fortified settlement situated nearby Brisighella (Ravenna, Italy), first mentioned in AD 960, together with the parish church of Santa Maria which stands within it, as testified by a late Carolingian chart of the Archiepiscopal Archive of Ravenna, as a property of the monastery of S. Maria del Sacro Palazzo at Ravenna. Towards archaeological excavation were discovered new 7th century fortifications, possibly to associate to an attempt of limes defence organized by the Exarches towards Lombards Kingdom. 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 family 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, provided useful data regarding the archaeological stratification of the first fortification phases as well as information regarding houses, workshops and other activities linked to the castle life. In order to achieve these aims several excavation areas were opened all around the centre of the hilltop, corresponding to the courtyard of the medieval castle. 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 and the various changing in the fortifications techniques, and a new excavation of a possible 7th century fortification has begun in 2018 to verify this trend. 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 two ruined ogival towers situated at the corner of the Rocca and most of the medieval defences of the castle.