Excavating Montereggi
Since the Summer of 2024, FSU archaeological explorations have targeted the hilltop site of Montereggi, in the comune of Capraia e Limite (Firenze). The site’s rich evidence and position on Arno River have long captivated the interest of archaeologists and historians. This new initiative, conducted in partnership with Villa Bibbiani and co- directed by Andrea De Giorgi and Agnese Pittari, is a year-round project that through a battery of excavation and survey techniques explores the cultural evolution of the site, spanning the Etruscan era and the Middle Ages. The settlement’s a potential connection with a riverine port is an additional focus of this research. As for the team, FSU graduate students collaborate with Italian students and experienced archaeologists to conduct the excavation.
The excavation was preceded by a comprehensive campaign of geophysical surveys, to wit magnetometry, georadar (GPR), resistivity, and LiDar. These datasets were crucial for charting the site’s topography, identifying its geological composition, and, lastly, detecting subsurface anomalies beneath the dense vegetation on the hill. Further, the surveys laid the groundwork for excavation, signaling areas of interest and anomalies that we systematically investigated.
In tandem with the opening of new trenches, we also cleaned and mapped structures previously discovered by the digs that intermittently investigated the site between the 1980s and 2017. The modest information about these previous activities has not hampered the integration of visible features into the site’s updated topographical framework. As for the dig, we focus on three areas: the northern sector of the site where we investigate large exposures of a partially excavated monumental complex that was in use between the 5th and the 3rd c BC. On the southern rim, we have now exposed Hellenistic domestic structures, while a new sondage on the eastern foot of the hill has yielded evidence of a farm in use between the 1st c BCE and the 1st c CE.
The uncovering of underground locales and their adaptation to the sloping terrain highlighted the efforts employed to accommodate these structures. Excavations also established a spatial connection with a thick perimeter wall and the Hellenistic well (Well 1), known for having yielded a human body. In general, what stands out is the engineering of the settlement in this sector of the site, with much labor directed at correcting the asperities of the terrain to ease the insertion of the structures. The materials offer a coherent horizon that covers the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. While no traces of Roma material culture emerged, a sequence of postholes informs the medieval occupation of the site.
