Research by faculty and students of Florida State University has been conducted at Cetamura del Chianti since the opening of the site in 1973. Nancy T. de Grummond has led generations of FSU students as project director at Cetamura.
About
Cetamura del Chianti is a hill 695m above sea level, located in the Chianti mountain chain about 30 km northeast of Siena, on the property of the Badia a Coltibuono. It lies within the jurisdiction of the Comune of Gaiole in Chianti (province of Siena). Nearby are springs that lead to an intermittent stream called the Torrente Massellone, which flows down to the valley of Gaiole. The hilltop was settled successively by Etruscans, Romans, and Italians of the Middle Ages, but is deserted today.
Archaeological remains were originally discovered by Alvaro Tracchi, an avocational archaeologist from nearby San Giovanni Valdarno in 1964. The permit for excavation was first granted to FSU in 1973 as a course in the FSU Florence program administered through the Department of Classics. The excavations and research continue today as a unit in FSU International Programs in collaboration with FSU Florence.
A Brief History
The permit to excavate the site of Cetamura del Chianti was granted to Americans of the FSU Florence Study Center by the Soprintendenza alle Antichità d’Etruria (Superintendent, Guglielmo Maetzke) in 1973 and excavations began on September 11 of the same year under field director Clark Sykes, with overall supervision by professor John Reich of the FSU Department of Classics.
Archeological Field School at Cetamura
Each year FSU International Programs organizes a field school at Cetamura, called Archaeology in Tuscany, under the direction of Nancy de Grummond. It normally takes place in May and June.
Students in the program may take courses in a variety of approaches to archaeology in the field, lab and museum, according to their level, from beginning to advanced students. The program features field trips to sites and museums that help to enrich students’ knowledge of the cultures under excavation at Cetamura. More details may be found on the Archaeology in Tuscany page.
Visit the Cetamura del Chianti website to learn more about the history of the site, ongoing excavations and field school, and the virtual museum.