Alessandro Sebastiani

As the 2025 excavation campaign comes to an end, the site of Castellaraccio di Monteverdi has yielded new certainties—and promises even greater surprises in the near future. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of professional archaeologists, we were able to clarify the site’s occupational phases with greater precision by combining stratigraphic data with ceramic analysis.

Perhaps the most significant result of this season is the confirmation that a fortified castle existed at least 120 years earlier than its first known mention in written sources. This important chronological revision dramatically alters our understanding of the site’s history and situates Castellaraccio within a much earlier phase of seigneurial reorganization in the Ombrone Valley.

The complexity of the stratigraphy, the variety of recovered finds, and the emergence of new structural evidence make Castellaraccio a privileged case study for investigating the phenomenon of medieval fortification (incastellamento) in central Italy.

And yet, despite the important discoveries made this season, the general feeling among the team is that the most exciting revelations are still to come. Upcoming campaigns will focus on investigating the foundations and internal layout of the site, offering fresh perspectives on its origins, function, and long-term transformations.

The work continues—Castellaraccio still has many stories to tell.