Archeologia e storia nella rada di Portoferraio
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Book Series
MediTo - Archaeological and Historical Landscapes of Mediterranean Central Italy, vol. 7
- Pages: approx. 138 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Illustrations:18 b/w, 11 col., 4 maps b/w
- Language(s):English
- Publication Year:2026
- € 80,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-61851-7
- Hardback
- Forthcoming (Jan/26)
- € 80,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-61852-4
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Subject(s)
BIO
Richard Hodges is President Emeritus of the American University of Rome. He has been Director of the British School at Rome as well as Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. Apart from San Vincenzo al Volturno, he has excavated at Butrint, Albania and at Montarrenti and Vetricella in Tuscany. His books include Dark Age Economics (1982), Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe (with David Whitehouse) (1983), Visions of Rome: a biography of Thomas Ashby (2000), and The Archaeology of Mediterranean Placemaking (2015).
Summary
The site of San Vincenzo al Volturno, lying in a mountain valley of Molise, southern Italy, might by today’s standards be considered rather remote. In the late eighth and ninth centuries, however, it was one of the most famous Benedictine monasteries of Latin Christendom, home to a thriving centre of leaning and located strategically on the borders of Lombard and Frankish territory. This came to an end on 10 October 881, when an Arab warband sacked the monastery, leaving it in ruins. Now, thanks to extensive archaeological excavations over forty years, a new story can be told about this important site, a narrative that reveals the art, architecture, and archaeology of this monastic city as it thrived during the Carolingian renaissance, as well as the devastating effects of the Arabic attack. Through the lens of these excavations emerges a unique narrative for the making of the Middle Ages in Europe.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Chapter 1. Blind Rosalinda’s Story
Oral Tradition at San Vincenzo al Volturno
Dark Age Pompeii
Chapter 2. The Target: Italy’s Biggest Ninth-Century Monastery
Abbot Paul’s San Vincenzo al Volturno, Phase 3c (c. 783–792)
Abbot Joshua’s San Vincenzo al Volturno, Phase 4 (c. 792–817)
Grimoald III’s Legacy?
Chapter 3. The Plan of St Gall (c. 820) and San Vincenzo’s Apogee
Abbots Talaricus and Epyphanius’s San Vincenzo al Volturno, Phase 5a1 (c. AD 792–842)
Abbots Toto’s San Vincenzo al Volturno Phase 5a2 (c. AD 842–844)
Chapter 4. Two Seismic Events
The Earthquake of June, 847
Sawdan Arrives at San Vincenzo al Volturno, ad 860/861
Chapter 5. Sawdan’s Vendetta
Chapter 6. The 10 October 881
San Vincenzo al Volturno on 9 October 881
The Attack
The Story of the Sack
Chapter 7. Aftermath: Athanasius’ Legacy
The Calamity in Retrospect
Works Cited
