Medieval Cetamura

In the spring of 2020,   Florida State University undergraduate History major Zackery Peterson worked under the supervision of Matthew Hunter in the digital laboratory of Robert M. Strozier Library at FSU, in a project to create 3-D printed models of  the castle at Cetamura.  The research was complicated by the state of excavation of Zone I at Cetamura, where only the foundations of the castle have been found, and there is still a lot more of the site to explore to document all of the walls.  In addition, the latest digging at the site in 2019 indicated that the castle had two phases. 

COVID-19 interrupted Zack’s project, since it was not possible to follow up with excavation at the site in the summer of 2020, and Zack was unable to go to Italy to study the local architecture of buildings still standing.  Nonetheless by researching  photos of local buildings he was able to conclude that the local style of architecture in the Chianti area did not feature the columns and arches and finely crafted smooth stones seen in the grand buildings of the cities of Italy in the Romanesque period. The stones at Cetamura were rough cut and locally sourced and had a distinct rustic style. He sought to imitate this in his 3-D models.

1. The first model attempted to show the courtyard and the possible wings of the castle in the first phase.
2. The second model added a tower. Some huge scattered stones on the north side of Zone I suggested the presence of a tower.
3. The third model shows the new evidence emerging on the east of the well. This may depict the castle in its second phase.
4. The fourth model shows an alternate interpretation of the new evidence on the east.

Bibl. The Excellence of the Territory of Gaiole in Chianti (Gaiole: Evorart, 2019). Z. Peterson, “Reconstructing Tuscan Medieval Castles,” Unpublished paper, Florida State University, 2020.