Il castrum Novum di Meldola (Forlì): vicende storiche e analisi dei caratteri costruttivi

Abstract

The article proposes a reflection on the historical events and the construction techniques of the castles of Castelnuovo and
Cusercoli, which have characterised the piedmont landscape of the Bidente valley in Upper Romagna for centuries. In particular,
known documents on the fortified site of Castelnuovo indicate that the Church of Ravenna not only had vast properties in
the area, but could also claim direct control of the structure. As far as building events are concerned, the construction of a first
fortified enclosure armed with a watch tower could be dated between the sixth and eighth century, although the first known
mention of the site so far is contained in a donation of 943. Finally, the article proposes the study of an anonymous drawing,
found in the Vatican Apostolic Archive, which depicts the village and castle of Castelnuovo in the 16th century: it confirms the
hypotheses on the relocation of the structures, which we formulated after the first phase of research meant to analyse the construction
techniques and the assessment of the state of conservation.

Keywords : Castrum, Middle Ages, Exarchate, archaeology, restoration.