The “Badia”, is the Benedictine convent of Santa Maria, situated on the plateau that slopes gently down to the river Cecina, along the ancient pilgrim route, in the territory of modern Montescudaio. This convent was one of the many ecclesiastical foundations that appeared in 10th century Tuscany. Though remaining under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Volterra, it acquired much property and many rights in Montescudaio and the surrounding territory from its founder’s descendants. Around the middle of the 15th century, following the area’s incorporation into the Florentine state, the convent lost its role as socio-political co-ordinator. However, it retained its economic importance which derived from its landed property. Its final abandonment probably occurred in the 18th century following the abolition of the monastic body. The convent structures develop over an area situated on a vast plateau, characterised by a slight downslope to the north. At present it is possible to distinguish the area of the central cloister, surrounded on at least three sides by the walled remains of the complex; the church and adjoining cemetery area, situated to the north of the cloister; the southern part made up of service structures. The sectors investigated in the cloister area correspond to rooms with various functions. The first room examined, situated to the west (sector 2000) seemed to have been used for storage at least between the 13th and 14th centuries. The corridor present in both sectors 2100 and 1500 was used as a roofed cemetery between the 15th and 16th centuries and the area immediately east of this (1700) seemed to have been the capitulary room, at least in the 14th and 15th centuries. The convent church (area 1000) had a single nave, on an east-west alignment, characterised by a substantial apsidal space linked to a side chapel, perhaps coinciding with the ground floor room of a bell-tower. It was not possible to identify the main entrance with certainty as it was situated on the side of the building that was obliterated by a collapse. At the bottom of several recent illegally dug holes an earlier apse could be seen which seemed to link to part of the northern perimeter wall to form a smaller church. This was probably the church attested before the foundation of the monastic complex in 1901. The cemetery area for lay people, as well as occupying the entire northern corridor of the cloister, seemed to extend around the north and west (in front of the façade) sides of the church. The out-buildings, with the better preserved walls (standing to a height of circa 1m) were situated in the zone south of the cloister. However, it was not possible to define the spatial organisation due to the cover of vegetation and collapses which made visibility difficult without undertaking an excavation. (MiBAC)

In 2008 excavations continued on the Abbey of Montescudaio, undertaken by the local administration and the University of Pisa. The new campaign aimed at completing the archaeological sequence in the areas where excavation had begun, and the opening of new sectors situated in various parts of the medieval cloister. In area 2000 the new campaign coincide with reaching the clay cappellaccio in sectors 2000/2100 and 2500/8000, and the continuation of excavations in sector 2400/9000 situated in front of the church’s façade. Here, the intensive use of the area as a cemetery until the early modern period slowed down the stratigraphic and anthropological investigations. Throughout this area, once past the late medieval funerary phases, inhumations were present which not only dated to the moment of the monastery’s foundation (end of the 11th century), but also to the preceding period, in relation to the pre-existing rural church (end of the 10th century). In the earliest phases (end of the 10th-beginning of the 11th century) the burials situated close to the building’s perimeter walls were often delimited by stone elements, whilst others were in earth graves, occasionally with a stone marker near the head and/or feet. An analogous situation emerged in sectors 1500 and 1900. New trenches were opened along the east and south sides of the cloister (sect. 3200 and 3400) and at the centre of the open space, in correspondence to the well. As regards sectors 3200 and 3400 the most important data is partly linked to the evidence from surviving walls and partly to the earliest medieval occupation phases, exploration of which will be completed in 2009. Excavation of the well (sect. 3800) revealed a stratigraphy typical of this type of archaeological deposit. Below the upper layers relating to agricultural deposits there was 3 m of fill constituted by stone elements of various sizes, going down to the silts and gravels deposited on the bottom (4.00-4.30 m below present ground level). The removal of the fill revealed the period of use (from the 11th to the first decades of the 18th century) and the building technique, as well as recovering numerous almost intact or reconstructable containers used for drawing water (pottery jugs and filters, wooden buckets) and some archaeo-botanical remains, which provide an insight into the landscape around the site. The trench in sector 4000 provided important information dating the apse construction to the full 12th century and for the connotation of the cemetery area in this zone. However, excavation will continue here in order to define the chronology and typology of other earth graves which appear cut into ground surfaces preceding the foundation of the Romanesque apse. The excavation of sector 4500 was completed and revealed evidence that the northern perimeter predated the 12th century extensions. On the basis of the data collected in 2008 the preliminary archaeological sequence was revised and plans made for the 2009 excavation.

The new campaign aimed to complete the sequences in a number of areas already underway, and to open new trenches in the medieval cloister. Furthermore, study of the walls continued and the first quantification of the finds was undertaken prior to the division of the site into periods. Excavation continued in sector 2400/9000, situated in front of the church façade, where the intensive use as a cemetery until the modern period had slowed down the stratigraphical and anthropological investigations, which will thus continue next year. In this zone, as in other parts of area 2000, once the excavation got beyond the late medieval funerary phases burials were uncovered dating to the period of the monastery’s foundation (end of the 11th century) and also to the preceding period, in relation to a pre-existing rural church (end of the 10th century). As regards sectors 3200 and 3400, the most significant data comes in part from the evidence provided by the surviving walls, in part from the earliest medieval occupation phases. One of the monastery entrances was found in a wall on the south side and a better picture was gained of the development of the cloistered area, which was confirmed to have grown progressively between the 12th and 14th century. Regarding the rest, the area later occupied by the cloister, in the period preceding 1100A.D. was occupied by a cemetery (within a radius of circa 25 m from the church), probably enclosed by a palisade, whose circuit was almost the same as the cloister’s perimeter walls. Among the burials was a female inhumation, with clothes and grave goods, the dating of which is to be defined. Lastly, work continued in trench 4000, where the burials seem distinguished by a net preponderance of female individuals and sub-adults, and by stone grave markers and cushions. The graves were not overlying, probably due to the shorter period of use of this sector of the site for funerary use. In some cases the remains of wooden planks were found, resting on stones providing partial protection for the deceased’s remains. On the basis of the data collected during 2009 it was possible to revise the archaeological sequence, whose absolute chronology and division into periods (circa 950 A.D.-circa 1490 A.D., with episodes of robbing from circa 1730 to 1850, divided into five periods) are however provisional, especially as regards the earliest occupation phases. The excavation of numerous tombs in the cemetery area connected to the rural church around 1000 A.D. and to the monastery from the 12th century onwards has provided a first insight into the palaeo-demographical potential of this settlement. Lastly, the physiognomy and functional structuring of the monastic site was reconstructed, at least for the central period of use (12th-14th century), which also increased understanding of the preceding situation.