Produzione e circolazione dei manufatti in vetro in Romagna nel Medioevo (V-XV sec.)

This dissertation aims to reconstruct the cultural, technological and commercial history of the Medieval western Emilia Romagna through the study of glass artefacts. The researches have been focused on the glass materials recovered from four unpublished archaeological sites chosen both for their location and chronology. In order to exemplify and compare the glass production between sites located along the Adriatic Sea coast and the inland, during two macro-phases (from the 5th to the 10th Century and from the 10th to the 15th Century), the investigations have been focused on the glass assemblages recovered from Ad Novas, the Basilica Petriana in Classe, the Monastery of San Severo in Classe and the Castle of Rontana. Given the different destination of use of the selected contexts, the material assemblages recovered revealed to be of a great variety. A selection of objects (vessels, windows panels, tesserae, ornaments, wastes and markers of production) has been analysed in detail in order to better understand the cultural and commercial relationships. Whereas possible, data obtained from the analysis have been compared to iconographic and documentary sources with the aim to provide new insights concerning the use of glass in the area object of study. Furthermore, the results of the analysis have been framed in to the wider regional, national and Mediterranean context. The research revealed, for the period included between the 5th-10th centuries, the redeployment of vessels forms of roman tradition with a different destination of use, strictly related to the context of recovery. Otherwise, by the 10th century, an increase of new and varied forms, due to the easier access to the variety of objects available on the markets and to a more accurate selection of the vessels form strictly related to the finding context, is attested.