Working together on a Medieval wall: archaeology for wellbeing in Tuscany
The sun was shining and although it was the end of September, it was very warm on the Tuscan coast at 3pm. I was leading a group of about twenty people to the top of a hill (see above, for the panoramic view from the hill ofthe castle of Vignale). A few minutes earlier they had been so surprised by the breathtaking view from the starting point of our walk. It was like looking at a map: the blue of the Tyrrhenian Sea in front of us, the island of Elba in the background, the city of Piombino, the railway, the motorway, the fields and the village of Riotorto. It was a good start. But the first steep stretch was not so pleasant (see
“Francesco, I am sweating and my legs are aching. How much longer will it take?"
"Max, we have just started. If you want to rest, you can stop, drink some water and enjoy being outdoors, looking at the landscape, touching some of these trees and plants and then smelling your hand."
"Ok ... but I don't want to stop. I keep going... I did not expect the walk to be so long and there is so much vegetation here".
"This is exactly what Giorgio, your doctor, asked me to do. He says it's important to stay outdoors, do some physical activity and talk to people you don't know. Have you introduced yourself to Susanna and Alessandra? They are retired and they both live in Riotorto, they are very nice, you should talk to them".
"You're right, Francesco, but this climb is tiring. How long does it take to get to the medieval castle? Did those who lived here in the Middle Ages climb the hill every day?"
Why were we going to a medieval castle? Why is an archaeologist walking in the undergrowth with a group of lay people? And who are these lay people?
This heterogeneous group ascending the hill was taking part in ArcheologicaMente, a programme designed to enhance participants' wellbeing through archaeology, developed as part of the 'Linking community archaeology and wellbeing in the Mediterranean' (LOGGIA) project. Funded by the European Union as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship and based in the Department of Classics at Trinity College Dublin, LOGGIA explores how active engagement with archaeology can contribute to wellbeing. Archaeology is well placed to break down barriers to public participation and demonstrate its values in contemporary society. Nowadays, archaeologists involve members of the local community in the management of their projects, provide educational activities for schoolchildren, organise joint events with cultural associations and many other activities with the public. In addition, archaeology has an unexplored potential to contribute to wellbeing.
If we consider the so-called 'Five Ways to Wellbeing' – a set of evidence-based actions to improve wellbeing developed by the New Economic Foundation in 2009 – it is clear that archaeology can easily contribute to all of them. Way 1 is 'connect'. Connecting with others can help us feel close to people and archaeology is about teamwork, we need to coordinate and talk to other members of the team to get our jobs done. Way 2 is 'be active' and archaeology is based on physical work. Way 3 is 'take notice'. Archaeology can easily stimulate curiosity by engaging us with the materiality of the past. Way 4 is 'keep learning'. Archaeology requires specific skills that must be acquired by anyone who wishes to engage with it. Way 5 is to 'give', to do something for others. Archaeology can provide opportunities to work towards a specific and shared goal. LOGGIA aims to unlock this potential by bringing together members of the local community and vulnerable groups. This is a novel aspect of the project, as most research to date has focused on measuring the impact of archaeology-based wellbeing interventions on the individual wellbeing of one group. LOGGIA aims to target different groups and evaluate the impact on community and social wellbeing. To achieve this, we have selected two case studies from projects that are already engaging different groups in archaeology. One is in Italy, around the village of Riotorto. Here, the archaeologists who have been working on the Roman villa of Vignale over the years have developed an excavation project into a community archaeology project supported by the local community. The other case study is in Cyprus, and we will be writing about it in a future post.
ArcheologicaMente brought together archaeologists working at the Roman site of Vignale, citizens from the small village of Riotorto, local associations, users and health professionals from the Mental Health Unit of the nearby town of Piombino. Four pilot sessions in March 2023 helped to us to gain a general understanding of how the activities could work and be implemented. The aim of the programme, which was shared with all stakeholders, was to make the remains of the medieval castle of Vignale visible and to restore the network of footpaths. The castle was built on top of a hill - a castle should be easy to defend - and has never been explored by archaeologists. In addition, the area of the hill was in need of maintenance following the neglect caused by the Covid pandemic. This attracted the interest of the Pubblica Assistenza Riotorto and the Riolab cultural association, both of which were persuaded to join the programme. As non-archaeologists are no longer allowed to dig in Italy, ArcheologicaMente has been inspired by wellbeing programmes based on creative approaches, such as Human Henge, rather than excavation-based projects such as Waterloo Uncovered.
In a series of eight meetings, combining indoor and outdoor sessions, the participants in the ArcheologicaMente programme have succeeded in making the castle accessible through a footpath. This path links the so-called "Quercia Crociata" – a crossroads and a landmark for the local community – with the main wall of the castle and the remains of the Church of San Giovanni, just outside the walls. The participants designed and installed three panels with information about the route, the castle and the historical monuments that can be seen from a panoramic viewpoint over the Gulf of Piombino.
Fig. 1: The first panel has been installed at the starting point of the footpath and provides information on the route.
They wrote most of the text in groups during our meetings, drew the sketches contained in the panel about the castle and painted the signs necessary to indicate the route to hikers.
Fig. 2: a user of the Mental Health Unit colours one of the signs to be installed along the route
The programme concluded with a final event on 29 September 2023, the European Researchers’ Night. The event consisted of a walk from the village of Riotorto to the castle, followed by a dinner at the Riolab premises, accompanied by a reconstruction of a story in local folklore about the castle’s demise. With about 40 people joining the walk and 150 the dinner, the event was a fantastic conclusion for ArcheologicaMente.
Fig. 4: Francesco and Tiziana – resident of Riotorto – talking about the wall.
The end of a programme is always a difficult moment for all participants. ArcheologicaMente has managed to harmonise the practical objective of the programme (the preparation of the walking route) with the scope of increasing the wellbeing of the participants through archaeology and establishing a lasting collaboration between the partners. In fact, the Mental Health Unit and the two associations are planning to extend the network of footpaths around the castle hill and to continue working together. As I wait to conduct the interviews, there is no better news to be heard.
Fig. 6: The panel about the panorama put in place during the final event.
Francesco Ripanti
Francesco Ripanti is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Classics. Francesco’s research interests include several themes related to public and digital archaeology, heritage and museum studies. He started to work on the research project ‘Linking community archaeology and wellbeing in the Mediterranean’(LOGGIA) in June 2022.