Valle Gianni Field School

Location: 01010 Gradoli, VT, Italy

Season: May 18, 2026 to June 14, 2026

Application Deadline: February 2, 2026

Deadline Type: Contact for Details

Website: https://about.illinoisstate.edu/vallegianni/

Program Type:
Field School

RPA Certified:
No

Affiliation:
Illinois State University

Project Director:
Project Co-Director, Lea K. Cline, PhD Professor School of Art Project Co-Director, Kathryn L. Jasper, PhD Professor Department of History

Project Description:

The Valle Gianni Field School is part of an ongoing archaeological project near the town of Gradoli (Lazio), Italy. The site includes a Roman monumental fountain (possibly a nymphaeum) and traces of an Imperial-era a villa. This course offers an opportunity to learn archaeological methods, techniques, and practical skills while taking part in live research led by two professional archaeologists and supported by a staff of specialists, who provide students a context in which students learn about stratigraphic excavation, collection and recording of artifacts, mapping features and topography. The course applies an interdisciplinary approach to Roman archaeology and draws on the methods and theories of anthropology, art history, Classics, geography, and history.

 

 

Period(s) of Occupation: First century AD, Imperial Rome, Late Antiquity. The territory around the site of Valle Gianni was occupied by the Etruscans from as early as the eighth century BC. Roman conquest of the lands around the lake began in the third century BC. During the second century BC, the small Roman town of Visentium on the southwest corner of Lake Bolsena vied with Volsinii (Bolsena) for control of the lake, even after Visentium was rebuilt and dedicated as a municipium in the Augustan period. Whereas the via Cassia connected settlements on the eastern side of the lake with Rome, our excavations have yielded the most significant evidence of Roman inhabitation on the western side of the lake to date. The region proved noteworthy again in the sixth century A.D. when Amalasuntha (b. 493), queen-regent of the Ostrogothic kingdom, was assassinated in 535 on the island of Martana in Lake Bolsena. Her murder gave the emperor Justinian the pretext to reconquer Italy during the Gothic Wars (535-554). In 568, the remaining Byzantine forces failed to repel the Lombard invasion of the peninsula, which secured Lombard hegemony in northern and central Italy. Their control of Tuscia extended around Lake Bolsena and bordered papal lands that formed the so-called Byzantine corridor between Rome and Ravenna.

Notes:
Goals: The primary goal of the field school is to introduce students to the methods and methodologies in archaeological research, including excavation and stratigraphic investigation as well as processing materials in the lab. This project will challenge traditional approaches to student participation in archaeological excavation and show that a student-faculty collaborative research model is well suited to an archaeological field school. This site offers archaeologists a unique opportunity to study spatial and stratigraphic relationships between roads, waterways (Lake Bolsena), tombs, and monumental Roman architecture over a considerable chronological scope (c. third century BC- thirteenth century AD). Consequently, students can study how usage of the site changed over time. We expect students to engage in community outreach to support the local heritage component of the project.

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 4 weeks

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: Previous archaeological experience is not required.

Room and Board Arrangements:
Students will purchase round trip airfare on their own. You are welcome to come early and/or stay after and tour Italy, but you will not have time to travel during the field season. Your travel to and from Fiumicino airport in Rome is included in the program costs. In Gradoli, students will share apartments in the medieval center of town. The size varies depending on availability, but apartments are typically 2-3 bedrooms, 1 bath Apartments have kitchens and washing machines. We distribute pre-paid portable WiFi devices (one per household), even if the apartment has internet service. Lunch and mid-morning snack will be provided on site. Students are responsible for their own breakfasts and dinners. We have also arranged for two group dinners at local restaurants.

Academic Credit:
Classes (two required courses for 6 credits total) Everyone takes: ANTH 381/481: “Field Methods in Roman Archaeology” (3 credits) Choose one (3 credits): ART 282: “Art History Abroad, Etruscan and Roman Art and Archaeology” ART 351.30: “Etruscan and Roman Art and Archaeology” HIS 308: “Archaeology for Historians” The field school operates through the Office of International Studies and Programs at Illinois State University. We welcome students from other institutions to apply. Students who are not currently enrolled at ISU can apply to participate as an at-large student and every effort will be made to arrange for transfer credit to your home institution. If you are a graduate student interested in participating, please reach out to the program directors.