Introduction (Giulio Ciampoltrini)
For almost twenty years Alton has seen the recovery of his 'old town' punctuated by archaeological excavations. Thanks to the long-continued and tireless efforts of Giuseppe Dal Canto, and the increasing willingness of the municipalities that have occurred since the eighties of the last century - as well as by individuals affected or infected by the passion of the signs of the past - excavations in short essays and extension they did find the pages of 'archaeological history' of all the Hospitallers, who under the sign of the Tau had gradually made the foundation of the eleventh century, a crucial stage of the via Francigena. The structure of the hospital
thirteenth century, its decline in the terrible years of the wars of the fourteenth century, the Renaissance palace and farm in the forms of the fifteenth century, with the Masters dell'Altopascio Capponi, and then with the latest changes Ugolino Grifoni and the Medici: the time of His experience on which to Alton, in the last two decades, called for a more careful discussion with a series of exhibitions and conferences. With these, the documentary sources and found in a planning process that began by looking up Alton Medici, from the same song, culminating in the recent consolidation of the most significant monuments altopascini, the accumulation of fragmentary archaeological materials found a chessboard in which witnesses are often reluctant to have the layers of pottery, fragments of masonry structures.
On this basis, and on the basis of the relief Boggiano has been a valuable reference point for all investigations on the evolution of urban structure of Alton (Andreini Galli 1976), the excavations that were conducted from time to time - under the 'scientific effort of the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Tuscany - from volunteers, friends and Augusto Franco Castellacci Andreotti by Paolo Notini, by Alessandro Giannoni, by Elizabeth Abela and Sara Alberigi, may offer new opportunities to capture moments of the genesis and structure the hospital complex, and its extraordinary metamorphosis.
Thanks to decisive commitment of the municipal administration, which contributed to the extreme phase of scientific reflection allowing Paul Notini to complete the documentation of research conducted in private ownership from 2000 to 2006, and Sara Alberigi to review the plans and start digging the fascinating and challenging investigation techniques and building types that substantiate the Alton Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it is now possible to present the results of archaeological research, albeit in a form summary that we hope will make it widely accessible, and weaken the strength arguments and completeness of the information.
valuable guide a journey in which it was easy to lose feeling the inadequacy of the archaeological data compared to the suggestions of the stories from the stones of the Roman Sant'Iacopo, maps of the twelfth and thirteenth century, or the charm of the cloister of the Hospitaller severe and Renaissance galleries, were friends of the Public Library: Licinia Scardigli, always with the authority of his commitment, Luigi Del Tredici, to resolve the grace of irony, the doubts that inevitably arise in collective enterprises, which continues to resound in the song of the Sirens invite you to leave out the path set to follow paths so beautiful, as darker in the middle.
And finally, the efforts of many of the best archaeologists in the territory of Lucca could use in years in which the writer had the good fortune to share his passion, these pages certainly not pleasant reading, because it is not easy work of the archaeologist, evidence of past years to reflect signs on the ground rather than serene narration of a story that can be caught in a moment with the extraordinary statement that Alton can present itself today, again, who runs the highway.
But for those looking to understand the plot and sequence of that history, a contribution that we hope to invite to reflection and further research.
