Settlement dynamics and land exploitation in some fortified centers of Campania in the Middle Ages: the case of Caiazzo castle (Caserta)

In the territory of internal Campania, the first hilltop settlements appeared already in the early Middle Ages, which managed the territory both from an administrative and economic point of view under the central authority. In many cases, exploiting the productive capacity of the land, terraces were built along the slopes of the hill. Some Irpinia castles, thanks to longstanding studies in that area, have become models of interpretation (Montella, Rocca San Felice, Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi, Ariano Irpino), already presenting in their layout terraces intended for cultivation and livestock farming, which had the function of providing for the subsistence of the settlement itself and of the nearby town. The survey from 2020 to 2023, in the area of the castle of Caiazzo, highlighted the presence of such agricultural terraces, some of which were built inside an older wall, in polygonal fitting of 4th - 3rd century BC and ceramic fragments that attest to the relationships with the nearby production centers of Campania. The parchments of the Episcopal Archive of Caiazzo confirm that between the 11th and 12th centuries the terraces to the south of the castle hosted many olive groves. What we intend to present is the analysis of the first data that would seem to clarify what the synchronic and diachronic relationship could be between the hilltop settlement and the areas annexed to the city in late antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages.