The project is designed to reach to a new understanding and promote a timely revaluation of the early medieval church of Sant’Ambrogio alla Rienna, discovered in the late 1970s by local cultural heritage enthusiasts in the countryside of Montecorvino Rovella in the province of Salerno. This was the site of the capital established by Arichis II, the duke self-proclaimed prince of southern Langobardiaafter Charlemagne’s conquest of northern Langobardiain 774.

Preliminary investigations undertaken at the church in 2017–18, funded by the British Academy and facilitated by the Municipality of Montecorvino Rovella and by the universities of Salerno and Birmingham, indicate its clear links to the material culture of the secular courts and the monasteries in southern Langobardiain the late eighth and ninth centuries. As the church underwent no substantial modifications in later centuries, it not only displays an exceptionally well preserved, still-standing ninth-century fabric in fine masonry, but it houses one of the major preserved scheme of pictorial decoration from the same period, featuring one of the earliest images of the Theotokos, Mary as Mother of God, in western Europe. Yet, despite its importance, the church has never been systematically investigated.

The church lay at the border or more likely within the boundaries of a rural settlement of the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno, one of the greatest landowners in central Italy between the eighth and the ninth centuries. With a community made mostly of Longobard and Frankish monks, its cultural connections span from northern Europe to southern Italy. This could explain the choice for depicting four Milanese saints (Ambrose, Simplicianus, Gervasius, and Protasius) to the side of the Theotokos– saints whose cult was not practised in southern Langobardia.

The church of Sant’Ambrogio offers a unique case-study of early medieval culture at large and offers a wealth of materials relating to a range of scholarly disciplines for investigating political, social and material interaction between Longobard and Carolingian interests in a contact zone between monasticism, the Papacy, Longobards, Carolingians, Byzantium, and international pilgrimage routes.

The core outcome of the project will be a multi-authored monograph dedicated to Sant’Ambrogio at Montecorvino. It will be supplemented by articles and lectures intended for public and scholarly audiences.

But besides these scientific goals, the project has at its core 1) the education of young scholars, from the area as well as from other regions, in history, archaeology, cultural heritage practices; 2) the restoration of the site, its maintenance, and promotion.

The building and its funerary atrium (excavated in the 90s of the twentieth century, but poorly documented) have been the object of geo radar investigations and new excavations (since 2018–ongoing).

The core scientific objectives of the project include: 1) the education of young scholars, from the area and from other regions, to history, archeology and good practices in cultural heritage; 2) the restoration of the site, its maintenance and promotion.

Through a more organised exploitation of the site, in which the local municipality, the Parish (owner of the church), and the local community have to be the main actors liaising with the scientific experts of the project, not only the project will help put Sant’Ambrogio on the map of cultural tourism, but it may also facilitate its inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage list “Italia Langobardorum: Places of Power, 568–774 AD.” In fact, this UNESCO serial site does not include Salerno and its surroundings. While their exclusion could be justified by previous UNESCO criteria, the resulting lack of a well-presented historical documentation, of suitable protection, and of management of the sites in and around Salerno, is undeniable. So far, the project has supported the inclusion of the site in the European accredited cultural route Longobard Ways across Europe.