The mysteries of Campiglia Marittima, the secret language of stone

Mystery pervades the streets of Campiglia Marittima’s historic centre, creeping like a light breeze between the medieval walls and permeating the atmosphere of this charming Tuscan village. Its ancient buildings conceal many enigmas: engravings, sculpted faces and symbols seem to belong to a secret, indecipherable language. The 12th-century Pieve di San Giovanni preserves fascinating evidence of an era when messages and knowledge were entrusted to stone. Thus, on an external ashlar, the master builder Matheus placed an epigraph bearing the obscure words “sator arepo tenet opera rotas“. This palindromic inscription of the Sator has fascinated and challenged those seeking to understand its meaning for centuries. Furthermore, in the nearby, now inaccessible and desolate Rocca San Silvestro, someone engraved the Merels Board, the board for the game of Nine men’s morris (called filetto in Italy), but also a sacred design with arcane symbolism. There are so many mysteries in Campiglia Marittima…

The Castle of Campiglia Marittima

In 1004, Count Gherardo II della Gherardesca donated a series of territorial assets to the monastery of Santa Maria di Serena, near Chiusdino, including the “castello de Campilia medietate cum ecclesia et curte“, located on a hill in the Val di Cornia. This is the oldest written mention of the Castle and village of Campiglia Marittima¹. Nevertheless, archaeological investigations suggest that a settlement existed before the 10th century². The same deed of donation also mentions the locality of Montecalvo, identified with today’s Rocca San Silvestro, an important centre for the extraction and processing of copper and lead in the Middle Ages.

The Gherardeschi counts retained their seigneurial rights over the territory throughout the Middle Ages. However, from the first half of the 12th century, the lower Val di Cornia came under the influence of Pisa. In June 1139, Count Ildebrando donated half of his possessions, including the Castle of Campiglia, to the archbishop of Pisa³. In February 1158, the prelate also obtained the exchange of the territories owned by the monastery of Santa Maria. Henceforth, the rule of Pisa would influence every aspect of the region, from religious and civil architecture to politics.

During the 12th century, Campiglia established itself as a free commune. It is difficult to reconstruct its temporal boundaries and the relations with the local feudal lords. The municipal curia, which had judicial functions, stood in the village that was developing at the foot of the castle. In the meantime, the new city walls were being built. Instead, the town’s most important church, the Pieve di San Giovanni, arose around 1173. It is an illustrious witness to the Medieval age and a mysterious guardian of arcane symbolism.

The Pieve di San Giovanni in Campiglia Marittima

The Pieve di San Giovanni was not the first religious building in the town. Some documentary sources suggest that it replaced an earlier baptismal church located in the hamlet of Cafaggio, possibly dedicated to the Virgin Mary, due to population growth and the increasing importance of the village of Campiglia⁴.

The building stands on top of a hill just outside the city walls, in the area of the current cemetery. The architecture shows a severe and measured style, inspired by the Romanesque style of which Magister Buscheto was a great interpreter in the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Pisa. The Latin cross plan, with a single nave and semicircular apse, is oriented east-west. The Pieve di San Giovanni is built in grey Alberese stone. Instead, most of the friezes and decorations are in white limestone. The nave is covered by a simple wooden truss structure, which replaced the original stone one. The transept has barrel vaults. Here, on the north side, there is a small bell gable.

The gabled façade appears bare, except for the elegant central quatrefoil rose window and the ornamentation accompanying the entrance portal. This features a lintel adorned with plant motifs, a perforated lunette and a two-coloured archivolt influenced by Pisan architecture. The sides of the building extend over sober surfaces, interrupted only by slender splayed single-light windows and the beautiful northern portal, carved on the lintel with Meleager’s Boar Hunt, animated by a large group of hunters, prey and dogs. The pagan theme is reinterpreted here in a Christian key. Christ, in the guise of the hero, defeats the terrifying beast, which represents the devil.

The enigma of the sinner Matheus

An inscription-signature on the façade attests that a master builder named Matheus built the Pieve di San Giovanni. There are two distinct fragments of the engraving. One is located three metres above the ground to the left of the entrance portal, and the other near the right jamb of the archivolt.

+MCSIII GR(ati)A D(e)I HOC OP(us) C(om)POSUIT PE[c]CATOR MA/THEUS / O FR(atre)S D(eu)M ORATE UT EI DIMITTAT C(om)MISSA PECCATA

“By the grace of God, this work was made by the sinner Matheus: brothers, pray for him, that God may forgive him the sins he has committed”

G. Bianchi, Campiglia. Un Castello E Il Suo Territorio⁵, translated by the author

The use of the verb composuit instead of fecit suggests that Matheus worked on the parish church as both an architect and a sculptor. However, nothing is known about him, who describes himself as a “sinner”. Written sources make no mention of this master builder, and we do not know other works created by him. While the inscription on the façade is of mediocre quality, we can deduce that its author was a cultured man capable of composing a medium-length sentence in correct Latin. The inscription’s final request, “brothers, pray for him…”, suggests that Matheus belonged to a monastic order.

The scholars have interpreted the date on the inscription in various ways, due to the use of the letter S as a Roman numeral. However, it is reasonable to assume that the symbol corresponds to septuaginta (seventy) rather than sexaginta (sixty). The date indicates the completion of the parish church. This would mean that the building was finished in 1173, as suggested by the stylistic similarities with the nearby church of San Giusto in Suvereto, dating back to 1189. Furthermore, the letters of the epigraph are engraved in capital, mixed (“u”) and uncial (“e”, “d”, “m”) characters, a mixture typical of the transition phase between Romanesque and Gothic in the mid-12th century.

The patron’s inscription

Another epigraph on the façade, of better workmanship than the previous one, indicates the mysterious patron of the parish church. The inscription is engraved on the strip with phytomorphic motifs above the lintel of the portal. Unfortunately, its poor state of preservation does not allow for perfect legibility, and we can only deduce the missing parts:

[…] BINIV […] ANNI […] Q(ui) […] R T(un)C FEC(it) I(n)CIDI LAPID(e)S Q(uo)S CERNITIS (h)OC ILD(e)RIC(us) […]

G. Bianchi, Campiglia. Un Castello E Il Suo Territorio⁶

Ilderico was therefore the patron of the epigraph and, most likely, of the entire parish church of Campiglia Marittima too. Unfortunately, even in this case, we do not know who he was. The documents of the time have not handed down any information to us.

The Language of stone and the mysteries of Campiglia Marittima’s Pieve

The Pieve di San Giovanni is unique not because of its simple architectural style, but because of its hidden details, decorations, symbols and rich epigraphic apparatus, some of which are evocative and enigmatic. The sculptures on the circular archivolts of the narrow, single-light windows are prime examples of this language of stone. The last window on the north side features a graceful water leaf with a thin, curved tip that appears to transcend the boundaries of matter. Two human faces, bearded and hairless, gaze out from the apse window’s archivolt and stare sternly at passers-by. We find another carved head on a stone block on the south side.

The sculpted faces of Campiglia Marittima are not an isolated phenomenon, but form part of a recurring symbolic code in Tuscan Romanesque art. For a long time, scholars have wondered about the meaning of these masks placed in specific locations on medieval buildings. One hypothesis is that, in addition to their obvious ornamental function, the heads were intended to prevent evil from entering the sacred space. According to this theory, they symbolised the authority of the Church and its hierarchy. The faces on the Pieve di San Giovanni therefore depicted saints and bishops who watched over God’s dwelling place.

The engraved crosses

On the floor of the parish church, however, it is not difficult to notice the presence of numerous cruciform engravings. The base of the façade shows a reproduction of Calvary. On the southern side there are three others crosses of various types. The graffiti appear to be of poor quality to be attributed to Romanesque master stonemasons. They were probably made at a later date as obituary marks to indicate underground burials in the immediate vicinity.

The sundial and the man in a toga

The interior of the parish church also boasts some fascinating features. For instance, on the left wall, two metres above the floor, there is a sundial comprising three lines that diverge from a single point. This instrument was used to mark the times of liturgical services based on the sun’s movement. On the archivolt of a single-light window in the southern arm of the transept is a sculpture of a man in a toga holding up his robe. Unfortunately, the figure is missing its head, making it difficult to identify the subject and iconography.

The Sator inscription

The aura of mystery surrounding the Pieve di San Giovanni in Campiglia Marittima is mainly due to the presence of the enigmatic Sator inscription, one of the most complex puzzles in the history of archaeology. The epigraph, known since ancient times for its characteristic palindromic arrangement of words, is clearly visible under the roof of the northern transept. Here, on a white limestone block, one can read:

SATOR AREPO M(a)TH(eu)S – TENET OPERA – ROTAS MCSS

The Sator Square

The oldest evidence of the Sator inscription was unearthed during excavations in Pompeii (79 AD). However, it was in the Middle Ages that the epigraph became most widespread, often being engraved in the form of a magic square:

For example, we find it at Siena Cathedral (13th century), on a low wall surrounding Brusaporto Castle. It is, in fragments, in the presbytery mosaic of the Church of San Giovanni Decollato in Pieve Terzagni (12th century). In the Collegiate Church of Sant’Orso in Aosta, the Sator inscription follows the circular pattern of a mosaic composition (12th century), in the Pieve of Arcè it appears on the blocks of the side portal (12th century). Inside the cloister of the abbey of Valvisciolo in Sermoneta it is a graffito, arranged in concentric rings (13th century). And the list goes on.

In Campiglia Marittima, the Sator inscription is arranged in three lines on a rectangular support. The engraving, of fairly good quality, features alternating capital and uncial letters, with an unusual chevron-shaped median stroke on the letter “a”. The epigraph is interspersed with the name of its creator, the same Matheus who built the parish church, and bears the year of its creation: MCSS. There is some uncertainty about this date, as it could correspond to 1172 (Mille Centum Septuagesimus Secundo) or 1177 (Mille Centum Septuaginta Septem).

The Sator of Campiglia Marittima

What was the meaning of the Sator inscription? It is a mystery that still has no definitive solution⁸. In recent centuries, many scholars have attempted to provide an interpretation that makes complete sense. However, the task is difficult because the word arepo does not correspond to any known Latin term. If we consider it as a proper name, we obtain the uncertain interpretation: “The Sower, Arepo, guides the wheels carefully“⁹:

• The sower/the creator (SATOR)
• AREPO
• holds/guides (TENET)
• with care (OPERA)
• the wheels (ROTAS)

J. Carcopino proposed “The sower, with his plough, holds the wheels with care”¹⁰. He assumed that arepo derives from the Gallic arepos (plough). F. Grosser, on the other hand, read it as an anagram of Pater Noster, accompanied by the letters Alpha and Omega, with a clear Christian reference to the Book of Revelation¹¹. However, it is also possible that the Sator inscription has pagan origins, predating the advent of Christianity. Among the various hypotheses, it has been suggested that it is an invocation to the god Saturn¹². In any case, whatever the meaning of the inscription in ancient times, it is likely that in the Middle Ages it took on a magical-apotropaic value. The builder Matheus had it placed on the Pieve di San Giovanni to ensure that his building was protected from evil and natural disasters.

The tombstones

As you walk along the pavement in front of the parish church’s façade, next to the main portal, you will come across two ancient tombstones positioned at floor level. Dating back to the 15th century, the slabs’ epigraphic characters reveal their age. Originally located inside the church, they were moved outside in modern times. The earliest evidence of tombs dates to 1419, when a municipal Statuto prohibited grazing sheep “on the cemetery”. The first tombstone features a noble coat of arms at its centre. It comprises an almond-shaped shield crossed by a transverse band bearing three chevrons. There is no inscription on the slab and it has not been possible to trace the family of the deceased.

The second tombstone is even more interesting. In its centre is an almond-shaped shield bearing a diagonal band overlaid with the figure of a naked man. He raises his right hand in a blessing gesture, while his left hand rests on his hip.

In this case, the gravestone bears an obituary inscription engraved along its edges:

HIC IACET AI ISIDOR(us) – PETRI DE CA(m)PILIA HOC OPUS FECIT FIERI BAR – TOLOMEUS PETRI ET FLORE(n) – TIUS MICHAELIS DE CA(m)PILIA A(nno) D(omini) (M)CCC(C) […] IIII.

G. Bianchi, Campiglia. Un Castello E Il Suo Territorio¹³

Therefore, Bartolomeo di Pietro and Fiorenzo Michele di Campiglia commissioned the tomb for their dear departed, Isidoro di Pietro.

The mysteries of the androgynous man of Campiglia Marittima

It is worth noting the presence of a similar noble coat of arms on a stone block on the façade of a house in Via Buozzi, in the centre of Campiglia Marittima. This depicts a figure with a raised hand indicating the number three, with the palm facing the observer, and with clearly visible male genitals. Two mirror-image monograms can be seen on either side of the shield. Despite imaginative attempts at interpretation, such as searching for a correspondence in the Etruscan alphabet, the symbols are most likely the owner’s signature (E. M.). The stone block in Via Buozzi contains an inscription bearing the date 1459. It also shows the words “HEC DOMUS I(n)CE(p)TA FUIT – DE MENSE IENUARII“, meaning: “The foundations of this house were laid in January”.

Some have also recognised feminine attributes in the subject of the coat of arms, such as breasts and wide hips. This has led to the hypothesis that it depicts an androgynous man, in line with the alchemical-esoteric concept of the coincidentia oppositorum. This theme was common in the Gnostic sects of the 15th century. According to them the cosmos was animated by a dualistic conflict between good and evil, as a result of which the original man, perfect and complete, was corrupted and split into opposites, such as male and female.

A religious order or a guild of master builders?

More simply, the coat of arms in Via Buozzi could instead have a religious meaning, as suggested by the inscription bearing the Christogram YHS. It is possible that the man depicted is the risen Christ, in a blessing pose, albeit without the usual iconographic attributes, such as a beard, hair and the wounds of the crucifixion. If this were the case, it would be reasonable to attribute the burial in front of the parish church to an important member of some monastic order.

Another hypothesis is that the coat of arms belonged to a local guild of stonemasons or master builders. Two features support this interpretation: the design of the heraldic band appears to depict an architectural beam, and the male figure uses the medieval digital computation to indicate the number three, the mathematical calculation system used at the time. In conclusion, the meaning of the noble coat of arms of Campiglia Marittima remains uncertain. Was an alchemist, a master stonemason, or a clergyman of the 15th century buried in the Pieve di San Giovanni?

The Rocca San Silvestro and the triple walls

Rocca San Silvestro is located 330 metres above sea level on a hill that separates the Lanzi and Temperino valleys. It can be reached by crossing the area’s metal mines. The route is more than a kilometre long and winds through the mountains, seemingly disappearing into the earth. Then, a steep wooded path leads to the fortification, now in ruins, which dominates the surrounding landscape.

On the steps leading up to the entrance of the fortress, we can spot the engraving of three concentric squares, joined by perpendicular median segments. This is called “Merels board” and was used for playing filetto, a very popular game in medieval times. It is likely that the soldiers on guard used it to pass the time. Archaeologists have also found similar game patterns in the Tower B of Campiglia Castle, used as a landfill for centuries. The finds lay in layers dating back to the 14th century, when a Pisan military contingent occupied the city¹⁴.

During the Christian Middle Ages, games served more than just entertainment purposes and they often had sacred connotations. On a symbolic level, the ritual gesture of drawing geometric lines was seen as imitating the divine work of bringing order to the cosmos. According to the principle of analogy between microcosm and macrocosm, the Merels Board, with its defined proportions, reflected the harmony of creation. Furthermore, the geometry of the square represented the four elements that make up the universe (water, fire, air and earth), as well as the cardinal points and the seasons. Thus, the game became an eschatological allegory, bringing to life the eternal struggle between good and evil, light and darkness on the filetto board.

Samuele Corrente Naso

Note

1. M. L. Ceccarelli Lemut, I conti Gherardeschi e le origini del monastero di S. Maria di Serena, in C. Violante, Nobiltà e chiese nel medioevo e altri saggi. Miscellanea di scritti in onore di G. Tellenbach, Roma, 1993. ↩︎
2. G. Bianchi, Campiglia. Un castello e il suo territorio, All’Insegna del Giglio, Firenze, 2003. ↩︎
3. L. A. Muratori, Antiquitates Italicae Medii Aevi, voll. 6, Mediolani, 1738-1742. ↩︎
4. M. L. Ceccarelli Lemut, Scarlino: le vicende medievali fino al 1339, in R. Francovich, Scarlino, I, Storia e territorio, Firenze, 1985. ↩︎
5. Ibidem note 2. ↩︎
6. Ibidem note 2. ↩︎
7. By Sailko – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, link to the image. ↩︎
8. R. Cammilleri, Il quadrato magico. Un mistero che dura da duemila anni, Rizzoli, 2004. ↩︎
9. R. G. Collingwood, The Archaeology of Roman Britain, London, 1930. ↩︎
10. J. Carcopino, Le Christianisme secret du “carré magique“, Museum Helveticum, vol. 5, n. 1,‎ 1948. ↩︎
11. F. Grosser, Ein neuer Vorschlag zur Deutung der Sator-Formel, Archiv für Religionwissenschaft, XXIV, 1926. ↩︎
12. R. T. Ganiban, Virgilian Prophecy and the Reign of Jupiter, in Brill’s Companion to Valerius Flaccus, edito da Mark Heerink and Gesine Manuwald, Brill Academic Publishers, 2014. ↩︎
13. Ibidem note 2. ↩︎
14. G. Bianchi, I giochi, in Campiglia. Un castello e il suo territorio, All’Insegna del Giglio, Firenze, 2003. ↩︎