The Bucher-Loewenstein interns to Cetamura for 2026, Raj Patel and Leasah Jean-François, applied their talents to a new initiative: the display of Cetamura finds inside the premises of the Badia a Coltibuono. The private show opened on Friday, June 5, 2026, in a traditional room of the ex-monastery of Coltibuono now dubbed the Sala Museale.

This exhibition, called “The Heritage of Chianti: from Cetamura to Coltibuono,” introduces the shared heritage and history of the archaeological site of Cetamura del Chianti with the Badia a Coltibuono. The intimate connection of the two places is signified by the fact that the proprietors of Coltibuono, the Stucchi Prinetti family, also own the site of Cetamura. Together these places represent 2,500 years of the history of Chianti, embracing the cultures of the Etruscans, Romans and Italians of Medieval and Modern times. 

The exhibition addresses cultural traditions of agriculture, production, daily life and worship known to be associated with Chianti through the ages, to show comparisons related to the land and water, religious practices, cooking, dining and the making and drinking of wine.

Raj Patel plans to graduate from Florida State University in 2027 with a B.A. in History and a B.S. in Anthropology.  A superb student, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a Junior.  With a minor in Museum Studies, he hopes to pursue a career as a museum curator.

Leasah Jean-François (BA in Art History, FSU, 2026), wrote her Honors in the Major thesis on a study of representations of Christ on Byzantine coinage.    She excelled in her undergraduate career as a Benjamin Gilman Scholar and a Charlotte Orth Reckford Intern on the FSU Chianti program, where she worked in 2025 as Assistant to Lab Director Dr. Ceil Bare in new excavations at the Roman site of Monti in Chianti.

The internships at Cetamura were sponsored for the fifth year by Suzanne Bucher, in memory of her husband Bob Loewenstein.

The pair worked for over 6 months in planning the exhibition, which featured numerous Etruscan, Roman and medieval artifacts along with 3-D printed recreations of ancient pottery and a display of modern memorabilia associated with the famed winery of Badia a Coltibuono.

Artist Mimi Tran from FSU designed the exhibition display.  The interns were aided by Cetamura lab directors Lora Holland Goldthwaite and Ceil Bare, as well as conservator Nora Marosi and site director Nancy de Grummond. Jessica Rassau, who has assisted with many of the Cetamura exhibitions in the past, provided vital consultation.