Lagoons, Marshes, and Swamps in the Roman and Late Antique Ravenna Greater Region: Settlement Patterns and Environmental Transformations

This paper examines settlement patterns and environmental transformations in the Ravenna Greater Region during the Roman and Late Antique periods, when the area was dominated by wetlands, lagoons, marshes, and swamps. By combining published evidence with recent archaeological and geoarchaeological investigations, the study analyses the distribution and evolution of villas and rural settlements along the Adriatic coastal landscape. Particular attention is devoted to the relationship between settlements, communication routes, and changing environmental conditions, including coastal progradation and land reclamation processes. The research highlights how Roman villas were closely connected to both terrestrial and water-based infrastructures, while also documenting the gradual reorganisation and decline of rural occupation between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. The study underlines the importance of integrating landscape archaeology, geoarchaeology, remote sensing, and preventive archaeology in reconstructing highly dynamic and transformed wetland environments.