Sistemi integrati di fonti e metodi per lo studio degli assetti territoriali in aree campione dell’Italia settentrionale medievale

The contribution deals with the use of different types of sources for an integrated study of settlements in some sample areas of northern Italy. Specifically, the comparison among archaeological source, written documents and geomorphological data is discussed in order to understand the types of settlement of two areas of the Po valley plain (Reggio Emilia and Ravenna). The complex relationships between written sources and archaeological data are then investigated on broad-ranging topics (late an- tiquity trades) and on local themes (castles of the Emilian Apennines). Finally detailed studies are focused on the archeology of architecture and the iconographic sources.