La Romagna tra tarda Antichità e alto Medioevo

The numerous contributions of recent research on the medieval archaeology of the Marche region allow us to overcome the lack of archaeological information that has limited studies in the past. Furthermore, this new data collection allows us to draw a more complete synthesis. As a result, we can highlight some phenomena that characterise the evolution of the regional landscape, in the transition between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Urban archaeology shows how, in the continuously inhabited centres, there was ruralisation in some areas and, in others, the growth of new agglomerations affecting various sectors of ancient cities (Ascoli, Camerino, Cagli). These new urban centres are distributed in significant points, often connected with the road network that branches off into the surrounding area. Only with urban development of a fully medieval age would many urban areas once again be occupied extensively, often destroying and reusing the remains of the surviving Roman buildings. A different destiny characterises some urban centres in low valleys or valley outlets, which were abandoned according to different dynamics and at different times, dictated above all by environmental changes, with different outcomes in each valley (Fossombrone, Suasa, Ostra, Potenza, Cupra). The historical curve of the urban centres and the environmental changes also influenced the development of the rural population and the different fortunes of the monasteries and the pievi that rose in the surrounding territory

In questo contributo viene presentata una sintesi dei dati archeologici relativi alle trasformazioni delle città e del territorio romagnolo nel periodo di passaggio dalla tarda Antichità all'alto Medioevo, mostrando la crescita insediativa e il dinamismo economico delle comunità urbane e rurali fino al secolo VIII.