Between Land and Sea: Marshes and Society in Early Medieval Italy (500-1100)

My project considers, for the first time, how and why early medieval Italian coastal marshes promoted interaction between sea and land, and influenced the new socio-economic patterns of the Post-Roman world.

Using methodologies developed in northern European contexts, I will analyse the Vetricella and Luni-Pisa marshlands (Liguria-Tuscany), comparing them with the well-studied Adriatic lagoons, highlighting differences/similarities. Published historical documents and archaeological records will be paired with recently available geomorphological-palaeo-environmental reconstructions to explore alternative human-environment relationships that led to 11th-12th-century socio-economic/urban growth, and evaluate how communities reacted to environmental changes and risks, expanding our knowledge of early medieval Italian coastal ecologies.