La transizione dall’età romana al medioevo nel dibattito archeologico: le trasformazioni urbane

In the last decades, archeology has paid particular attention to the deep transformations that have affected towns since the end of the Roman age, determining very different urban features. Like other aspects recognized in the transition from the ancient age to the Middle Ages, the characteristics of the early medieval town are considered as the result of great crisis and decadence, or, with a less negative evaluation, as symptoms of a different civilization to be identified and accepted in its specific features. Going back to the lively debate that animated the interpretation of the excavation data, we underline the material characteristics that best defi ne the urban centers in the first centuries of the Middle Ages