Dopo la villa di Vignale: una forma di resilienza (infra)strutturale?

The ongoing excavation on the Roman and Late Antique archaeological site of Vignale, in coastal Tuscany, revealed a large and complex settlement, with an unexpected continuity of life up to the Early Middle Ages and beyond. Such continuity seems to have been fueled by three el ements: the closeness with the Roman via Aurelia / Aemilia Scauri, which use seems to have been longer-lasting than previously believed; the status of “public value” granted by its function as a road-post station; and the re-purposing of a large complex of good quality buildings and spaces in different ways. Vignale looks to be a place that changed its physical shape over time while preserving a role of “central place” in the surrounding countryside, and acting as connector to many different public and private macro-economic systems: the Roman and Late antique cursus publicus, the new aristocracies of Ostrogothic Italy, the Lombard bishops of Lucca.