Arcipelago toscano: dalle ville d'otium alle ignobili latebre

The coast of Etruria near Populonia and its territory, with the islands of the Tuscan archipelago, provide data of great interest for the study of maritime villas between the 1st century BC and 2nd century AD. After the early sunset of the horizon of these sophisticated landscapes of the otium, this geographical context takes on a more modest face from an economic and social point of view, even if it continues to be very present in the Mediterranean trade networks. The earliest signs of a Christian cult appear in the islands in the 4th century. By the end of the same century the first cenobies seem to be already well-attested even in textual sources. Since then, and until after the Lombard invasion, insular monasteries were places around which focused the economic, social and cultural life of local communities. New research, especially archaeological, is hopefully going to be undertaken, possibly considering a broader area, including Populonia, the archipelago and the eastern coast of Corsica.