Paesaggio in mutamento. Insediamenti, fattorie e ville dell’ager Lucerinus

This paper presents the Ager Lucerinus project that adopts the research method applied to the “Archaeological Map of Italy - Forma Italiae” project. The results presented are of the research related to the territory of the Luceria colony, in Apulia. This area, in fact, is the object of a research study that includes the whole of the Fortore valley. The part of the vast territory of Lucera studied so far concerns the area to the north-east of the ancient Latin colony. The aim of this research is to undertake the historic reconstruction of the anthropized landscape of the territory of the Luceria colony, The data emerging from recent surveys show a large population over the time-span from prehistory to the High Middle Ages. A very interesting part of our project regards the Romanization of the area. The most notable transformations to the ancient landscape were undoubtedly produced by the Roman intervention that gave birth to the new colony and the planning of the village centre and the reorganization of a vast territory and the division of the rural area, We present some farms, villas and villages.