L’inesauribile centralità di una periferia: l’Apulia-Calabria tardoantica al vaglio degli esperti

The publication of the volume by Francesco Grelle, Marina Silvestrini, Giuliano Volpe, Roberto Goffredo (eds.), La Puglia nel mondo romano. Storia di una periferia. Dal principato all’età tardoantica, II. L’età tardoantica, Edipuglia, Bari 2023, prompted the author to re-examine the concept of periphery and peripherality with regard to the geographical position and economic and historical role of Apulia Calabria between the 4th and 6th Centuries CE. This province in Suburbicaria was central, not peripheral, in the economic history of late Roman Italy. It provided income for the senatorial aristocracy, the emperor and the Church, supplied armies in northern Italy, was not occupied by barbarians and was immune from war until the middle of the 6th Century CE. It was a privileged reality at the time.