The excavations described in the following pages were sponsored by the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and have been carried out by members of the Institute in collaboration with members and associates of the British School at Rome. The enterprise is under the general direction of two of the undersigned and the third, Mrs. M. Aylwin Cotton, is the Field Director. The work has been financed by grants from the Batchelor Foundation and from New York University.

The warm thanks of the excavators are due to the Superintendent of Antiquities for Campania, Professor Alfonso de Franciscis, for his generous support and for much valuable assistance afforded by himself and by members of his staff. The possibility of examining a site in the Ager Falernus was first suggested by the late Professor Maiuri, and the sites finally selected for examination were proposed by Dr. Werner Johannowsky. Permission to excavate at the site of S. Rocco was generously granted by the Comune of Francolise, through the kind offices of the Deputy Mayor, Signor Del Giacomo; and at Posto by the owner, Signor A. Mesolella of Formia.

In Lucca in 1430 the republic was restored after 30 years of princely rule. The restored republic ruled over a territory that included much of the Versilia and parts of the Garfagnana. The important role played by notaries in the administration of the territories of both cities and princes has long been recognized. Moving rapidly from office to office, notaries were key figures in the courts, as administrators, and for the fisc. The present article examines the functions, personnel, reputation and effectiveness of notaries in the service of fifteenth-century Lucca following the restoration of liberty. Much attention has been paid to state-formation and territorial administration in the recent literature; relatively little to the precise role played by notaries. This article aims to provide a case study against which experiences elsewhere can be measured. Lucca was distinctive in the fifteenth-century context by virtue of its continued independence as a traditional city-state. Comparisons have been drawn between Lucca and its neighbouring states, but with due recognition of the obvious differences that divide Lucca both from the newer territorial conglomerations and from subjected cities that continued to enjoy extensive, supervised rights over their local administration.

The conversion of a fourth-century secular basilica into the church of Sant'Andrea Catabarbara in Rome during the 470s invites a discussion of how architectural adaptation contributed to the identity of its restorer, Valila. More than a century after the praetorian prefect of Italy, Junius Bassus, founded the basilica in 331, a Goth named Valila, belonging to the senatorial aristocracy, bequeathed the structure to Pope Simplicius (468–83). References to Valila's last will in the church's dedicatory inscription were inserted directly above Junius Bassus's original donation inscription, inviting reflections upon the transmission of élite status from one individual to another. The particularities of Valila's legacy as a testator, as indicated in the references to his will in the Sant'Andrea Catabarbara inscription and confirmed by a charter he wrote to support a church near Tivoli, suggest that he sought to control his lasting memory through patronage. Valila's concern for a posthumous status provides a context for interpreting the interior of the Roman church. Juxtaposed to the church's fifth-century apse mosaic were opus sectile panels depicting Junius Bassus, together with scenes of an Apollonian tripod and an illustration of the exposed body of Hylas raped by two nymphs originating from the earliest phase of the basilica. The article proposes that Valila nuanced his élite identity by preserving the fourth-century images and thereby hinted that preservation fostered both the accretion of physical layers and the accrual of multiple identities by a Gothic aristocrat in Rome.

Il contributo si propone di presentare i reperti provenienti da un saggio effettuato all’interno dei cosidetti Magazzini Traianei a Portus (Fiumicino) e in particolare nel corridoio prospicente la darsena in corrispondenza della cella 9 e all’interno di essa. L’intervento di ricerca era principalmente volto a definire le diverse fasi edilizie della struttura dei magazzini, è tuttavia stato possibile mettere in luce livelli datati tra il IV e il V secolo d.C., connessi alle fasi di frequentazione a scopo funerario della cella. Lo studio preliminare dei materiali offre un primo panorama delle produzioni attestate nell’area in età tardoantica e del rapporto percentuale intercorrente tra di loro, restituendo un’immagine delle dinamiche commerciali. In particolare è stato possibile verificare la presenza di alcuni contenitori da trasporto degni di nota, come ad esempio le anfore Keay LII e affini, che testimoniano la rinnovata produzione di vino calabro–siculo nel corso del V sec. L'incremento di questi beni di consumo si deve alla crisi della produzione viticola che investì l’Italia centro–settentrionale e alla conseguente imposizione del titulus canonicus vinarius alle regioni del Bruzio e della Sicilia. Tali contesti tardi si caratterizzano inoltre per la presenza di ceramica da fuoco di Pantelleria e di produzioni africane di ceramica da cucina, comune e terra sigillata. Si segnala infine la presenza dell’anfora ispanica Mojón 1, imitazione degli spatheia africani. Il panorama delle attestazioni permette di istituire confronti all’interno del sito stesso, con i reperti provenienti dagli scavi dell’Antemurale e della Basilica Paleocristiana, e con i contesti ostiensi e romani, sia per quanto riguarda la prevalenza dei contenitori da trasporto sul resto del vasellame, che in relazione alla preponderanza del materiale d’importazione, all’interno del quale spicca la ceramica africana.

This gazette presents to the reader outside Rome news of recent archaeological activity (primarily in 2011, but also in the first part of 2012), gleaned from public lectures, conferences, exhibitions and newspaper reports.

Throughout the Mediterranean the study of the destruction, reuse, moving and preservation of statues has provided a window onto the transformation of Rome during a time of ascendant Christianity. The preservation of statuary collections is increasingly important in this regard. Archival research has revealed the discovery of one such collection at Ostia's Sanctuary of Magna Mater, a treasure trove of sculptures, reliefs and at least one bronze statue. All were well preserved, and several were found in the open spaces of the sanctuary. Together they span 500 years of history, stretching into the late fourth century. Unfortunately, the late antique significance of this group has never been acknowledged. This paper situates that collection within the social world of late antique Ostia, where many statues of both sacred and non-sacred subjects remained on display. The late fourth-century dedication, in particular, set alongside the earlier pieces, demonstrates that the ‘mood and motivations’ of traditional Roman religion, in Clifford Geertz's terms, also remained quite visible. The presence of this accumulated tradition, a hallmark of Rome's ‘civil religion’ for centuries, testifies to the high social status afforded one of Ostia's most historic sites, even during an increasingly Christian age.

The study of medieval liturgy is well served by a fuller appreciation of the unique richness of individual manuscripts. One example, Vat. Lat. 7701, is a key piece of evidence for uncovering the reception of the Carolingian project to ‘correct’ liturgy in Chieti, Abruzzo. This manuscript is a ‘pontifical’, created for the personal use of a ninth-century bishop of Chieti. Within this book, he described and prescribed his own liturgical duties, those which made up his office as the Carolingians understood it. The peculiarities of the manuscript and some of its unique features are best understood by reference to this imperative. Alongside other products of the Carolingian scriptorium at Chieti, the manuscript reveals that even bishops at the southernmost tip of the Carolingian Empire saw themselves as fully engaged in an Empire-wide programme to amend liturgical practice, which did not aim for uniformity but led to significant creativity. This programme was associated with imperial authority, but led by bishops themselves. Local liturgical variation is undeniable in our manuscript, but the sharing of texts and communication with sees all across the Empire are equally visible components.