Siracusa bizantina e islamica: una città al centro della periferia. Nuovi dati archeologici e prospettive di ricerca

The paper deals with the topic of the transformation of Syracuse between the Byzantine and Islamic ages through the analysis of archaeological documentation. Although the city has been the subject of archaeo-logical campaigns for more than a century, investigations have rarely documented and analyzed the phases between the mid-6th and 11th centuries. It is also evident that there are strong methodological questions underlying this due to the difficulty of giving adequate answers for reconstructing a complex history. The contribution therefore provides a general overview of the data and a preliminary reconstruction of the transformations of the city by examining aspects such as the extension of the urban area, roads, fortifications, religious buildings, cemetery and pottery.