La fine delle ville in Sicilia: crisi, metamorfosi e resilienza tra tarda antichità e età islamica

The macroscopic relevance of the golden age of villas in Sicily during the fourth century has often placed the island as an exemplary context for studying residential buildings in the late antique Mediterranean countryside. In recent years, however, research on Sicilian villas has broadened its chronological horizons, proposing new scenarios on the different phases of deconstruction, reuse and transfor- mation that they underwent in the following centuries. This contribution aims to contextualize the archaeological evidence on the con- struction and settlement phases that progressively led to the metamorphosis of the villa-system, From the 5th century, the Sicilian villas were affected by various phenomena of abandonment and reuse. Despite this, some villa sites, understood as central places in the ge- ography of rural landscapes, maintained a significant role within the new agrarian system. They coexisted with the progressive growth of secondary settlements (known as agglomérations secondaires or agro-towns according to the definition by R.J.A Wilson), during the Byzantine era, showing even resilience in the continuity of occupation until the Islamic and Norman periods.