The research concerns Roman urbanization in central Apennines, since pre-Roman times, and few questions connected with this topic.
The inner Appennine area was characterized by rather rough morphology and the Roman intervention strategy has been cautious and delayed compared to other areas of the peninsula. Peltuinum was founded on the 1st cent. BC and lasts till Late Antiquity, when a violent earthquake causes the end of the town system and people turned to gather into small scattered settlements as it was in pre-Roman times. Based on the recovered data, every year the investigation expands from topographic and urban sphere to other fields: geological, economic, religious, and anthropological (cultural, physical).
The results of the research every year allow a wider view of ancient local reality, showing the passage from the micro to the macro-history.
Both the peculiar geographical position and the geoidrological characteristics, since the Prehistoric age defined the site as a safe stop point for humans and flocks. For this reason the city had a long life as trade center in Italy sheep tracks.
After the 5th cent. AD seismic event, though losing the demographical and urban consistency , the settlement maintains the sheeptrack function in the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance and up to the fifties of the last century (the end of transhumance).
The analysis of the subsequent structural phases allows to retrace not only the social and economic history of the area, but also the series of earthquakes which had heavy consequences on the regional and even Rome architectural history. The research on ancient earthquakes and on the following reconstruction has opened up other investigation topics. Particularly relevant is the one concerning the actual seismic situation: the archaeological data of the 5th cent. earthquake in Peltuinum matches with other data in inner Abruzzo region, helping to draw times and repeating of earthquakes aiming to seismic research.
