Food Management in Central and Northern Italy (6th-10th Centuries)

• Grant number: 24/12621-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Cândido da Silva
• Grantee: Marina Duarte Sanchez
• Supervisor: Maria Cristina La Rocca
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/02659-4 - Food management in central and northern Italy (6th-10th centuries), BP.DR

Abstract

The objective of this project is to analyze the management of food production in the central and northern regions of the Italian Peninsula under Lombard and Carolingian administrations. Through written and material documentation, transformations in the social roles of secular and ecclesiastical elites, in the spatial organization of settlements, and in the storage of cereal production are observed (notably the increase in the number and volume of grain storage structures). This research aims to examine these phenomena, relating them to administrative changes during the transition from the Kingdom of the Lombards to the Carolingian Kingdom of Italy and to the development of new trade routes in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in the northern Adriatic Sea. The study will be based on excavation reports from sites where traces of grain storage and processing structures have been identified, as well as on capitularies, charters, and law codes. The sites to be analyzed are: Torre Bric (PIE); Peveragno (PIE); Piadena (LOM); Bovolone (VEN); Montegrotto (VEN); Castellaro di Groppallo (EMI); Castello della Brina (LIG); San Genesio (TUS); Poggio Imperiale (TUS); Montarrenti (TUS); Miranduolo (TUS); Monterotondo (TUS); Cugnano (TUS); Rocchette P. (TUS); Ansedonia (TUS). The written documents are: Codice Diplomatico Longobardo, Codex Diplomaticus Langobardiae, Edictus ceteraeque Langobardorum Leges; and, finally, Inventari Altomedievali di Terra, Coloni e Redditi. This proposal is associated with the Thematic Project "A Connected History of the Middle Ages. Communication and Circulation from the Mediterranean" (2021/02912-3).