Il contesto storico-insediativo

In the centuries following the decline of the Roman Empire (5th and 10th centuries A.D.), in a historical epoch traditionally remembered as a time of crisis and recession, the coastal sites and islands of the Upper Adriatic (Grado, Caorle, Cittanova, Torcello, Ammiana, Olivolo, Metamauco, Chioggia, Comacchio, and Rialto) represented an extraordinary element of novelty and liveliness in the North-Italian landscape. Standing out among these sites is Jesolo, formerly called Equilus. The study of this site has, therefore, proved exemplary and promising for understanding the alternating dynamics, of development and decline, of lagoon settlements between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.