Flood risk and socio-ecological resilience in a Late Antique and Medieval countryside: managing a post-Roman alluvial landscape in the Ravenna hinterland

In this paper we used archaeological and geological data and information from the written sources to understand how socio-ecological systems reacted to several ecological crises that occurred after the Roman period. The region investigated is the northwest hinterland of Ravenna, a sub-region known today as Bassa Romagna. Like other parts of the Po Valley, this area was primarily characterised by the presence of wetlands and woodlands, ultimately reclaimed only in the 20th century. A multidisciplinary approach allowed us to understand better which phenomena of anthropic persistence and practices of land reclamation were put in place after ecological crises, often linked to flood events. In particular, water management processes emerge as a key element for the success of the socio-ecological systems acting in the area, starting from Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages. Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between local systems and larger urban ones, like Ravenna and its hostile commune of Faenza, and how these directly influenced the countryside.