Changes in Scale in the Italian Countryside from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages

Even if in Italy there is a tendence to emphasize a continuity between the Late Antique era and the Early Medieval Ages, we cannot deny that a radical break took place (on a quantitative as well as a qualitative scale) between the 5th and the 7th centuries. This paper proposes the analysis of selected segments of this picture in different territories of north Italy. In an attempt to reconstruct a more general view. The conclusions are conceived not as a result but as an impetus to future researches.