First of two volumes, the second being curated by Federica Cengarle, which examines some of the ‘original characters’ of tardomeeval Italy in relation to Europe of temp. The first conference, the first of which was held in October 2000, sought to report, in an introductory section, on the long-term environmental frameworks within which the Italian society was based: the rural landscape and the landscape of urban settlements, not forgetting, in both cases, the legacy of the Roman world. On the other hand, the second conference in autumn 2002 aimed to consider aspects and areas of history of culture and political ideologies, mentality, religious life, but also the history of techniques.