Fonti catastali per la ricostruzione dei paesaggi storici. Casi di studio nell’Abruzzo interno del XV secolo a partire dalla toponomastica

The research aims to highlight the potential of the historical land registers produced in the Kingdom of Naples in the 15th century for the study of historical landscapes, starting from the analysis of toponymic data. The investigation, within the framework of a more articulated project on the territorial dynamics of the L’Aquila countryside between the 15th and 18th centuries, focuses on the cadastres drawn up by the communities as transposition of Ferrante d’Aragona’s tax legislation, with specific regard to four castles in the Middle Aterno Valley: Goriano Valli, Fontecchio, Tione and Fagnano Alto. Nowadays, these municipalities belong to the province of L’Aquila, in the Abruzzo region. The comparative study of fifteenth-century cadastral sources, historical cartography and printed sources has opened up new research scenarios on the long-term relationship between community and environment in this portion of the central Apennines.