Roma, Cerveteri e la costa: testimonianze dal territorio tra Caere e Pyrgi nell’età della romanizzazione

The sharp institutional turn in the relations between Rome and Caere in the first half of the 3rd century, which took the form of the annexation of the coastal strip and the foundation in an anti-Punic function of the coloniae maritimae, entailed a profound reorganization of this specific compartment. The country sanctuaries - to use the categories formulated by Giovanni Colonna - freed from the city suburb, but located in strategic positions and often in relation to significant road axes, do not undergo drastic abandonment but are affected by different forms of frequentation. Entirely different is the situation at Pyrgi, where the sanctuary, the greatest symbol of Caere’s maritime and commercial power, no longer has any reason to exist, while a small part of the old settlement goes to form the basis for the building of the new castrum and the Etruscan port structures are overlaid at least in part by the canal-port of an important Roman landing and naval base, a probable seat of maritime contractors and wine production.