The Po is Italy's largest river, and together with its tributaries, it shapes the Po Valley - Italy's main lowland area and one of the peninsula's key regions from an economic and demographic perspective. An eco-historical study of the river network centered on the Po is therefore essential to fully understanding the economic, social, and political dynamics of this area. Marco Panato's study, which is the result of a reworking of his doctoral dissertation, is dedicated precisely to reconstructing, from a long-term perspective, the eco-historical dynamics of the riverscape during the period between 500 and 1000, with a perspective deliberately centered on the long term and an explicitly Braudelian approach, systematically integrating written sources and material data.

The period under consideration, with regard to the specifics of the topic, has its own distinct identity shaped by the nature of the river system and the unique ecological structure of the Po Valley during this time, bearing an anthropogenic imprint different from both the Roman era and the central centuries of the Middle Ages, in which the river's influence on the overall landscape is particularly pronounced. The river system structures boundaries, connects, generates resources, and, more generally, is an element with which the social actors active during that period are forced to grapple continuously. This importance has been matched, on the one hand, by a strong focus on the river system by many scholars who have studied northern Italy during this phase, but this focus has never translated into a comprehensive monographic work on the subject. For this reason, Panato's book fills an important gap in the historiography of medieval Italy, assigning a central role to the river system that reflects its actual centrality in the overall developments of that period.

The volume adopts a thematic, rather than chronological, organization of the material. The author thus selects a series of themes, more or less closely interconnected, and analyzes them separately, with an approach that begins with the concept of the river and concludes with the practical management of water. After an introductory chapter aimed at providing the historiographical context, explaining the challenges and potential of such an approach, and outlining the framework of available sources, the author dedicates the second chapter to analyzing the role of the Po from a perspective linked to the history of collective mentality. From this perspective, the river system is viewed as a creator of boundaries and a marker of identity in its role within medieval hagiographic narratives, but also - in its darker aspect - as a threat looming over riverside populations.

The third chapter delves into climatological and hydrological aspects, highlighting the transformation of the Po Valley's ecology during the period under examination, also in light of the most recent scientific data.

The fourth chapter, on the other hand, is dedicated to the role of the river network in connectivity. As is well known, rivers played a fundamental role in the premodern era as arteries of communication, and the author underscores this role while simultaneously highlighting the complex interactions with the road system, as evidenced by the role of bridges. This discussion is ideally continued in the following chapter, dedicated to the movement of people and goods along the river network. The focus is on trade routes, using the archaeological indicator par excellence - namely, pottery - but also on the key players in riverine trade.

The sixth chapter, in which archaeology plays a very important role, is dedicated to settlements located on the riverbanks - both urban and rural - and to the way in which these locations are shaped by constant interaction with the river's physical space. Particular attention is given to the case of Ferrara, one of the few cities developing in northern Italy during this phase, but also a city whose development is decisively linked to the riverine environment. Finally, the last chapter is dedicated to the physical management of the river, including interventions aimed at constructing embankments and canals, as well as economic activities such as mills and fishponds, highlighting the agency of the actors involved in these processes.

As mentioned, this is an important study because it organizes a series of previously scattered data, providing for the first time a coherent and structured overview, without, however, offering a new interpretive framework or new detailed analysis, except to a limited extent. At the same time, a weakness of the work stems from the data available to the author, which does not allow for a clear understanding of continuity and change regarding the themes on which the author focuses his attention, risking an excessive flattening of the dynamics analyzed in each instance. It is no coincidence that one of the most successful chapters, in my view, is Chapter 5 (focused on the movement of goods and people), in which - thanks in part to a more suitable set of sources - the theme of change in the relationship between socio-economic actors and the river over the course of the half-millennium under analysis emerges more clearly. Beyond these limitations, connected also with the nature of the documentation (material and written) and the enormous scope of the subject matter, this is nonetheless a valuable work on a topic crucial to understanding the overall structure of northern Italy in the Early Middle Ages.

Alessio Fiore