Philosophiana and the Catina-Agrigentum road: new research perspectives on the Augustan politics in Sicily

Archaeology of Roman Sicily is slowly emerging from its vagueness. Concerning South-central Sicily, scholars have given us the picture of a crisis of the rural settlements in the Republican age and, at the end of the same period, of the urban settlements alike. However, the most recent studies are helping us to put this picture into prospective. Current research at Soiana, the mansio Philosophiana of the Itinerarium Antonini, is improving our understanding of the Augustan plan aimed at developing the road system of central Sicily, suggesting a bigger programme based on new trade and political needs.