Lo ‘spazio’ delle autorità pubbliche in area capuana: l’insediamento di Sicopoli sulla collina della Palombara

This paper examines the role of public authority in the Capuan territory through the case of Sicopoli, a fortified hilltop settlement on the Palombara hill (Campania, Italy). Drawing on written sources and recent archaeological work, it explores the relationship between ducal officials and local aristocracies in managing fiscal lands between the ninth and tenth centuries. Particular attention is given to the processes that led to the foundation of Sicopoli and to its connection with the political reconfiguration of Capua following the crisis of the Beneventan duchy. Whereas traditional historiography has tended to interpret Sicopoli as a short-lived urban experiment preceding the foundation of the new Capua on the Volturno, a reassessment of textual and material evidence suggests a more complex settlement trajectory. Archaeological data from recent field surveys indicate a longer, more nuanced sequence of occupation, extending from the Roman period into the Middle Ages, thereby challenging the notion of a brief existence confined to the mid-ninth century. It is argued that Sicopoli should be understood not as an isolated or unsuccessful foundation, but rather as part of a wider territorial system, functioning as a strategic outpost within the Capuan political landscape. This perspective contributes to a reconsideration of early medieval settlement patterns in southern Italy and underscores the value of integrated, landscape-based approaches to the study of political space.