ABSTRACT
The events of 241 BCE, when a war was fought and a new city of Falerii was created, have long attracted the attention of historians. Often taken as a paradigm of Roman imperialist violence, the case of Falerii presents some perplexing aspects that open the door to alternative interpretative possibilities. Recent archaeological work, combining geophysics, lidar, topography and excavation, is leading to a further substantiation of revisionist scenarios, thanks also to a reconsideration of the old site. In them, local aristocratic elements would have had a role in the whole operation, while others would have been at the receiving end of the violence and the confiscations. Rather than a forcible relocation of an entire community, it can be envisioned that the old and the new cities could have been part of an integrated urban system. A vast effort at place-making, weaving together religious, funerary, traditional, symbolic and practical elements would have produced a new human landscape crisscrossed by roads, sight lines, memories and references. Such an interpretative framework complexifies and enriches the debate on Falerii, and has potential repercussions for the entire narrative of the conquest in central Italy.
