Phlegraean Fields: cities, landscapes, archaeologies. Some reflections

The Phlegraean Fields are a very special observatory for studies on the long-term relationship between forms of settlement and landscape. Its continuity of occupation over time, in both its urban and its rural areas, has generated a complex series of “landscapes”, diverse in their morphology, chronology, cultural profile, and economic use. The stratigraphies – both horizontal and vertical – of these landscapes, as well as theirdiscontinuities and “recoalescing”, are recognizable throughout the long settlement history of the Phlegraean Fields. They offer many themes for study, some of which we have tried to briefly outline in the present essay, such as landscape formation and evolution, relationships between material and immaterial landscapes, and the research paths that have led to our current knowledge of the area.