Giovanni Uggeri e la metodologia di indagine sul campo in topografia antica

The purpose of this paper is to review Giovanni Uggeri’s research in ancient topography from a methodological point of view, with particular attention to his work in Sicily, a research interest he pursued throughout his life. Our aim is to re-examine the scholar’s various research topics (territory, roads, ports, ancient itineraries and maritime sources, history of research), trying to highlight and evaluate the scientific results and, above all, to get to the core of his own methodological approach and the evolution of that system over time. Research methodology was always one of his fields of interest, as is demonstrated by the two conferences Uggeri dedicated to methodology in ancient topography. Four areas of Uggeri’s research are considered: his work on the territory of Camarina which he undertook from his youth using innovative approaches; second, his studies of ancient road systems for which he developed a comprehensive methodology, adopted by all scholars after him; third, his research on itineraries and cartographic sources; and fourth, his lifelong interest in Mediterranean navigation and maritime routes. Uggeri’s approach is that of the topographer who studies peripli and pilot books in their geographical and topographical contexts from the point of view of the traveler, in contrast to scholars of ancient navigation who consider them the result of the sailor’s vision of the coast, and therefore as eminently descriptive works. Lastly, we mention his studies on Byzantine Sicily, especially those on the new defensive system of castra where, using toponymy as his starting point and with close attention to the archaeological data, he attempts to outline the new territorial organization from the second half of the seventh century onwards and from the fall of Carthage to AD 827. The consideration of these various topics pays due attention both to recent methodological approaches and advances in research, and to the innovative and remarkable contributions owed to Uggeri.