Romans And "Marginal" Ligures in Northwestern Italy: The Polcevera Valley Case Study

The Ligurian Viturii Langates/Langenses were settled in the hinterland of Genoa, in the upper Polcevera valley crossed by the strategic Roman via Postumia (148 BC). Written and archaeological sources provide data concerning their settlements, social and economic structures consisting of small villages or isolated dwellings, mountain agriculture, cattle breeding on private and public pastureland, forest exploitation, and limited trade with Genoa and North Italy. Can we define the Polcevera valley as a "marginal" area? This article discusses various aspects of the evidence provided by literary, epigraphic, and archaeological data, in particular by the Latin inscription known as Sententia Minuciorum (CIL V, 7749=CIL I², 584), an arbitration dated to 117 BC. The article concludes that the Viturii Langates/Langenses, settled in the upper Polcevera valley, were "on the margins" of the territory controlled by Roman Genoa, and were "marginalized" by the Roman arbitration in 117 BC.