My thesis focuses on the interactions between the Aegean world and Southern Italy in the Late Bronze Age, with a particular focus on social organisation of local communities in Southern Italy. The analysis of settlements and their spatial distribution, including defence systems, storage areas, and monumental architecture, provides evidence for the nature and scale of the society. My research looks at ports of trade located in Italy and settled in the Middle Bronze Age, while comparative case-oriented analysis can identify potential similarities between the layouts of these sites, which will be compared with the settlement organisation of Aegean case studies. The adoption of elements of social complexity, such as similarities in the urban layout or in the defence system, may indicate that interactions with the Aegean were not limited to simple contacts but influenced the social organisation and habits of Italian Late Bronze Age communities.
