102 Marazzi
spoliation or squatting. The laws issued to this effect represent the largest legis-
lative corpus dealing with the protection of historical heritage before the mod-
ern era. Much of this legislation concerned Rome, but some also applied to the
urban fabric more generally. One may dispute whether these measures had
any real effect in preventing the reappropriation of old and derelict buildings
and spaces or whether they simply exposed the impotence of state authorities
to even slow these processes. Whatever the interpretation, extant laws attest
that enough building projects occurred in Italian cities during the 5th century
to justify dangerous and laborious activities such as dismantling edifices and
transporting harvested materials. Seen from another point of view, these are
also signs that cityscapes were subject to dramatic changes that affected much
of what had survived from the past.
Italian Cities from the Perspective of the Ostrogothic Government
This is the situation that Theoderic encountered upon reaching Italy in 491.
Nevertheless, it is evident that Theoderic recognized cities as the backbone
of an administrative system in which cities and their populations helped to
control a wider landscape of territories. As it has been recently pointed out,
the Variae of Cassiodorus include some forty cities among the addressees
of the letters sent by central offices in Ravenna.13 In most of these letters, the
king or his officials addressed themselves to particular individuals or groups of
people who appear as privileged representatives of the local population. These
fall into four main categories: curiales, possessores, honorati, and defensores.
This picture corresponds more or less to the period that precedes the arrival
of the Ostrogoths. Cities had local magistrates, who sat in the curia and were
responsible for administration and, more importantly, for tax collection on
behalf of the central government. They were appointed to do so by virtue of
having enough wealth and reputation to ensure that their obligations would
be properly fulfilled. This meant that they were usually possessores, but not
all possessores were necessarily enrolled in the curia. The honorati were also
local notables, but these were exempt from curial obligations because they had
held posts of some importance in the central administration or because they
had been personally granted this privilege by the king (apparently along with
honorary senatorial rank). Curiales and honorati do not necessarily comprise
two distinct groups. The honorati were at times former members of the curia
and the title may be used synonymously for curiales. Although not directly
13 Tabata, Città dell’Italia, pp. 43–5.