Inner Sabina, located in the high Apennines north-east of Rome, has long been framed as an isolated and marginal upland region. Recent research, however, challenges this narrative by revealing a landscape deeply embedded in wider economic and social networks. This paper investigates the dynamics of mobility in Inner Sabina during the first millennium BCE, focusing on two key drivers of movement: seasonal transhumance and the circulation of salt between upland communities and the Tyrrhenian lowlands. By integrating archaeological evidence, material-culture analysis, remote-sensing datasets, and GIS-based modelling, the study reconstructs the nodes, routes, and rhythms of mobility that structured this mountainous society. Special attention is given to the connective role of river valleys, mountain passes, and sanctuaries as stabilising points within micro-regional and supra-regional networks. The results demonstrate that far from being peripheral, Inner Sabina occupied a strategic position within complex economic circuits that linked the Apennines to coastal markets and long-distance Mediterranean trajectories. More broadly, the paper contributes to current debates on pre-Roman mobility by illustrating how localised practices—such as herding, resource procurement, and ritual gathering—intersected with multi-scalar forms of interaction, challenging persistent dichotomies between “mountain” and “coastal” worlds.
Monti et al. (Thu,) studied this question.