Economic Activities and the Streetscape of Roman Cities in Central Italy (Lazio and Abruzzo)

The imperial streets of Ostia and Rome – as they appear on the severian Forma Urbis Romae – were edged by many shops, which shaped the streetscape of these cities. This situation is common in modern downtown, but it was not in Antiquity. In greek cities such as Priene or Olynthus, the space of the street is so different : since there is few doorways in the buildings façades, the frontages are more simple and the buildings more segregated from the thoroughfares. We observe the same characteristics in some italian cities, like Norba, destroyed at the begining of the 1st century BC. Indeed, the streetscape seems to change from the Late-Republic in Italy : at Ostia for instance, we observe late-republican tabernae along the Decumanus, under the Horrea of Hortensius.
The progressive development of shops along urban thoroughfares shows evidence of the economic facilities offered by the space of the street, made up of building façades, roadway and street furnitures. This built framework hosts shopkeepers and their commercial activities, because it gave some market opportunities to them, just as a macellum, but far and wide throughout the city. So far, this architectural environment has been neglected in favor of the street network and the traffic. This paper would consider the evolution of the architecture of the streets in Italy, between the Mid-Republican time and the Severian period, and highlight the role played by the “street-as-market” in the organisation of urban economy.