ArcheoLogica Data 5.1/2025

The impact of Christianity on the rural landscape and settlement patterns of the Southern Erei district is primarily known through a limited number of sites, including three places of worship dating to the 5th -8th /9th centuries AD (at Philosophiana, Piano Cannelle, and Contrada S. Ninfa), as well as via necropolises, scattered burials, and artifacts bearing religious symbols, notably a significant collection of oil lamps recovered from the Villa del Casale. Recent archaeological field surveys, conducted between 2020 and 2021 in the territories of Enna and Piazza Armerina, have led to the identification of two previously unknown early medieval single-nave churches and respective settlements, at Balatella and San Nicola. These places of worship have been placed in the context of their settlements, attempting the definition of patterns of diachronic evolution and development intertwining churches with their rural communities. In addition to this, the present study provides a chrono-typological interpretation of the burials identified in the area, including those at Montagna di Marzo, Polino, Gallinica, Balatella, and Philosophiana. This interpretation is based on an examination of masonry techniques combined with material evidence collected during the field surveys. The paper concludes with a reassessment of the dating of the single-nave church at Rossomanno, challenging the hypothesis of an early medieval foundation and instead proposing a chronology to the Later Middle Ages (ca. 13th century AD).