Sicily is commonly defined as a crossroads of cultures in antiquity, its heritage being the result of Punic, Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman and other influences that left their mark on the island. This definition applies to present times as well, especially to the archaeological research that is being carried out by international teams. The aim of this book is to present an overview of the ongoing work of foreign missions in collaboration with Italian institutions in Sicily. The papers collected in the volume were presented in 2019 at a conference hosted jointly by the Swedish Institute in Rome, the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, the Norwegian Institute in Rome and the British School at Rome. The book is dedicated to the late Sebastiano Tusa, a pioneer of Sicilian underwater archaeology and more, whose untimely passing has left a void in the scholarly community.

The 17 essays encompass a broad range of topics, spanning prehistory to the modern era: investigations of specific buildings and sites, topographical and geophysical surveys, diachronic research on Sicily's archaeological and landscape features, museum studies, the preservation of cultural heritage and community engagement. The book follows roughly a geographic order, although such a variety and overlap of themes make grouping of papers almost impossible. Texts are suitably edited and illustrated. A series of colour plates at the back of the volume make for a useful compendium; perhaps not all readers will find it easy to go back and forth between text and plates, but this does not affect the overall usability of the book.

Many of these contributions are interdisciplinary in character and engage with the longue durée of archaeological sites and their environs. The Salemi Survey Project (Kolb et al.) is an investigation of western Sicily's hinterland that has been collecting evidence of the rural landscape's use and transformations across a broad timeframe, 1500 BC– AD 1500. The Arizona Sicily Project (Blake et al.) looks at material culture exchanges between western Sicily and North Africa, from prehistory through to the medieval period. Chowaniec et al. discuss human activities and their impact on Akrai's landscape, from the Greek colony's foundation in the seventh century BC up to the eighth century AD. Likewise, the adoption of a GIS-based archaeological map of Lilybaeum (Ebolese et al.) is providing the tools for a better understanding of the site's development across its Punic–Hellenistic, Roman and late antique phases.

Building upon his extensive expertise on Sicilian villas, Wilson offers an outline of recent research at the late Roman estate of Gerace. The villa replaced a previous store building in the late fourth century AD, but fell into disrepair by the early sixth century. The name of the owner, Philippianus, is known through stamped bricks and a particularly refined mosaic from the baths’ frigidarium. With regard to sub-elite residences, Walthall presents an account of the excavations at the ‘House of the Two Mills’ at Morgantina. The building was in use for only 60 years or so, from 260/250–200/190 BC, but despite this short span of time it underwent a series of modifications that altered its layout. It is remarkable that archaeology allowed identification of all these changes, showing its potential to reconstruct broader patterns of Hellenistic-era domestic architecture in Sicily. Morgantina is again the subject of Lucore's paper, which looks at the evolution of baths during the third century BC and their reuse after the city's capture by the Romans in 211 BC.

Current research at Monte Iato (Reusser) is revisiting earlier excavations and their interpretation. A small temple in the agora was provided with a frontal tribunal in the early imperial period, on the model of the ‘templa rostrata’, closely resembling a contemporary sacred edifice in the forum of Agrigento. New excavations at Peristyle House 2 have established a firm date for the building in the late second century BC, thus discarding once and for all the previous, unrealistic, hypotheses of a fourth-century BC chronology for most aristocratic houses at Monte Iato and across Sicily. A large edifice in the eastern quarter of the site was also the subject of further research (Mohr), which would suggest identification with a gymnasium. A remarkable discovery at the site of Halaesa (Costanzi) is that of the theatre in the sector underneath the city's buttressed wall—a location that gave this building a tremendous prominence over the surrounding landscape. Although it is premature to speculate on its chronology, this finding represents a nice counterpart to the theatre that was brought to light at Agrigento in 2016.

Underwater archaeology plays an important part in the book, understandably. The Marzamemi Maritime Heritage Project (Leidwanger et al.) has carried out new excavations of the sixth-century AD Marzamemi 2 shipwreck. Contrary to previous assumptions, the study shows that the ship's stone cargo was destined to supply more than a single building project. Remarks are also advanced on the new museum display and the local community's responses. As a homage to Tusa, the members of his team offer an overview of the 2015–2019 research at the site of the Battle of the Aegates Islands (241 BC), highlighting new discoveries, challenges and future trajectories of this pivotal project.

In conclusion, the volume is a valuable addition to the recent literature on Sicily. Given that the papers describe ongoing projects, they can only provide preliminary information at this stage, and it is expected that more comprehensive accounts will appear in the years to come. This is by no means to the detriment of the book, which serves as a useful guide to ‘who's doing what’ in the context of Sicilian archaeology. One must rejoice at the wide-ranging activities of so many international and cross-disciplinary collaborations, which have the potential to enhance significantly our knowledge of Sicily's unique history and heritage.