The Vestini were one of the many pre-Roman Italic tribes of ancient Samnium, living in the Apennine Mountains on the Adriatic side of central Italy, in the modern region of Abruzzo. This edited volume originates from a conference held at the École française in Rome in 2010 to highlight archaeological investigations in the environs of the city of L'Aquila, before and after the major earthquake that shook the region in 2009. It consists of 19 articles, with an introduction by the editors who are well-known specialists of pre-Roman archaeology and the Italic peoples. All the papers are in Italian.

In the Introduction, the editors trace, on one hand, the history of the settlement studies (Bourdin), and on the other, funerary archaeology (d'Ercole). The overview of the volume and its aims, which feature on the book's back cover, could have been usefully incorporated into this introduction. It would also have benefited from the inclusion of a map illustrating the (presumed) territory of the Vestini, and marking the places discussed in the text. Several of the following articles do provide maps, but none gives a comprehensive overview. The omission of such a map, and the content of the volume generally, suggests that the specialist reader is the intended audience.

The territory of the Vestini is recognised among specialists for its hilltop settlements and extensive cemeteries, the latter including the huge necropolis at Fossa (d'Ercole & Benelli Reference D'Ercole and Benelli2004; for Samnium generally, see Scopacasa Reference Scopacasa2015). This volume presents an outline of the archaeological evidence that characterises the Vestini and the Vestinian territory; in his own contribution, d'Ercole argues that this material comprises a coherent cultural koiné.

The articles cover the various themes one might expect to find in a regional volume such as this, from geological background (Agostino et al.) to epigraphy (Colonna), and from territorial organisation (Acconcia) to the description of individual research projects (e.g. l'École française, Bourdin; Napoli L'Orientale, Pesando; Chieti-Pescara, Somma) and major archaeological sites (e.g. Migliorati; Menozzi et al.). The format of the publication conforms to the Italian archaeological tradition, and it serves as an overview of the current state of knowledge about this fascinating area.

Nevertheless, perhaps due to the origin of the volume as a series of conference papers, the scope of the individual contributions varies. A few of them provide wider background; for example, Guidi considers relations between the Vestini and their Sabine neighbours to the east; Papi discusses the wider similarities in metallurgy across the central Adriatic region; and Strazzulla examines the Roman towns and villages in the territory. A few other contributors, however, concentrate on details, such as the provenance of a single Oscan inscription (Colonna, focusing on just one of five or so known inscriptions from the area), or on technical aspects of the structure of the theatre in the town of Peltuinum (Nepi). This means that the extent to which each article contributes to an overall understanding of the cultural characteristics of the Vestini is uneven. All contributions are, however, tightly focused on the subject matter and present the current state of the research.

Sometimes detail is a good thing. My view on the need for the full publication of ceramic material may differ from that of some of my British colleagues, but I find the detailed summaries, such as Natali's presentation of the handmade impasto pottery collected from survey sites—describing the primary material in detail—to be of the utmost importance. Naturally, such contributions only appeal to a specialist readership, but they have lasting value as reference material, even if compiling this information for wider regional analysis may be laborious. Similarly, articles such as the one presenting the minor settlement sites (D'Alessandro) describe in detail the results of recent excavations. In addition, the rich illustration of all the articles, as well as the provision of plates, beautifully showcases recent discoveries, even if the occasional image lacks crisp reproduction.

This edited book is an example of the strengths, and some of the weaknesses, of Italian conference volumes. It avoids the most obvious weaknesses by staying totally focused on the theme—the Vestini—without deviation on neighbouring regions. It is organised in a logical way, moving from the background (geology, cultural contacts and the cultural koiné) to settlement patterns and territorial organisation, and then to individual archaeological projects, and finally to the presentation of the major sites. It is uneven in places, especially in relation to the scope and generality of the articles, many of which will form part of a longer series of field reports that specialist readers will need to follow throughout many different volumes. Nonetheless, it provides a solid overview of the current knowledge of the history and archaeology of the Vestini, and stands as a tribute to the vitality of local heritage in the aftermath of the Aquila earthquake.