The book, edited by Christopher Heath and Robert Houghton, is a collection of essays focusing on the theme of violence. They are united by their geographical frame of reference, namely Italy, with a long-term chronology, ranging from 568 to 1154, i.e., from the year of the descent of the Lombards in the Peninsula to Frederick Barbarossa's Romfahrt. Such a broad framework also corresponds to a strong heterogeneity of the topics dealt with in the individual contributions, which have very different characteristics and angles, using a wide range of sources (with a preference for the narratives).

After the introduction by the two editors, which offers a first look at the variety of topics dealt with in the volume, the first essay, by Christopher Heath, focuses on Lombard Italy and, through normative and narrative sources, tries to understand the real role of violence within Lombard society, also in comparison to other post-Roman kingdoms.

Guido M. Berndt also deals with Lombard Italy, and more specifically with the continuous rebellions that characterized the 7th century. The rebellions and the 'counterinsurgency' practices undertaken by the kings to tackle them thus constitute a privileged vantage point for understanding the structural characteristics of the political game in the Lombard age.

Francesco Borri deals instead with Carolingian Italy, focusing his attention on the narrative sources between Charlemagne's conquest (774) and Bernard's revolt (818). The focus is mainly on discourses related to conquest and resistance, observing the creation of crafted narratives sometimes in conflict with each other and closely linked to political contingency.

Kordula Wolf focuses instead on acts of physical violence between Christians and Muslims in southern Italy, through a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the sources of the time. The result is that, rhetorical exaggerations aside, the southern Italy of the time emerges as a context characterized by very strong competition between 'violent communities' with significant structural consequences for the entire regional space, in which the space for non-violent options was rather limited.

David Barritt, on the other hand, deals with 10th-century Rome and the infamous 'Synod of the Corpse'; a disconcerting episode that must be read as an occasion for Liutprand of Cremona, to whom we owe the account, to make an interested description of Rome as a place of corruption and decadence.

Meanwhile, Edoardo Manarini focuses on the rivalry between two of the most powerful families of the kingdom of Italy in the 9th and 10th centuries, namely Hucpoldigs and Supponids, using a small but valuable narrative fragment set at the court of Louis II, and featuring Count Palatine Hucpold and Empress Angelberga in a story of lust and violence.

Penelope Nash, on the other hand, deals with the Italic expeditions of two great German kings, namely Otto III and Frederick Barbarossa: expeditions that are occasions to manifest imperial power, both through forms of pomp and generosity and through a deliberate use of violence, which constitutes a central element in the construction of the very image of royal power, particularly during the second expeditions of the two kings.

Robert HoughtonÕs essay is centered on the anti-imperial revolt of Parma, which took place in 1037, and through a fine analysis of the sources and context tries to reconstruct its real motivations, long misunderstood by historiography.

The last essay, by Enrico Veneziani, focuses on the election of Pope Honorius II, seen through two very different accounts: the one provided by Deusdedit and the one by Pandolfo. While in one of the two texts violence is a central component of the papal election, in the other, it is completely absent, and the author explains this difference well with the different circumstances underlying the productions of the two accounts.

Ross Balzaretti closes the volume by offering a concluding reflection focused mainly on the relationship between violence and the representation of violence, which not only discusses the content of the previous essays but also offers a brief but significant insight into Pope Gregory II and 8th-century Rome.

In view of the heterogeneity and variety, programmatically pursued by the editors, with an entirely reasonable choice, it is not easy to draw an overall assessment of the book, whose essays are, however, of good average quality. The fact that emerges most clearly is that violence, in the plurality of its concrete manifestations, confirms itself as a privileged observation point to grasp the (strong) differences between the various contexts analyzed. If the Italy of the Early and High Middle Ages can be seen as a laboratory of continuous political and social experimentation, the practices of violence represent one of the most effective ways of grasping its intimate characteristics.

Alessio Fiore