Archéologie de l’hospitalité dans les stations routières romaines: quelques études de cas entre l’Italie et la Gaule

After a period in which road-stations were taken into account only as sites where the “post stations” mentioned in the ancient sources were identified, a new approach to the study of these “places of the road” initiated. Indeed, an ample variety of infrastructures lined ancient roads, constituting activity zones for mobility and trade, areas where a variety of contacts and social life took place, fora where different types of activities were carried out and exchange flourished, settlements where the economy and the social composition were heavily affected by the presence of a communication axis. In this polyvalence of functions, hospitality of travellers played a major role. For this reason, we will analyse here the sectors of road stations where hospitality of travellers and passers-by is thought to have taken place, trying to outline some of the characteristics and profiles of the customers and of the staff employed at the stations.