The protagonists of this book are three: the patriarch Fortunatus; his seat, Grado; and the document drafted by the former, the so-called ‘testament’. Fortunatus acted in the period immediately following the Frankish conquest of Italy, and more precisely in the years when Charlemagne sought to expand his dominion over the Adriatic before coming to an agreement with Byzantium with the Peace of Aachen of 812. The duchy of Venice, of which Grado was a part, was situated between the two empires for a long time, before being formally drawn into (though increasingly autonomous) the Byzantine political arena.

Fortunatus is one of the leading figures of the period. He sided with the Franks from the outset, with the primary purpose of trying to maintain the unity of his diocese, which was threatened by the claims of Aquileia (the ancient see from which Grado had seceded) and by the possibility of losing control over the peninsula of Istria. During his long pontificate (802–24), Fortunatus spent many years in exile in France, because of his difficult relationship with the Venetian dukes, the brothers Obelerius and Beatus, who oscillated several times between the Franks and Byzantium. Despite Fortunatus' long-standing loyalty to the Franks, towards the end of his career, in 821, he sought political support from the Croatian Liudewit, dux Pannoniae inferioris, who resisted Frankish hegemony. The patriarch was summoned to the court of Ludwig the Pious, accused of supplying the duke with artisans and masonry workers to strengthen his defences in Pannonia. After taking refuge in Constantinople, in 824 he travelled to the Frankish court with the ambassadors of Michael ii. This journey marked his political end: as Marano notes, after the Peace of Aachen it was no longer possible for Fortunatus to play on the rivalry between the two empires. In Aquisgrana, no one defended the patriarch, who was referred to the pope, probably Eugenius i. It was on that occasion that he drafted his ‘testament’; Fortunatus never reached Rome, however, because he died, probably in 825.

Despite Marano's skill in describing Fortunatus’ life, many contradictions remain in his biography. Some choices are incomprehensible to our eyes; we cannot always understand whether they really depended on a desire to protect his diocese, or whether the apparent political fluctuations are indicative of purely personal safeguarding (we know that he was accused of misconduct).

Fortunato's biography is followed, in Marano's book, by a very effective description of the settlement of Grado (a castrum), which arose on the edge of the lagoon in the sixth and seventh centuries, at the initiative of the Byzantine authorities, similar in this to other African and Balkan settlements. Grado presented an exceptional concentration of churches in a small space: St Euphemia, St Mary of Grace, the baptistery and many others. Marano defines this settlement – according to the definition used by Myrto Veikou for Epirus – as a ‘third space’, neither urban nor rural, in between town and country. The traditional name for these settlements was the ‘islands of refuge’. However they certainly did not come into being because of the supposed flight of the people, guided by the bishops, in the face of the barbarians occupying northern Italy (or the Balkans): they were stable settlements, with productive and commercial activities and the presence of Byzantine officials. Early Venice too may fall into this typology, and Comacchio (a settlement located near the Po Delta) as well. Grado was born out of new settlement choices, which tended to exploit the geographical potential of a marginal area.

In the final part of the book, Marano publishes the text of the ‘testament’, accompanied by an Italian translation and an excellent archaeological commentary. Actually, this text is anything but a testament. It is a lengthy defence of Fortunatus’ work, where are listed all the donations made by him to the various churches of the diocese, with the aim of exalting his reputation as patriarch, donor and intermediary with heaven. The text reveals the great wealth of the Church of Grado, listing restorations of churches, construction of altars, ambones, gold and silver enclosures; donations of precious liturgical furnishings, such as fabrics, curtains, chandeliers; precious fabrics (as purple) from Constantinople; mentioning coins for purchases, donations to churches, gifts for the clergy. Relics are covered with fabrics, and so are altars, fences, gates; Fortunatus focuses on the celebration and exaltation of relics and their worship, central to the affirmation of the prestige of Grado and the patriarch himself. At the end there is an inventory of what he leaves in the storehouses: leather goods, ermine, iron, grain, wine, oil, gold, silver.

The wealth of the Church of Grado is very impressive. However, as Marano underlines, the settlement of Grado had no major manufacturing activities (although there is evidence of the existence of a glassworks), nor is there any evidence in the archaeological or written sources of Grado's strong commercial activity in the eighth and ninth centuries. Grado was a centre that attracted wealth – for example, from Charlemagne – both because of the prestige of the patriarchate and because it had been an important pawn contested by the two empires. Most of the precious objects listed in the ‘testament’ are not therefore evidence of major commercial trade: they were acquired by Fortunatus through his relationships and not through trade. Marano affirms, very convincingly, that the exchanges of gifts (objects, artefacts) were the means by which the patriarch acted in the Adriatic politics of the period.

Marano's book is very rich and covers very diverse topics. It represents a successful experiment in the intersection of written and archaeological sources, which also fits within the debate – always the focus of scholarly interest – on the development of Mediterranean trade in the late eighth and early ninth centuries.