L'Occidente senza imperatori. Vicende politiche e costituzionali nell'ultimo secolo dell'impero romano d'Occidente (465-565 d.C.)

The theme of the book is the so-called political and institutional caesura of 476 AD. By carefully analyzing all the available documents concerning the political and the constitutional events, a picture emerges which o<ers an alternative reconstruction of the situation to that received by common historiographical tradition. It reveals that the Roman Empire did not fall under Romulus Augustulus but continued under the governance of Odoacer and then Theoderic. The latter in particular, governed for 30 years, inventing a Gothic Protectorate with the formal agreement of the Roman Emperor residing in Constantinople. Only in 565AD, following the short-lived attempt by Justinian to rebuild the Empire and with the invasion of the Lombards, did the pars Occidentis cease to exist.