"Occupazione di edifici pubblici nelle Variae di Cassiodoro"

This article examines the occupation and reuse of public buildings by private individuals in late antique Italy, traditionally read as a sign of declining civic administration. Drawing on Cassiodorus’ Variae alongside archaeological evidence, it argues instead for structured cooperation between civic authorities and private petitioners. Ostrogothic Italy offers a privileged case study: Cassiodorus’ formula de competitionibus (Var. 7.44) preserves the procedure for granting public land and buildings (loca publica) to private individuals, partly continuing earlier imperial legislation (the Codex Theodosianus, Majorian’s Novella 4). Three cases from Theoderic’s reign – warehouses granted to Paolinus, the porticus Absidata extension awarded to Albinus, and the Baths of Torasius portico conceded to the deacon Elpidius – are read against the archaeological record and Theoderic’s ideology of restoring urban decus and civilitas. Such concessions relieved Ostrogothic authorities of upkeep costs while granting the senatorial aristocracy prestigious properties, constituting a form of «remunerated euergetism» reflecting broader transformations in the late antique city.