These two conference volumes are Parts 6 and 7 of the journal Agri Centuriati. Despite the ‘international’ claim in the journal's title, most papers in the proceedings are in Italian, with some in French, Spanish and English. All papers have an English summary; unfortunately these are written in rather poor English, making them confusing rather than helpful. Otherwise the volumes are extremely carefully edited with a large number of high-quality illustrations. The areas under discussion are mostly located in Italy, especially in the Po Valley, with some in southern France and Spain. Most papers focus on a small area, often making important contributions to our knowledge of land measurement in these locations.

The greatest value of these volumes, however, lies in the fact that they show many long-held conceptions about centuriation systems to be incorrect. Firstly, the papers show that land measurement systems were universally connected to water regulation. Furthermore, an important point emerging from many papers is that land measurement systems are not developed in isolation, but are always closely related to the geography of the landscape. This means that if two centuriation systems exist in the same area, but with a different orientation or grid size, this does not necessarily mean that they date to different periods — a position often held in the past, especially by Chouquer. Instead, they may simply have been designed to deal with different problems of drainage, which varied because of the local geography. Furthermore, measurement grids organized on parallel lines (scamnatio or strigatio) are not necessarily older than centuriation in squares, as is often assumed. The idea that the ‘standard’, Augustan-period centuria of 710 by 710 m should be dated later than those with shorter sides, e.g. 705 m, seems invalid as well; in fact there was much variation. Unfortunately, some authors seem unaware of the insights offered by their fellow contributors, and still adhere to older ideas (e.g. Capogrossi Colognesi). The Liber Coloniarum, no doubt an important source, but with many difficulties of interpretation, often receives too much credence (e.g. Ceraudo and Ferrari). Especially the papers discussing legal aspects of land measurement place too much trust in the writings of the Agrimensores (e.g. Calboli and Alexandratos).

It is also clear that many centuriation grids remained in use long after the Roman period, while other grids were created in the Middle Ages or Early Modern period, some on the basis of older Roman grids, but others ex novo. On the other hand, some systems may pre-date the Roman era, since demands for more efficient drainage already existed before this time in many densely populated areas. Therefore, it is dangerous to ascribe all visible land measurement systems to the Roman period. Many papers in the volume therefore emphasize that we should study landscapes in their entirety, rather than focusing on the Roman period alone. Furthermore, measurement did not develop independently from the people inhabiting the landscape: settlements were often located on crossroads of boundaries, while cemeteries were located at the edges of centuriated land. Independently from each other, many papers emphasize some or all of these points, which should surely form basic assumptions in later studies. The studies also emphasize the degree to which Roman measurement systems have disappeared over time, especially the smaller internal boundaries. This raises problems for the preservation of these grids, which form important historical artefacts; if it is difficult finding the remains of centuriations, then it is difficult to formulate laws for their protection. Various papers describe new methodology and technology which can be useful in studying landscapes, especially GIS modelling and LIDAR; it seems that definitive research is impossible without using these new methods. Some contributors, however, have only used the standard method of studying ancient and modern maps, suggesting that their results may not be as comprehensive as they could have been.

In sum, these volumes make an important contribution to our knowledge of Roman land measurement systems and their subsequent history. A concluding chapter, distilling new insights from the individual papers, would have been helpful to disseminate the important points in a more accessible form to a wider audience. As it is, we must hope that these volumes will reach a new generation of landscape historians and that their insights will be fully taken into account in future work.