In this study, published intensive field surveys, from different regions on the Italian peninsula, are revisited from a range of different methodological and theoretical perspectives. With its emphasis on the Late Republican to Early Imperial period, the outcome of this research should lead to a better understanding of comparative regional differences, in terms of settlement patterns and hierarchy, demography, urbanisation processes, and how society could have functioned. This study intends to build on existing notions of regional variations and bring them into better focus. For the theoretical and methodological framework, models and interpretive schemes are assessed originating from archaeology, social geography and ethnography using archaeological evidence. The field surveys or regions covered include the Potenza Val, the 'extended' suburbium of Rome, the Pontine region and the Biferno Valley.