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This paper reports on the results of archaeological and geographical field work conducted in 1998 and 1999 by members of the Regional Pathways to Complexity project in the coastal landscape of South Lazio (Italy). The protohistoric (Bronze Age to Archaic) settlement history of this area is dominated by its marginal position with respect to the proto-urban settlements of the Alban hills and the Lepine margin, and in the historic period (post-Archaic to Roman Imperial) by the strategic and economic interests of Rome. A preliminary reconstruction of the dynamics of both the physical and the human landscape is given for both periods. The interpretation of the results of the field walking survey and the reconstruction of potential protohistoric and Roman land use are both informed by an analysis of recent changes in the physical environment – especially the Bonificà carried out in the 1920s.