The present volume is the fruit of a small conference held in Vienna in late April 2016 under the title ‘Italy and Its Rulers in the Ninth Century: Was There a Carolingian Italy?’. It was the last event sponsored by the ERC Advanced Grant Project ‘Social Cohesion, Identity and Religion in the Early Middle Ages’ (SCIRE)1 which very successfully ran in Vienna between 2011 and 2016. Its specific aim was to bring together researchers working on Italy in the times between the death of Charlemagne in 814 and the death of Berengar I in 924, the last emperor to be crowned until 962. The scope was widened to include the period since King Pippin of Italy, Charlemagne’s second-oldest son, who was responsible for Italy until his premature death in summer 810. The ninth-century kingdom of Italy still lacks an in-depth study that avoids dealing with it merely as a time of transition. This is quite surprising, as, for example, the tenth century has received more studies that are comprehensive. The present volume aims to fill parts of this gap.