The paper deals with the concept of community as one that is dialectic and dynamic, higly variable and dependent on a specific historical-political and social context. The paper will focus on Campania during the so-called Orientalising period(late 8th-first quarter of the Vi century B.C.)The present focus on communities adds another element to the multiple and often contradictory strands that pervade funerary studies such as the dialectics and/ or the tensions between collective and individual strategies. Eventually these elements concide with the notion of identity. I will concentrate on the cemeteries of the Etruscan-campanian site of Pontecaagnano, where the contrast between community norms and inter-group dialectics are well visible. In the second pllace, I will examine the cemeteries of southern upper Hirpinia. In this case , an investigation of the concept of 'community'should start from a reconsideration of conservative attitudes, forms of 'silent resistence' and ethnicity. In my conclusion, I will draw some remarks about the role of pithekoussaiand the regional re-organisation during this period.