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Inspired by studies on the reception of papal reform in the margins of Roman Christendom, this paper examines the means by which the popes could have asserted reformist discourse in a Southern Italy that had been recently conquered by the “Normans,” and especially in Puglia and Calabria, areas over which the sovereign had direct authority. This paper sheds light on the pontifical interest in these regions, as well as on the difficulties the popes encountered in accessing them, at least for long periods in the eleventh and twelfth centuries due to the ecclesiastical status of the count, and later the “Norman” king. We therefore evaluate the issue of epistolary strategies as a backup tool used in the arsenal of pontifical action. These strategies appeared as soon as the pope was presented with an opportunity, but did not seem to reflect the networks that were created and consolidated over the long term—not as a result of any hostility against the reform, but likely because papal discourse had little purpose.