Maria Grazia Ercolino

L’attuale volume raccoglie gli esiti di un lavoro di ricerca sull’intero complesso, palinsesto artistico, e vero e proprio caso architettonico-urbano, che segue la politica di crescita e trasformazione della
città di Roma guidata dai pontefici (da Sisto IV ad Alessandro
VII) e dalle famiglie nobili che ne promossero, finanziarono
e guidarono gli interventi architettonico-artistici presenti e visibili nel risultato odierno.

Risultato di un complesso lavoro di ricerca, il volume affronta lo studio dell’area urbana racchiusa tra le pendici orientali del colle capitolino e le terrazze dei mercati traianei e ne ricostruisce le vicende storiche a partire dall’Altomedioevo. Detto àmbito ha subito, a partire dai primi anni dell’Ottocento e fino agli anni Trenta del secolo scorso, una radicale trasformazione morfologica e funzionale, che ha condotto alla definizione di un nuovo assetto e che peraltro, a partire dall’ultimo decennio, ha subito un’ulteriore, netta trasformazione. Le recenti campagne di scavi, se pur finalizzate all’identificazione certa delle strutture imperiali ivi sepolte, hanno riportato l’attenzione su quei tessuti edilizi, di grande interesse storico, che ad essi si sovrapposero nel corso dei secoli e che sparirono per istanze escavatorie e/o di isolamento monumentale.
Un àmbito, dunque, caratterizzato da un particolare percorso di sviluppo: una genesi, in epoca imperiale, come impianto ‘pianificato’, e la sua successiva trasformazione, nel periodo medievale, in un aggregato ‘spontaneo’ residenziale. Per una sorte bizzarra, ambedue le fasi sono poi scomparse, se pur in epoche differenti; la prima, nel lento processo di sovrapposizione, appunto, della città medievale; la seconda, in modo repentino, nel tentativo di recuperare le testimonianze sepolte dell’epoca più antica.
Questo studio si è proposto di rendere conto di entrambe, con un processo a ritroso, volto in primis a restituire, per quanto possibile, la struttura dell’organismo urbano demolito, per poi indagare sulle logiche che ne hanno regolato lo sviluppo nel corso dei secoli.

The paper aims to focus on the difficult relationship established by the historic centre of Rome with its stratigraphy and on the reciprocal connections which have linked archaeology, architecture and restoration over the past two centuries, with mixed outcomes. The events of a specific urban area - such as the one overlooking the Trajan's Column - allow us to think about old praxis and new challenges in understanding and enhancing the palimpsest, between past and present.

The hydrogeological vulnerability within an archaeological area constitutes a high environmental risk factor for the excavation and safeguard of the historical ruins.
Specifically, among the possible scenery due to a conspicuous presence of water, the interception of groundwater and the consequent submerging, even temporary, of the archaeological structures, can damage the monuments, makes excavation very difficult and expensive and sometimes even prevents it.
However, the effects of water table in these particular lands, defines as wetlands by the scientific literature, cannot be reduced to the simple conclusive evaluation of the technical and design choices made during the excavation and at the conclusion of the same, but must necessarily take into account a lot of connections linking hydrogeological condition and features of the archaeological stratigraphy.
For this reason, the aim of the paper is to compare two important and very famous historic sites: the archaeological park of Sibaritide (KR) and that of Butrint, in southern Albania, whose millennial events have been inextricably linked to the subsident nature of their soil and to the immanent presence of water.
Taking into account the impact of climate change and environmental sustainability will probably be the real challenge for the future of these areas.

The creation of the cinema Impero, iconic building in the roman suburbs, took place in a particular moment, the fascist period of the early 20yh century, when the communication strategy, which involved the whole cinematographic system, produced a remarkable increase of specific screening places. Its construction, the third Roman hall of the period for capacity, was authorized by the Governor in 1937, with the condition that only ‘Italian’ materials were used and shows the typical architectural features of the fascist buildings.
One of its features lies in the existence of a contemporary ‘twin cinema’, still open at Asmara, whose image is on the cover of the ‘Asmara: a Modernist City of Africa’, Management Plan UNESCO.
Completely renovated in 1956 by the Studio Pennisi-Savelli which, according to the custom of those years, characterizes the interiors with a particular paneling; the cinema began to decline during the Seventies, following a process linked to the decadence of the film industry itself and remained abandoned for over thirty years.
A few years ago a public planning seminar was created to prepare a project for the re-use of the building, with the collaboration of some associations and the local community. The proposal, with the media support, has finally encouraged, in 2016, the beginning of the works by the property.
Now it is possible to make a first, temporary analysis of the intervention that, due to some choices, has altered the building image. It is clear that the building has regained its importance in the social fabric of the district; but the transformation of the façade, the addition of incongruent elements and the persistent state of abandonment of the cinema hall raise some doubts about the correctness of the re-use intervention..

The Imperial Fora are a monumental area that shows all the complexity of the historical strati-fications and, at the same time, the damages brought to an archaeological and urban ensemble of great value, because of many operations managed in unembarrassed way, without precise programs nor adequate projects. The campaign of excavations made in 1998-2000, even if was finalized to the certain identification of the imperial structure there buried, has brought again the attention to that building tissue of very high historical interest that during the centuries overlapped to them. The data processing of the excavation and their study in situ, associated with the analysis of the literary and bibliographic sources and of the new documentation relating, let me realize a topo-graphic reconstruction, that spots for each period , the highlights of the development of this new tissue, taking care of the new roads and all the possible influences, caused by many ruins dated back to the Imperial period. This investigation has made possible the restoration and the strati-graphical study, relative to the medieval period of the settlement, that were completely ignored during the demolitions of the last century. Currently the relationship between the ancient ruins and the contemporary city is, in essence, a very complex issue, and it's really important that archaeologists, whose contribution was essential in the investigation phase, make use of different expertises and competences, to realize a global proposition, in which there are: restoration and critical preservation of ruins, development and town planning reconnection of this great area. In this regard, restitution of the original connective tissue, which is proposed here through the eyes of urban history and using an elementary framework, could also be a valid support tool on which to base the new planning proposals. It could be a fundamental and multi-faceted set of indications to be understood and interpreted through the eyes of the contemporary city.

Re-use and urban re-generation is now an established realities in the contemporary society; materials, scraps and abandoned urban areas, even more frequently, are 'rethought' with new, alternative functions. Abandoned quarries and extractive implants occupy a prominent place in this general framework; 'scrap landscapes' that profoundly altering the structure of the territory.
The ISPRA and Legambiente data, concerning their presence and distribution in the country, highlight the seriousness of a situation, made more complicated by an inhomogeneous, regional legislative framework.
Places of abandonment, drosscape, ‘scars’ on the Earth, but also places of charm and sublime beauty, quarries and mines are landscapes to decipher, to understand in their broadest and deepest sense.
If even a few years ago the approach to the issue of abandoned areas was mostly morphological, aimed at the re-naturalization of the environment with concealment operations of human traces, now these places have become, ever more, territories of the contemporary design.
The series is very wide and comprises several interventions aimed at the 'landscape reinvention', ranging from the development of the architectural potential of extractive implants, to proposals for landscape enhancement, to Land Art works.
With this report we intend to investigate proposals able to protect the semantic values of the places without distorting the essence, projects that safeguarding existing traces and conveying them in the plots of an intervention respectful of the quarries past memories.
From Gavorrano Mineral Park in Grosseto to the enhancement of ancient underground quarries of Gargas in Provence, to the marble quarries of Dionyssos – Greece; projects that prove a common mindset in considering and preserving historical, environmental, and 'industrial' values, showing the real existence of a discipline hybridization process.

China is a complex country with a well-defined cultural tradition. However, recent far-reaching social
and economic upheavals have resulted in an interruption in the transmission of its thousand-year-old
cultural tradition, urging major changes. ‘Heritage’ and ‘authenticity’ are key concepts whose interpretation
has changed over the last century, attracting interest in architectural conservation. Today
there is intense debate surrounding the concept of heritage authenticity in China, which underlines
the cultural differences between the East and West and takes a critical stance against the Western
vision of this notion.
Some major restoration projects have started to acknowledge and respect traces from all historical
periods as important indicators of the value of architecture, thanks to a thorough evaluation of the
historical, artistic, scholarly and social values of heritage sites, though local governments have often
adopted their own particular understanding of ‘authenticity’ in order to standardise, certify and legitimise
their heritage practices.
However, the increasing interest in heritage preservation contrasts with a number of current events,
such as the urban demolitions and reconstruction programmes going on all over the country and the
development of tourism, which ends up damaging some heritage sites. Compared with international
standards, Chinese heritage players are less exacting when it comes to the distinction between what
is ‘preserved and authentic’ and what is ‘reconstructed and copied’. When Chinese styles of thinking
and behaviour are understood better, a more balanced attitude towards Chinese heritage concepts
and practices may develop.

Over the course of the past century, the ruins resulting from violent conflicts and catastrophes have been transformed into a powerful instrument of collective memory. The work of art being examined here is one of the most representative and suggestive examples of this particular category of ruins: the Grande Cretto designed by Alberto Burri atop the ruins of Gibellina, the Sicilian town destroyed in 1968 by an earthquake that devastated the entire Belice Valley.
For some years the Cretto, in state of total neglect, shows obvious signs of evident decay and the need of restoration. In 2008 started an articulate program of study and testing to define intervention procedures most suitable to the conservation of the work, but the lack of funds did not allow the intervention.
Last year, with the funds allocated for the Burri’s centenary, it was preferred to complete the work, ignoring the decay and causing a striking contrast between the new and the existing part.
At present, in the face of a pervasive state of deterioration, made even more evident by the completion, and a conservation project blocked by bureaucracy, it begins to discuss a new proposal of 'participated renovation', specular to conservative project already exists and defined heretical by the proponent. The new idea provides for the simple involvement of the whole population in a sort of recurring maintenance practices, culminating in a periodic repainting lime of its surfaces.
Between the two opposite proposals the truth is in the middle: Cretto needs a restoration, but needs even more the population’s care, to enhance, maintain and promote it.

In the suburbs, the post-war confused urban growth, with its disorderly edification, has created a new conflict between archaeology and urban planning. This situation has led to the encirclement of the archaeological remains. The archeology emerges in a different ways, sometimes the traces have undeniable monumental characters; other times the excavation may disclose incomprehensible fragments that need an interpretation. The relationship between city and ruins changes depending on the nature of the findings and the surrounding settlement forms. In the suburbs the verticality of the historical stratification is replaced by horizontal: large areas on which are located single evidences embedded in the contemporary city.
Sometimes their existence has prevented the building expansion, however, their neglect state often makes it almost unrecognizable: areas of material and cultural degradation. Memory can not delimit; just passing by the evaluation of the physical consistency of the findings to the identification of their meaning you’ll get a real survival of the same, updating them in the contemporary urban landscape. It is necessary to overcome the fences and integrate the archaeological area in the contemporary city because recovering the historical dimension of the suburbs landscape, you can get to be the added value that acts as a mechanism for social cohesion.
Through a series of case-study, selected from among the tens existing in roman suburbs, it can be shown as “understanding”, “conservation” and “enhancement”, are three basic steps of the same process, the only one able to break the “anonymity” that characterizes the remains. Only a serious project may return them an active role in contemporary city.

La confusa crescita urbana che ha seguito la fine della guerra, con la sua edificazione disomogenea, ha generato, nelle aree periferiche, un nuovo conflitto tra espansione e rispetto delle preesistenze archeologiche, provocando spesso l’accerchiamento dei resti sopravvissuti o episodicamente esumati. Testimonianze che possono mostrare caratteristiche differenti; in alcuni casi le tracce presentano indiscutibili caratteri monumentali, in altri lo scavo può palesare scarni frammenti che necessitano di un lavoro interpretativo per essere compresi. Il rapporto tra città e rovine può cambiare, dunque, in base alla natura del reperto, ma pure delle forme insediative che lo circondano.
Nelle periferie, alla verticalità della sedimentazione nel lungo periodo, si oppone spesso l’orizzontalità: aree molto estese sulle quali sono distribuite testimonianze che, isolatamente, affiorano nel tessuto contemporaneo. Tuttavia il loro stato di abbandono le rende spesso pressoché irriconoscibili: zone di degrado nelle quali non è garantita neppure la conservazione materiale dei resti. Non è possibile circoscrivere una memoria, il nodo della perimetrazione è tutto qui; solo attraverso il passaggio dalla valutazione della consistenza fisica dei reperti all’individuazione del loro significato sarà possibile ottenere una reale sopravvivenza degli stessi, recuperando loro una leggibilità e un ruolo entro il panorama urbano contemporaneo. Nasce l’esigenza di superare le recinzioni per integrare l’area archeologica nel disegno della città, poiché recuperando la dimensione storica del paesaggio urbano della periferia si può arrivare a costituire quel valore aggiunto che agisce come meccanismo per la coesione sociale e l’identità condivisa tra i cittadini.
Attraverso una serie di esempi concreti, selezionati tra le decine esistenti nel settore orientale della periferia romana, si cercherà di evidenziare come comprensione, conservazione e valorizzazione, costituiscano tre tappe imprescindibili e strettamente connesse dello stesso processo; l’unico praticabile se si vuole tentare di spezzare quella “alterità” che quasi sempre caratterizza i resti. Solo attraverso un serio progetto di valorizzazione sarà possibile trasformarli in segni comprensibili, in grado di svolgere un ruolo attivo nella contemporaneità.

In our cities are a growing number of projects developed from historic buildings, recovered and converted to new uses and functions; fundamental action in the transformation of urban landscapes.
Among the many projects aimed on the 'heritage reuse', we focused on those who have chosen, as a distinctive feature, the use of corten steel. Corten has often played a significant
role in the insertion of contemporary architectural forms in buildings and historical contexts. Its success is not due to affordability and adaptability for use, but, above all, to the particular feature of its rusty surface. Quality that makes it aesthetically compatible with old materials.
The different projects, ranging from the creation of new volumes, to redesign of the lost elements, and the punctual redefinition of interior spaces, were analyzed through the study of a significant number of recent examples. The purpose of the analysis was to assess the sustainability, efficiency and performance over time of the material, frequently used as a new expressive wrapper, and interventions as a whole, in relation to some predetermined level, conscious historical memory but also in line with the current needs.

Restore an historic building requires caution, careful in choosing materials and great reflection on the attitude to keep. The result of each intervention on the historical heritage depends on the resolution of some issues: the size relationship between 'completion' and ruin, treatment of the layers and material compatibility. It’s the choices of materials to qualify the contemporary language of the project.
Among the projects that have been confronted in recent years with these issues, it was decided to select some whose common feature was that they had used, as matter prevalent, the corten steel. The selection includes projects which restore only missing parts and those that provide for the inclusion of new elements aimed to reuse.
Corten steel combines the steel’s qualities to the further characteristic of a surface appearance 'ever changing', which refers to the passage of time. An element capable of introducing a contemporary language in historic buildings and rebuilding ties with ancient materials. The particular features of the material, aesthetically valuable, requires a lots of technological and constructive safeguards, aspects should not be underestimated.
The analysis confirmed the corten’s great aesthetic and structural efficiency. Specifically its use helps to solve spatial and techniques issues respecting the historic materials. More problematic seem to be projects that use corten steel as a coating for new volumes added to the ruins of historic building’s.

In the suburbs, the post-war confused urban growth, with its disorderly edification, has created a new conflict between archaeology and urban planning. This situation has led to the encirclement of the archaeological remains. The archeology emerges in a different ways, sometimes the traces have undeniable monumental characters; other times the excavation may disclose incomprehensible fragments that need an interpretation. The relationship between city and ruins changes depending on the nature of the findings and the surrounding settlement forms. In the suburbs the verticality of the historical stratification is replaced by horizontal: large areas on which are located single evidences embedded in the contemporary city.
Sometimes their existence has prevented the building expansion, however, their neglect state often makes it almost unrecognizable: areas of material and cultural degradation. Memory can not delimit; just passing by the evaluation of the physical consistency of the findings to the identification of their meaning you’ll get a real survival of the same, updating them in the contemporary urban landscape. It is necessary to overcome the fences and integrate the archaeological area in the contemporary city because recovering the historical dimension of the suburbs landscape, you can get to be the added value that acts as a mechanism for social cohesion.
Through a series of case-study, selected from among the tens existing in roman suburbs, it can be shown as “understanding”, “conservation” and “enhancement”, are three basic steps of the same process, the only one able to break the “anonymity” that characterizes the remains. Only a serious project may return them an active role in contemporary city.

La confusa crescita urbana che ha seguito la fine della guerra, con la sua edificazione disomogenea, ha generato, nelle aree periferiche, un nuovo conflitto tra espansione e rispetto delle preesistenze archeologiche, provocando spesso l’accerchiamento dei resti sopravvissuti o episodicamente esumati. Testimonianze che possono mostrare caratteristiche differenti; in alcuni casi le tracce presentano indiscutibili caratteri monumentali, in altri lo scavo può palesare scarni frammenti che necessitano di un lavoro interpretativo per essere compresi. Il rapporto tra città e rovine può cambiare, dunque, in base alla natura del reperto, ma pure delle forme insediative che lo circondano.
Nelle periferie, alla verticalità della sedimentazione nel lungo periodo, si oppone spesso l’orizzontalità: aree molto estese sulle quali sono distribuite testimonianze che, isolatamente, affiorano nel tessuto contemporaneo. Tuttavia il loro stato di abbandono le rende spesso pressoché irriconoscibili: zone di degrado nelle quali non è garantita neppure la conservazione materiale dei resti. Non è possibile circoscrivere una memoria, il nodo della perimetrazione è tutto qui; solo attraverso il passaggio dalla valutazione della consistenza fisica dei reperti all’individuazione del loro significato sarà possibile ottenere una reale sopravvivenza degli stessi, recuperando loro una leggibilità e un ruolo entro il panorama urbano contemporaneo. Nasce l’esigenza di superare le recinzioni per integrare l’area archeologica nel disegno della città, poiché recuperando la dimensione storica del paesaggio urbano della periferia si può arrivare a costituire quel valore aggiunto che agisce come meccanismo per la coesione sociale e l’identità condivisa tra i cittadini.
Attraverso una serie di esempi concreti, selezionati tra le decine esistenti nel settore orientale della periferia romana, si cercherà di evidenziare come comprensione, conservazione e valorizzazione, costituiscano tre tappe imprescindibili e strettamente connesse dello stesso processo; l’unico praticabile se si vuole tentare di spezzare quella “alterità” che quasi sempre caratterizza i resti. Solo attraverso un serio progetto di valorizzazione sarà possibile trasformarli in segni comprensibili, in grado di svolgere un ruolo attivo nella contemporaneità.

Some reflections about the ‘edges’ of urban archeological areas

Findings of an excavation are often incomprehensible, some sparse evidence of different contexts that follow each other in a very long period of time. The simple storage of these fragments in 'archaeological fences' is often an useless operation, because these findings as “segments of stories that should be rebuilt and renewed in the vastness of space and in the depth of time”, require a previous decoding to restore their meaning and their documentary and figurative evidence.
The fragmentary and often incomprehensible nature of an ancient architecture, requires a particular historiographical approach, a further assessment about the cultural function of the unearthed relics, expecially in the case of an urban excavation, the interaction between the past and the present of the city, needs a particular attention. City is the place and the result of several diachronies that the archaeological 'emptiness' may irreparably distrupts it, without being able to reveal the meaning of this apparent chaos that suddenly revealed from the underground.
Central point of this reflection is the necessity to define, in a shared way, an idea of space that is generated by the relationship between the excavation and the urban structure which participates in that imagine, changing the identity both in its internal spatial relations and in the surrounding context.
Today, the relationship with the latter, is absolutely central to his interpretation and enhancement. This theme provides more points for reflection and undermines many choices in sites, where the relationship between the spatiality the archaeological area and the larger scale of its surrounding places is principal.
Sometimes, the necessity for the protection, if detached by careful reflection on the meaning of emergency excavation, contributes to a real 'alienation' of the same. The ‘archaeological fences’, with their various heights, contribute to make obscure and marginal a heritage that should be shared, jeopardizing the conservation of the same places.
The excessive ‘monumentalization’ of ruins has often led to a clear separation between ancient and modern city, denying any different relationship from the 'veneration'. Urban archeology is once again the critical point, the most sensitive area of confrontation between contemporary and archaeological ruins. However, it does not need a project that rests respectfully beyond the edge of the archaeological remains to solve the problem of 'staying in touch' with history.
Breaking the splendid isolation of the ruins and restoring their identity, is the purpose that a correct evaluation should be aimed to; the key role in this research is carried out by the so-called 'border areas', the edge created between the excavation and the urban environment.
Physical boundary of the investigation area, metaphorical filter between a past, which is sometimes crystallized and often incomprehensible, and a present that pushes with its many needs, a line of demarcation among the different spatio-temporal diachronies of the same place, and the limit of an excavation engraved into the fabric of living city will always involve a relationship with the surrounding reality, deeply pondered or completely disregarded.
Through the analysis of some examples, in Rome and elsewhere, now and in the course of time, this paper aims to highlight the importance and the role of this boundary, so full of meaning, both in cases in which it was designed, or ignored, or reduced to a simple wire fence

The paper will review, based on a reinterpretation of writings by Longhi, the principles behind his ideas concerning the restoration
of works of art. We know how important these issues were for him, even as a young man, and how in his later years they evolved without, however, ever betraying their basic premises. Longhi considered a close relationship with the work and matter was crucial and indispensable; he was against reintegration and considered restoration a tool used by critics. Instead of tangible and concrete restoration, he proposed what he called ‘mental restoration’. The topical nature of this idea has remained, not
least because of a possible theoretical link with virtual restoration, both united in an attempt to ideally recreate unity in a work
with missing pieces. So, apart from the influence that particular historical period had on his ideas, Longhi’s philosophy in this
field remains unusual and, in some ways, contemporary and topical.

The Stoch Exchange building in via Por Santa Maria has been one of the most debated project for the Florence reconstruction after the second world war. The total destruction of the area unveiled the Brunelleschi facade of the Palazzo di Parte Guelfa, until then concealed by the densely built medieval housing. Suddenly, the Florentine cultural elite was divided between the opinion of maintaining the original volumes and the atmosphere of the surroundings, and a minority supporting the ideas of an open square for a better exhibition of the monument's facade. In 1947, the reconstruction town-planning approved the rebuilding of the city block whit a strict height limit of 12 meters, and maintaining the traditional private use. The height was increased to 16 metres with the Ministerial approvation in March 1949.
The new building was instead planning for the Stoch Exchange offices. The plan of a massive stone building was quickly approved, despite the evident contrast with town -planning, and which an increased height of 24 metres. The architectural features recalled the 'ambientato' adapted to the environment) style, very popular in that period, even among the 'intellighentia'. The building was raised up, despite of the contrary opinions expressed by the local media and the discovery of significant Roman ruins. Even the Roman archaelogical discoveries were destroyed for the new Stoch Exchange. This deprecable conclusion can be considered a symbol of the entire managing of Florence's reconstruction.