Ricerc@Sapienza

The Imperial Fora are a monumental area that shows all the complexity of the historical stratifications 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 topographic 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 stratigraphical 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.