Abstract
This chapter delves the concept of the multi-layered city. According to the stratigraphic method in archaeology, the city as complex cultural good is the result of the stratification of uses. The study of the context is of the utmost importance to urban planning and cultural heritage conservation. Building process of historic city and territory can be better investigated and understood through the use of topographic method. Based on historic topography, it helps to analyze the consequences of the juxtaposition of a monument in a territory. Urban planning should use archaeological knowledge and topographic method to interpret the marks of the urban transformation through the reading and the knowledge of city’s form and historic human presence that shape historic-morphological identity of places.
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Notes
- 1.
On the issue concerning the form it is extremely important D. Musti.
- 2.
The concept of method is used as defined by E. Morin “the need to make the scattered knowledge communicate with each other in order to reach a knowledge of the knowledge, the need to overcome mutilating alternatives and conceptions (by separating or, on the contrary, illegally unifying).What just said helped the self-elaboration of a method directed to a thought which is as less mutilating as possible and the most aware of the mutilations which unavoidably it operates to dialogue with the real.”
- 3.
A. Carandini writes that the archaeological method should be known also by the architects, discrediting a consolidated taboo of obstacles and distribution of competences within the state supervisory authorities, but still existing.
- 4.
The phenomenon of accumulation of the lands has lasted until the birth of the industrial cities. The importance of the deposits is often underestimated not just by the planners, but also by the archaeologists.
- 5.
As the last work by Carandini, mentioned above, shows.
- 6.
Michelet’s quote, in “Apologie pour l’histoire ou metiere d’historien.”
- 7.
Important studies have been recently published on the objects which became important elements of social history: one is by R. Ago. It is possible to compare such approach to the one followed by C. Tronchetti, that refers to the concept of the functional re-adaptation in the building sector, important to understand the building phases of the building manufactures.
- 8.
Lastly, on the relationship between stratigraphic archaeology and architectural archaeology see D. Manacorda.
- 9.
It appears synthetic and clear on these themes A. Peano’s work.
- 10.
One of Muratori’s major criticisms to the urban planning of his time was the absence of a holistic-organicistic vision of man and city, which reduced the urban planning to a mere economist practice: for this and other aspects, see D. Naddeo.
- 11.
Storie, Libro VII (140, 1-2).
- 12.
Cfr. the essay written in collaboration with Loris A. Fontana, which represents somehow the manifesto of Gazzola’s interest in these themes, burning issues for that time.
- 13.
Such difficulty was noticed by C. Aymonino.
- 14.
P. Bevilacqua is one of the most illustrious representatives of a new trend of studies defined “Storia ambientale-environmental-history.”
- 15.
The concept rose during the pre-enlightenment age thanks to Quatremère de Quincy and it solidified with the affirmation of the classicist science in the XIX century, with E. Lowy and Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli.
- 16.
Again Choay, in op. cit., p. 79: “They introduce to a general pedagogy of the civic sense: the citizens have a historical memory which will play the emotional role of living memory from the moment it will be turned on by the feeling of pride and national superiority.”
- 17.
The protection of the historical city will have an incredible luck after the Athens Charter. All across Europe, we witnessed an incontestable ferment with the creation of the ICOMOS during the Congress of Venice in 1964 (International Council on Monuments and Sites) and the formulation of the International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites. In France, the Malraux Law (1962) was promulgated with the operative aims of legitimating the urban planning on going enhancement and the introduction of the notion of ensemble. The ensemble concerned the work of conservation of the single monument of the contextualized urban aggregates having artistic and environmental interest. The secteurs sauvegardés were created in the medium sized cities, while in the capital were realized the plans for the quarters of Marais, Les Halles, Beaubourg. In Germany, the conservation was delegated to the Landers to create a series of initiatives on a regional and state level, to create better conditions in the urban centers of small and medium entity which were going to lose more and more value as a consequence of the postwar rebuilding interventions. Lastly, in England, in 1958, the rules of conservation on urban planning dating from the Town Planning Act of 1944 were enforced for the ancient monuments, which associated the sectors of conservation and urban planning by affirming that the conservation of monuments is totally entrusted to the field of the management of the city and territory. From the 1960s, the responsibility for the conservation of architectural monuments was entrusted to the Minister of Housing and Local Government, helped by numerous private associations among which the National Trust for Place of Historic Interest and the Civic Trust. In 1967, the law for the conservation of urban areas is enacted, the Civic Amenities Act, which institutes the Conservation Areas, promoting the pilot plans for the cities of Bath, York, Chester, Chichester.
- 18.
The Teoria general de l’urbanisación dates back to 1867.
- 19.
Pane, as a Croce’s follower, would not have looked with favor at the transformations due to the rising of the so-called cultural industry.
- 20.
Some strategic projects had a limited success, others stopped at the threshold of the political decisions to be taken for a concrete feasibility. The QUADROTER project, Ministero dell’Ambiente-CNR, Quadro territoriale di riferimento per la politica ambientale was in fact successful. Nota illustrativa e progetto di ricerche, gennaio 1990. On the contrary, the Progetto Giacimenti culturali (a project concerning the cultural deposits) sprung from the enforcement of the so-called Legge De Michelis (De Michelis Law) and the P.I.S.A. project concerning the integrated planning in the archaeological sites within the Euro-Mediterranean area did not go forward. For these projects and for their assessment see especially: F. Archibugi and P. A. Valentino, A. Misiani.
- 21.
It is a A. Magnaghi’s expression. As integration to D. Poli’s study, Rappresentazione delle identità storico-morfologiche dei luoghi, ibidem, pp. 215–285 and to better highlight how the process of historical building of the city and territory has been examined, it can be useful to schematize the frame of the most significant methods of study for the knowledge of the territory: the topographic method. The methodology of the topographic research is based on the historical topography. It can be defined as the description of a place from the cartographic point of view or as the analysis of the consequences of the juxtaposition of a monument in the territory. The latter reading, more complete and exhaustive, allows the individuation of the human presences in the territory on the basis of the ancient sources. Who did produce results on the basis of such methodology and how? In Piedmont and Liguria Piero Barocelli and Nino Lamboglia’s works should be mentioned. Only the district of Libarna has known historical-scientific cartography on a 1:100.000 scale; today there are several new researches in progress in that area. In Lombardy, the reports barely indicate an activity which, however, did not lead to a method: see for example Mario Mirabella Roberti’s studies that are dedicated mostly to the city of Mediolanum. Plinio Fraccaro introduces the diachronic reading of the territory: see the historical topography and the fundamental studies on the limitatio (Roman method to measure the land). Often, thanks to a methodological refining, thematic supports are created when there is no global research. In Veneto, the topographic school was encouraged by Luciano Bosio’s studies, who principally dealt with problems of the road system. The Eestern area of Veneto (Istria) availed of Attilio Degrassi’s studies. The region of Emilia-Romagna represents the richest example of researches connected to the name of Guido A. Mansuelli, one of the leaders in the history of the Italian ancient topography, Nereo Alfieri and Gino Vinicio Gentili. Gentili is the discoverer-pioneer of Marzabotto. Mansuelli is one of the first researchers to deal with problems of archaeological cartography. G. Tibiletti studied the phenomenon of the Romanization of Northern Italy, Mansuelli continued the topographic studies, producing the first works of urban planning in the strict sense. Alfieri produces localized thematic maps, such as the studies of the “centuria”: his works are important among the publications by the Government of Emilia-Romagna. In Tuscany, a series of scholars studied the topography of an environment influenced by the Etruscans. The Siena-Pisa group, namely the Carandini’s school (ager cosanus etc.), partly erred on the side of preconceived thematic maps, by working to answer a very limited number of issues on a territory. The region of Umbria did not show significant results even if some important scholars contributed to the research on the urban centers (U. Tarchi and C. Pietrangeli). Marche and Abruzzi have always been linked to the prehistoric researches (Northern Abruzzi: G. Annibaldi). V. Cianfarani dealt with researches in the Meso-Adriatic area, while A. La Regina in the Paelignan district until the area of Vasto. The Adriatic-Marchigian zone has not been studied yet except for the road system, done by N. Alfieri (Spina’s Meso-Adriatic field). The Romanization never was a specific theme of research and was in fact often overlooked. The region of Campania numbers Julius Beloch’s preliminary studies. Amedeo Maiuri did not establish a school of thought neither on the territorial asset, nor on the topographic asset of the region. His name is linked to the discovery of many centers but he has never made through studies of historical topography. Only scholars of the Magna Graecia as Paolo Orsi, Gino Lo Porto and Bartoccini (Puglia) performed such studies. They can be compared with the schools of Northern Italy because their commitment was, on a territorial level, wider. Along with Orsi, P. Zancani Montuoro and U. Zanotti Bianco deserve attention. The first published monographs of topographic researches which individuated some areas that Orsi did not explored enough (for example the area of Salerno). In the central Ionia and in the area of Sibari and Metaponto, noticeable progresses only came thanks to the researches by the Pennsylvania University and by the local Superintendence. Sicily has a great tradition of topographic studies: Paolo Orsi, precisely, Biagio Pace and Luigi Bernabò Brea. The topographic research, especially in the protohistoric field, is developed around these three names. The work went on with D. Adamesteanu and P. Orlandini. The Roman school of topographic research starts with the Humanism. The reading of the ancient monument is linked to the sixteenth century and it was promoted under the Popes who encouraged a series of extraordinarily important studies between the end of the sixteenth century and the seventeenth, authored by scholars such as of Cluverius and Luca Ostenio (the Adnotationes). But an outstanding boost to the topographic analysis was given by Rodolfo Lanciani. He dedicated himself to the urban recovery of some sectors of the papal Rome dismembered by the Piedmont army arrival and, as secretary of the Municipal Archaeological Commission, to the Esquiline hill. The protohistoric necropolis of Latium was published by G. Pinza, the other compounds by Lanciani. He published in 10 years the volumes of the Storia degli Scavi and contextually the Forma Urbis Romae. The Forma Urbis is the most important text of historical topography published in a systematic way, yearly; he published the volumes that had the comment in the Storia degli Scavi, reporting not just the documents directly known, but also those revealed by other sources, highlighting with different colors the medieval monuments. His works constitute the first scientific archaeological cartography. His pupil and successor in the chair of topography in Rome, instituted for Lanciani was G. Lugli. He resumed and gave new impulse to the initiative of the Archaeological Charter of Italy. His work, followed by F. Castagnoli’s who published about 20 volumes of the Forma Italiae created a non-symbolic cartography as for the precise localization. The Forma Italiae contains a precise localization cartography on a 1:25.000 scale. The configuration he used was used also by P. Sommella with some substantial methodological modifications. The studies in Latium saw the contribution of the British School with B. Ward Perkins and M. Friedericksen on the ager veientanus. Only Gamurrini’s Archaeological Charter had a historical repercussion, on a national level, in the territorial planning.
- 22.
The integral examination of the available literature on the subject (see the fundamental text published by Magnaghi and quoted in the note above) clearly shows how it is difficult for the planner to manage in toto the descriptive tools on the city and territory. This difficulty stems also from the lack of communication among the different disciplines, as we said several times. However, the territorialist school seems to have started to overcome this issue.
- 23.
I.e., the case of the General Urban Development Plan of Rome.
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Colavitti, A.M. (2018). The Instrumental Use of the Process of Knowledge. In: Urban Heritage Management. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72338-9_2
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