Archaeology for commuters. The San Giovanni archaeo-station on the new metro Line C in Rome

The construction of the San Giovanni station on the new route of Line C of the Rome metro marks a significant cultural change in Italy in the relationship between infrastructure and archaeology. The excavations of the new line that will cross the historic centre of the city have allowed an archaeological excavation campaign unthinkable otherwise, both in terms of extension and depth, giving the city not only the inconveniences of construction sites but also valuable documents for a new perspective on its history. For the first time in Rome one wonders how to establish a virtuous relationship between the needs of conservation and those of daily life; the illustrated project offers an example for the conservation of heritage through the tools of narration in a site where the archaeological layers have been removed but can be seen again thanks to a narrative system that envelops the passenger in a total experience, with an scientifically rigorous arrangement of museum kind but actually realized according to the speed of the commuters. With this case study we want to demonstrate not only the possibility of combining the spaces of the stations with expositive and informative settings but also the enormous potential of the infrastructural network as an activator for the heritage of historical cities.