Walking on the Ruins. The arrangement of the excavations in the square of the Feltre Cathedral

Carlo Scarpa throughout his career, has constantly worked with the historical heritage of architecture and archaeology. This is the case of the project for the arrangement of the archaeological excavations in the square of the Feltre Cathedral. In the early seventies the excavations, carried out in the space of the sagrato of the Cathedral, bring to light a very complex archaeological stratification in which the traces of a Roman road emerge, among others, some spaces paved in opus sectile and a circular baptistery of the 5th-6th century AD. In 1973 Carlo Scarpa received the assignment for the project of a structure to protect the excavation, preserving the liturgical function of the church square. He worked on this project from 1975 until 1978, developing many design solutions that reveal Scarpa's plural attention, both to the enhancement of the archaeological excavation and to the urban context. Unfortunately the work was not realized, but thanks to the numerous drawings of the Master, today we are able to reconstruct the intense design process that highlights the quality of his architectural thought in its subsequent phases, from the urban space up to the detail of the singles elements of the project. The overall vision is controlled with the use of perspectives and sketches that clearly express the relationship between the coverage of the excavation, the church and its surroundings. In this sense, the archaeological remains were not only the content of a new container, but represented the subject of a design action that configures the new urban context, starting from the enhancement of the finds.