Lo studio dei catasti e dei focularia per la storia dell’architettura e dell’urbanistica: la ricerca d’archivio per l’analisi degli edifici storici in Terra d’Otranto

A little in-depth theme in the History of Architecture is the research on “registry land” sources of southern Italy, in particular those relating to the Kingdom of Naples. Leading researchers from other disciplines have examined some aspects of the “Catasti Onciari” of the late 18th century, drawn up in the Bourbon period, which – although descriptive and without geometric representation – remain a fundamental contribution to the control of the properties and activities of taxpayers, as well as on places and their toponymy. Few researchers, on the other hand, have analyzed the Catasti called “Provvisori”, elaborated between the years 1806 and 1809 in the Napoleonic period: these Catasti were the concrete basis on which the graphic and descriptive cadastres were subsequently created, which – especially in the historic centers of southern cities – remained essentially unchanged. So the concrete relationship between archival research and the dimensional analysis of the buildings through a chronological comparison of the data has led to unprecedented solutions and new theories, often supported by the data from the restoration.