Archeologia e urbanistica negli sterri per la I Zona del Nuovo Quartiere Esquilino. Domus “riscoperte” nella costruzione di Roma Capitale

The contribution presents the results of a survey aimed at the "rediscovery" and reorganization of a series of ancient residential contexts, never previously systematically analyzed, which came to light in the earliest years of Roma Capitale on the occasion of the earthworks undertaken for the construction of the new Esquilino district. In fact, the identification of the eastern hills as the first area of natural expansion of the city following the annexation of Rome to the Kingdom of Italy was necessary to give an immediate response to the housing problem together with the adoption of specific regulatory instruments to allow rapid expropriation of building areas. In this sense, the realization of the cd. 1st area of the neighborhood of about 22 hectares (1871-1878: between S. Maria Maggiore, Termini Station, via Strozzi and the church of S. Eusebio) constituted the first real test for the implementation of the urban planning policy promoted by municipal administration, as well as for the defence capacity of the archaeological heritage by the nascent institutions responsible for the protection of antiquities. However, while the historical event that led to the "destruction of Ancient Rome" has been widely dealt with, certainly less studied has been the research trail that aims to investigate in detail the succession of the construction phases of the neighbourhood to try to recompose and recontextualize the findings that took place in this quadrant of the city. Despite, in fact, the archaeological documentation produced on the discoveries was often reduced to sparse reports, the analysis of the individual urban events chronologically ordered (creation of the infrastructural network; construction of the lots; consolidation interventions of the pre-existing buildings) together with the analysis of the archival sources it has been revealed the only key to the knowledge of the numerous finds that have occurred. In this sense, the data have shown the emergence of a surprising palimpsest of ancient contexts with a predominantly residential character (often unpublished), dated from the Republican age to late antiquity, in an area of the city, that of the upper Cispius, otherwise scarcely known in its historical and topographical articulation. The contribution propes a review of the "rediscovered" contexts, the related historical-urban events that led to their discovery and the protagonists of an era strongly conditioned by the problematic relationship between archeology and urbanism.