Liminal Archaeology: Castro Pretorio as an emblem of marginal archaeology

The research investigates the Castrum Praetorium in Rome as a paradigmatic case of liminal archaeology: an archaeological presence marginalized within the dense and stratified urban fabric of the capital. Through a morphological and project-based approach, the study examines the layered relationship between the ancient military complex, the consolidated city that gradually incorporated it during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the contemporary condition of neglect and underexposure. By analysing the traces of the ancient city and the architectural palimpsest of the modern expansions surrounding the Castrum, the research aims to demonstrate how contemporary design, when developed through a conscious reading of pre-existences and coherent formal languages, can act as a catalyst for the reactivation of marginalized archaeological areas. The Castrum Praetorium thus becomes an emblem of how urban archaeology, often confined to residual or infrastructural margins, may regain centrality within the living city through design strategies based on continuity, reinterpretation, and morphological coherence. This reflection contributes to the broader debate on the role of the contemporary project in the requalification of archaeological heritage, highlighting the potential of design as a mediating tool between the ancient and the present city, between visibility and concealment, monument and margin.