The "in-between" of archaeological sites. The case study of the “Villa of Augustus” in Somma Vesuviana

Archaeological sites represent spaces “in-between” united and fragmentary conditions, past and present, public and private spaces, visible and invisible. Archaeological findings come to light both in the rural areas and in the urban ones and represent cracks in the chronological layering of the territory, thus breaking the consolidated balances between the sections of the city. Their recurring buried condition involves the sacrifice of other overlapping and equally historicized layers, the uncertainty of the excavation plan and of its shape. The interest they raise in archaeological research requires protection and a denied access to the public, so that the archaeological site becomes an enclosure. On the contrary, being a cultural heritage, they need to be open and exhibited to the public. Their fragmentary nature makes their study and exhibition difficult, but their spread on the territory hints at the possibility of making some “in-between” scales links. The archaeological site known as “Villa of Augustus” in Somma Vesuviana (Naples, Italy), here taken as case study, adds other issues to these ones which derive from the complexity of the territory where it lies. Its location, on the edge of the inhabited centre, on the North slope of the volcano Somma-Vesuvius, belongs to the metropolitan area of Naples, between the cities of Naples (on the West) and Nola (on the East). This archaeological site is an important finding of a wide multidisciplinary research program begun about fifteen years ago with the aim to comprehend the ancient settlements of the territory on the North of Vesuvius. In fact this territory is less known than the coastal area, where the archaeological sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum lie, but not less rich of historical evidences which had been disregarded by the previous archaeological researches. Furthermore its location on the slope of the volcano leads you to deal with the issue of the volcanic risk related to the urban density, but it is also a brand for the economical and cultural development of the area. The archaeological excavation of “Villa of Augustus” extends for about two-thousand square meters and it is about eight meters deep, but the majestic archaeological structures come to light are thought to be just a section of the entrance of a wider Roman villa. This situation make the final size and the duration of the excavation indeterminate, thus inducing the need to open the site to the public and, at the same time, to allow both the archaeological research and the protection of the findings. The here presented project, made during a master’s degree thesis, considers all these issues from which the need of an architectural and urban design for the enhancement of this archaeological site arises. The aim of the project is to achieve a fragment “in-between” the urban scale and the architectural one. On territorial scale it has relationships with the landscape, where the Mt. Somma-Vesuvius, on the South side of the area, and the mountain-chain of Preappennini, on the North side, shape a sort of “territorial room”. On the local scale it has relationships with fine cultivations and several historical and artistic buildings. The project is arranged in three levels: the “up”; the “archaeological enclosure and the paths”; the “underground”.