LA CITTA' CONTINUA: SCAVI ROMANI PER L'ELEVAZIONE DELLA CITTA' CONTEMPORANEA

ABSTRACT. The spreading city: archaeological excavations of the Roman city for the enhance of contemporary city. In 1910 Loos wrote: “Modern civilization is based on ancient greatness [...], one thought unify great architects. They think: as I build, so ancient Romans would have built”. But he warns: “We know that they are wrong. Time, place, purpose, climate, environment prohibit this estimate”. But what is the meaning of this message, that shows us the way and - at the same time- forbids embarking it? After Loos, antiquity will be no more a repositorium where our identity resides; but the Classic is “Das Andere”, the place of otherness. The modern-desperate artist, as Füssli (1778), facing the greatness of roman ruins- now knows that the Classic is a silent presence: that must be interrogated, knowing that every question will come back like an echo, measuring an absence. But for us, it is essential to look at this absence, to fill it with the presence of our projects, with the aid of the myth. Myth precedes sciences in time and space: myth is inscribed in places; while “science is a mapping that ends up covering real spaces - land grabbing” (Serres): for this, a scientific discussion on archaeological sites cannot be divided from myth. Myth inscribed in places gives voice to them , Contemporary periphery of S. Aloe in Vibo Valentia coexists and collides with the Roman municipium, during excavation works: the protection and the conservation of this stratified urban heritage until now has represented only a problem for the expansion of the city, but it should become a resource for the configuration of the contemporary city; that is one: it is the city of the present that contains the city of the past and that we must pass it to our children. This change of perspective will be possible only by promoting both development factors and conservation of the urban texture. Eg.: Any new architectural intervention will surely take advantage of the presence of a nearby archaeological park, that preserves natural scenery for the enjoyment of everyone and increases property value; but only if protected area constraint become an occasion to plan new services for the community, and not just a ban on building in the areas in question. So S. Aloe, the Roman city park, configures two new squares: the one between the existing schools, organized as an educational unit (hostel/summer school) integrated to the fruition of archaeological site; and the square called Antiquarium, exhibition space for roman statues (by now storage) and archaeological and natural park entrance. The presence of the past represents the “Lares and the Penates” of urban renewal: we must bring them with us to find the city that lies ahead - as Aeneas did. Like Aeneas in the Underworld, we discover that the seeds of the future are lineages that march along with the shadows of the past, because the past and the future “interpenetrate and determine each other” (Pogue Harrison). The legacies of the past are not behind us, but in the future; so that, by projecting our future living space the meaning of all our past come into play. The spreading city is not the expanding one, it is the one that is made of layered memory.