"Preliminary Methodological Indications for the Restoration of Ancient Buildings: the Protocol implemented in the So-Called Dépendence of the Villa dei Sette Bassi in Rome"

According to the latest methodological guidelines for correct architectural restoration, any conservation process must be preceded by planning a strategy to ensure in-depth knowledge of the building to be restored. This must involve the use of direct surveys, wherever possible, and an analysis of the surfaces to detect the resistant structure and its dynamics over time. A map of the cracks and fissures is required, and the interpretation of the results should be based on a full understanding of ancient building techniques and of the spatial and architectural approach adopted during the historical periods involved. In other words, actual restoration needs to be preceded by a virtual “redesign” of the building in all its phases and aspects. Comparison with the relative historic and artistic documentation needs to convey the full complexity but also uniqueness of the building in question. The Villa dei Sette Bassi in Rome, Italy, has always been considered one of the most important Imperial Roman complexes in the suburbs of Rome, but it is in such a precarious state of conservation that access is prohibited, even for the purposes of study. As far as we know today, the villa consists of three main blocks, possibly not all made at the same time, around large open spaces surrounded by continuous walls, covering an area considered to be of about 10 hectares. A branch of the Aqua Claudia aqueduct (or of the Anio Novus) supplied the complex with water. The present-day level of the surrounding countryside corresponds only in some places with what it was in the past: in most cases, the buildings are buried to the first floor of the grade plane. The portions above ground have collapsed in almost all places, or are in total ruin, in a process of ongoing and continuous deterioration. In the face of such a compromised situation, and on such a large scale, the Soprintendenza Archeologica of Rome (SAR) has been obliged to concentrate its efforts, resources and work on a limited portion of the Villa. This is the so-called Dépendence, which is apparently detached from the central complex of buildings. External specialists have been called in to draw up strategies for planning appropriate restoration. The operation is currently under way and constitutes an excellent test bench for perfecting a methodology that calls for comprehensive, wide-ranging preliminary documentation as key to any consolidation and restoration work. The data collection process adopted consists of five main stages: 1) Preliminary historical, topographical, iconographic and archival inspections; 2) Indirect or, wherever possible, direct surveys, coupled with a comprehensive and autopsic monitoring on site, including any such two-dimensional projection as may be necessary to obtain a three-dimensional volumetric model. Map of lesions and instability; 3) Identification and analysis of the construction process, and of any modifications during construction; virtual reconstruction of any missing elements and sectors; 4) Creation of a three-dimensional reconstruction based on a critical analysis of data provided by the survey and technical inspection, coupled with those drawn from the historical and artistic study; 5) Interpretation of all the data drawn from the comparison between the three-dimensional model and the specific information taken from the map of cracks and fissures to enable a correct and appropriate restoration. The methodology applied and the results obtained during the preliminary study for the restoration of so-called Dépendence are a model, currently being implemented, of the ground required for proper restoration. All too often, the need to intervene rapidly, often resorting to emergency measures, can lead to a partial or even total lack of the suitable preliminary documentation and expert analysis required for a real understanding of the ancient structures. These are essential for ensuring not only the functional but also formal correctness of the restoration projects involved.