Persistenze: A Contemporary Archeological Park

The matter of which Rome is made is characterized by time rather than space; layers of various centuries overlapped. Romans have been always living in between these different layers where architecture, nature and history merge together. Roma is a Pasticcio. The most representative picture of Rome is the Palatino: It is the place of the "pomerium" traced by Romolo; it is the place where the ruins of ancient Rome intersect with the gardens of the Renaissance; It is the place where classical architecture has been used as the set of Olympic Games and where the ruins of the imperial city become the epicenter of mass tourism. Nowadays, the interaction between antique and contemporary is characterized by dynamics of promiscuity. The scientific role of the archaeologist doomed antiquity to an abstract and artificial dimension. As a result, the cultural and physical fruition of the archeological park on the Palatino needs a change. The archeological park need to include programs and spaces which could give to it the opportunity to contrast its passive nature allowing archeology to integrate itself within contemporary urban dynamics. The project deals with producing a collection of programmatic and architectural operations in order to recompose the fragmentary nature of the Palatine. Hence the interest in an architecture that, through punctual and specific interventions, becomes part of the surrounding physical and topographical environment. Interventions that establish spatial interactions able to resonate beyond their specific dimension and that are capable of establishing relations with the fragmentary form of Roman objects.