From Italy to Montenegro: cultural contaminations and discipline exchanges for the enhancement of the Roman town of Doclea

Since 2017, a multidisciplinary research project has been in progress for the study and enhancement of the Roman town of Doclea in Montenegro and the area in which the archaeological site is located. Located a few kilometres from the capital Podgorica, Doclea has seen in the last century long phases of abandonment, alternating with some archaeological excavations, but not apparently integrated in a long-term strategy. The necessity to breathe new life into a site so important for the cultural identity of Montenegro has encouraged cross-discipline dialogues and frequent exchanges between the Italian team of the National Research Council, made up of archaeologists, topographers, remote sensing experts, geophysics and architects, and the Montenegrin team, of historians of the University and conservators of the Superintendence. The Italian expertize in dealing with very complex cultural settlements and landscapes has worked as a stimulus for the creation of a shared intervention protocol and methodology. The need to preserve and enhance the entire area, in cultural and economic terms, produced a real 'cultural contamination' of different views and actors, such as archaeologists and architects, with their varying points of convergences and divergences. The final result is a project aimed at a profound modification not only of the area itself with the construction of infrastructures and facilities, but also the global perception and appreciation of an ancient site by the local population and international visitors.