Ricerche di topografia storica diacronica a Roma, dall'antichità alla prima età moderna

For several years now research has been ongoing into mediaeval buildings in the city of Rome, with special reference to their topographical history and development sequences. In Rome, stratifications in uninterrupted sequence from antiquity up to the present day suggest that the reasons for being of monuments and their physical appearance have been ever-changing. Indeed, they continue to change; therefore their study demands an inter-disciplinary approach and the analysis of their physical condition or of their characteristics. True knowledge means to develope an understanding of the relationship between a certain building and its surroundings, its niche in time and space and, more importantly, the reasons for its very existence and subsequent transformations. No monument can be properly studied - and conserved - outside its historical and topographical context. Thus, it is vital to be familiar on the one hand with its original site (the city as it was in antiquity), on the other hand with the processes of urbanistic evolution to which this city has been subject up to the present day. The article illustrates the researches into three historical sites and monuments: the complex of S. Balbina (Aventino Hill), the mediaeval mills of S. Sisto (Celio Hill) and the mediaeval house of Crescenzi (Forum Boarium near the Tiber).