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https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-806/foreword.pdf
A-1
Foreword: Reflections on Aquileia
Anna Maria Reggiani
Representative of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities
The Aquileia Foundation Council
Introduction
Fernand-Paul Braudel, in his extensive work devoted to the historical
and economical frameworks of the Mediterranean basin, claims that the
Adriatic sea exhibited a great deal of coherence, since by its remote
antiquity was ruled by a unique leading city located on the Northern
side: Aquileia first, then Ravenna and Venice…and one could also
mention the less-known cities of Spina and Adria!
As far as Aquileia is concerned, one can say it was born as a frontier
outpost, but rapidly evolved towards a strategic commercial hub, as
well as a passage city for the emperors travelling towards the borders of
the Roman Empire.
Aquileia today
The identification of the ruins of Aquileia has fed a remarkable
archaeological heritage still to be brought to light, as outlined by the
motivations for the inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage list in
1998: “Since most of the ancient Aquileia is still untouched and
buried, and is the most complete example of a city of the ancient
Rome in the Mediterranean basin”. As a matter of fact, only 30 ha
have been excavated - over a grand total of 85 ha. A great deal of
knowledge has still to be acquired about the monuments – the
public buildings, the harbor, the necropoles - with respect to the
private buildings, since their rich heritage is still to be explored, and
the original locations of the sculpted works uncovered.
Research and perspectives
No doubt that Aquileia is a major attraction towards the Northern Italy
and the Friuli-Venezia Giulia (FVG) region. Its insertion into the
UNESCO list contributed to increase the number of visitors.
When the Aquileia Foundation was established, managing the Cultural
Heritage was recognized as a strategic choice, to be undertaken by co-
A-2 A.M. Reggiani
operating with the Institutions in the area. The route of the Foundation
started with the approval of the Law 18/2006 by the Friuli-Venezia
Giulia Regional Council, but the idea of an Institution for Aquileia
traces back until the early sixties of the last century. Indeed, the project
has come to life thanks to the funds made available by the Friuli-
Venezia Giulia Region.
Recovering of the ancient memories is a hard job, but an essential
requirement to increase their value; as a matter of fact, although no
protocols are at work about “the re-use of the antique ruins”, many
people agree on the opportunity to avoid, in any case, the strict
confinement of the archaeological sites, which would cause the
lapse of interest and their unavoidable decay.
Reflecting about the sense of the fragmented archaeological systems is
a part of the so-called “non-place”, as it was called - in the realm of the
debates about the use of the Urban Archaeology – the area devoted to
the archaeological memories; such a definition is an anthropological
one and is due to Marc Augé about the anonymous places in the
contemporary society: railway stations, airports, motorways. The same
concept can be extended to different cultural contexts, wherever a sort
of „religious space‟ emerges, as it can happen for a Museum or an
archaeological site, which paradoxically may become anonymous
places, crowded by similar - but lonely - individuals.
In the light of the previous reflections, the goal of the Aquileia
Foundation is fully integrating the archaeological area into the
surroundings, by means of a management plan, i.e., the tool UNESCO
required to include the city into the World Heritage List, with the aim
of achieving an integrated governance of the region. In fact, the full
plan combines a strategic economic plan as well as those for
communication and the territorial enhancement.
Final observations
The path outlined for Aquileia envisages an innovative approach, in
which the ancient and modern cities coexist and permeate each
other. The area that suffered from a period of expropriations - to
which did not follow an equivalent period of „Great Works‟ - can
be that ideal site to experiment novel projects: in this way,
increasing the value of the area can be achieved both by structural
interventions – restorations, coverings, reconstructions – and
Foreword A-3
communication initiatives, in co-operation with other cultural
Institutions.
The work in Archaeology receives an invaluable support by the non-
destructive technologies, that allow to extract a great deal of data and
prepare the excavations. The first workshop on “The New
Technologies for Aquileia”, took place at the Aquileia
Archeological Museum in may 2011 and was organized by the
university of Udine. Scholars and experts from Italy, Slovenia,
Germany, Australia have brought their contributions and
emphasized the potentialities of the multi-disciplinary research
work combining Archeology with the new technologies. The
workshop has gained credit as a significant contribution to the
progress of knowledge, conservation and enhancement of the
heritage of the ancient roman city.