Palazzo Gravina hosts 'Pompeii within the walls' exhibition

The exhibition 'Pompeii within the Walls' opens today. The exhibition, set up in the Renata De Fusco hall at Palazzo Gravina on Via Monteoliveto 2, concerns an area of the ancient city that stands as a real urban "void" just a few steps from the Forum, created following the decommissioning of modern structures built after the bombing of the archaeological area in 1943.This constitutes an opportunity for the restoration of the area's evidence and for the improvement of fruition for the entire Forum area, now affected by obvious congestion and overtourism. The multiple knowledges of architecture, from the restoration of the built heritage to design and interior architecture, propose innovative solutions compatible with the fragile ancient matter for an enhancement of the entire area in support of the entire Archaeological Park.

The exhibition brings together the outcomes of the Convention and educational support 'Pompeii Within the Walls. Knowledge, restoration and enhancement of Regio VII, Insula 4. Deepening knowledge and methodological directions for restoration conservation and inclusive fruition', between Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Department of Architecture and School of Specialization in Architectural and Landscape Heritage of the University of Naples Federico II, signed on October 10, 2021 (October 10, 2021 - April 1' 2024). Scientific head Professor Renata Picone; director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park Gabriel Zuchtriegel; agreement manager for the Pompeii Archaeological Park: architect Arianna Spinosa; DIARC research team: professor Paolo Giardiello, professor Giovanni Multari, professor Luigi Veronese, professor Mariarosaria Villani, professor Viviana Saitto, professor Luigi Cappelli, Ersilia Fiore, Sara Iaccarino, Laura de Riso, Paola Martire, Margherita Maurea, Salvatore Suarato, Mariapia Testa.

The proposed solutions transform the fragility of the structures and the voids generated by modern demolitions into design resources for the definition of possible scenarios in which the layout, understood as spatial direction, accompanies the visitor in reading the archaeological traces, transforming Insula VII 4 into an open, narrative and didactic landscape.

The project integrates archaeological traces, twentieth-century transformations, recent demolitions and future possibilities, making the stratifications and temporal uncertainties the very matter of its action.

Placed in the central-western sector of the volcanic plateau, Insula VII 4 covers an area of 7,676 m² and is bounded by two orthogonal road axes, Via del Foro to the west and Via della Fortuna Augusta to the north, and, to the east and south, by two streets with a curvilinear development, Vicolo Storto and Vicolo degli Augustali, which imprint the block with a vaguely trapezoidal shape.

During the post-World War II period and in the aftermath of the 1980 earthquake, Insula VII 4 underwent major transformations related to the insertion of modern functions in the heart of the ancient city - such as the Directorate of the Excavations, storage facilities, the restoration laboratory, rooms for custodial staff and locker rooms - whose buildings were constructed by superimposing temporary structures made of modern materials on the archaeological ruins, some of which were partially removed by the demolition and dismantling interventions carried out by the Technical Office of the Archaeological Park.

It is in this scenario that 'Pompeii within the Walls' is set: a research that, assuming restoration as a priority methodological framework, has interwoven the cognitive deepening of the built Insula VII 4 with the critical reading of its spaces and its events, restoring a unitary layout oriented to the maximum permanence of the archaeological matter and to the improvement of the fruition of the block.