INFRASTRUCTURING HERITAGE. NEW PARADIGMS FOR SUBWAY STATIONS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER OF ROME

With the design of the San Giovanni station in a museological and archaeological key, a new design paradigm has been defined for the new stations of Line C, currently under construction in Rome. After a long and consolidated accustom to considering the confrontation between infrastructural modernization and the protection of historical and archaeological heritage as a battle, the stratification of the city of Rome is finally recognized as a value to be integrated into the design of the infrastructure. As of 2018, after the success of the San Giovanni station, other important stations are being built at exceptional archaeological sites, in the historic center, such as under the Colosseum itself, or even in areas marginal to it, such as the Amba Aradam station, where the unexpected discovery of an entire building from the imperial age has led to the construction of a literal underground museum. The paper aims to analyze the methodological characteristics, the artistic resources involved and the design solutions adopted in relation to both the construction aspects and the urban insertion and integration; the new stations are designed to take on a central role in the appreciation and understanding of the historical stratification and the surrounding urban space, bringing the simple traveler, through an involuntary museum, to an aesthetic and cultural experience in the very same moment of his journey. The aim is to demonstrate how the design synergy between archaeology, architecture and engineering can constitute a unique resource for urban contexts rich in history, and how the recognition of this potential in the planning phase can lead to significant results in terms of overall urban quality, as in the case of the future Venezia station, in the very center of the touristic and administrative heart of Rome, which will be able to involve numerous adjacent archaeological and cultural sites in a large urban node.