Abstract
Abstract. The castle of Pescopagano, a small village located on the border between Basilicata and Campania, is a complex of great historical and landscape value, for the inseparable combination that binds its stones to the rock where it stands. Founded perhaps in the Byzantine times, but certainly renovated and built in its current forms between the 11th and 12th century, the castle had considerable military importance under Frederick II of Swabia. Seriously damaged by the earthquake of 1694, the fortress underwent a partial reconstruction, but ended up suffering further collapses caused by the Irpinia earthquake of 1980, such as to motivate the first interventions of securing and, above all, the application of the listing process. Today the castle is still largely in ruins and is only partially accessible thanks to a limited intervention on the paths. The present research aims at deepening the knowledge of the state of conservation, the damage mechanisms and the previous restoration interventions of the castle, in order to define possible strategies for its restoration and enhancement. The analysis work uses the most advanced laser scanning and drone detection systems, in order to document, as accurately as possible, the complex patrimonial system of the castle. Thanks to the combined use of these techniques, the objective is also to define methods that can be replicated in other contexts where the relationship between geomorphology and construction is so relevant that it jeopardizes the use of any other traditional survey system.
Highlights
In the wide field of architectural heritage, the knowledge of complex buildings such as castles and fortified structures has benefited, more than other types of artefacts, from the significant technological advances of the last decades
Buildings often inaccessible due to morphological or historical conditions, or that present conditions of high risk for collapses and other natural disasters, can today be investigated in conditions of relative safety, without renouncing to the accuracy of the analysis but, pushing knowledge far beyond the levels that were considered acceptable only two decades ago. This is precisely the case of Pescopagano, a small village in southern Italy, located on the border between Basilicata and Campania, whose castle, placed in a prominent position on a natural relief that crowns the village, constitutes a complex of great historical and landscape value for the inseparable combination that binds its stones to the rock where it stands, and an object of difficult knowledge due to its conditions of partial inaccessibility
Further evidence of the existence of the fortress in ancient times is provided by the historian Agathias Scholasticus, according to whom, during the Gothic war (553 AD), the only place capable of welcoming the surviving soldiers was a castle protected by boulders eroded by a torrent – the Guana – which flows downstream from the village of Pescopagano (Agazia Scolastico, 1660, p. 52-54; Araneo, 1930, p. 14-35; Mancini, 1967)
Summary
In the wide field of architectural heritage, the knowledge of complex buildings such as castles and fortified structures has benefited, more than other types of artefacts, from the significant technological advances of the last decades. Buildings often inaccessible due to morphological or historical conditions, or that present conditions of high risk for collapses and other natural disasters, can today be investigated in conditions of relative safety, without renouncing to the accuracy of the analysis but, pushing knowledge far beyond the levels that were considered acceptable only two decades ago This is precisely the case of Pescopagano, a small village in southern Italy, located on the border between Basilicata and Campania, whose castle, placed in a prominent position on a natural relief that crowns the village, constitutes a complex of great historical and landscape value for the inseparable combination that binds its stones to the rock where it stands, and an object of difficult knowledge due to its conditions of partial inaccessibility. At the end of this work, a proposal for compatible conservation and reuse was made, preserving the suggestive condition of ruin which has been stratified for centuries
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