Abstract
Abstract. The ‘Masseria Rota’ in Cercola, near Naples, is one of the best-preserved examples of the important vernacular architectural heritage of the Vesuvian area. Built in the 17th century upon more ancient pre-existences, the farm is an extraordinary example of the construction capabilities typical of the Neapolitan area and the dual vocation, productive and residential of the Vesuvian ‘masserie’. The production area for slaughter and winemaking – located on the basement floor and still in good condition – coexists with the residential part with a sober decorative apparatus, enriched by the nineteenth-century transformations. Its planimetric U-shaped layout denounces a development for subsequent integrations that is also evident from the mensiochronological analysis of the walls. Unfortunately, despite the its indisputable historical, architectural and documentary value, the ‘Masseria Rota’ is in a serious state of abandonment, suffocated by contemporary buildings often devoid of specific values. The contribution to be presented illustrates the results of a teaching experiment that aims to propose methodological guidelines for the drafting of a restoration project aware and respectful of the identity of the aforementioned 'Masseria', and intends to provide a contribution of knowledge for the preservation and enhancement of a vernacular building heritage present on the slopes of Vesuvius, guiltily forgotten and abandoned in recent decades, which, instead, represents one of the most interesting and important of the settlement and construction modes of a territory inhabited since antiquity – despite the cyclical destructions caused by the volcanic activity of Vesuvius – for its environmental and landscape characteristics.
Highlights
METHODOLOGICAL PREMISEThe metric survey and the identification of materials and construction’s typologies used to build an ancient architectural artefact allow, to relate and compare the results of iconographic and documentary studies with the structural stratigraphy of the elements of the architectural construction, the wall weavings, the materials used, the construction types and, allow to add new tiles to the mosaic of knowledge.The study of the building in its different aspects, metric-dimensional, historical, type-morphological, formal and even pathological, linked to the phenomena of static failure and degradation, makes possible an increase in the perception and interpretation of values of the building, in a continuous passage of scale, from the physical reality of the object to the historical-documentary and interpretive data, allowing to grasp the architectural, structural, decorative and formal values that characterize each ancient building, through the reading of the traces that history has imprinted in its material
This contribution is the result of ongoing studies in the field of teaching and applied research of the Authors in the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples, dedicated to knowledge and historical-urban interpretation, technical-constructive and historical-architectural of the building heritage of the Neapolitan area, with special reference to the rural architecture of the Vesuvian area
The study as a whole intends to investigate the system of villas-farms of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries built in the fertile territory of Vesuvius, to outline possible and desirable restoration and enhancement interventions, which know how to confront the ‘palinsesto’ of signs and memories guarded by such artifacts.The research work is based on the knowledge that the examination and classification of historical-archival and iconographic documentation are extraordinary tools of investigation and knowledge that find their completion by combining with the results of the direct and multidisciplinary examination of the physical consistency of the architectural artifact
Summary
The metric survey and the identification of materials and construction’s typologies used to build an ancient architectural artefact allow, to relate and compare the results of iconographic and documentary studies with the structural stratigraphy of the elements of the architectural construction, the wall weavings, the materials used, the construction types and, allow to add new tiles to the mosaic of knowledge.The study of the building in its different aspects, metric-dimensional, historical, type-morphological, formal and even pathological, linked to the phenomena of static failure and degradation, makes possible an increase in the perception and interpretation of values of the building, in a continuous passage of scale, from the physical reality of the object to the historical-documentary and interpretive data, allowing to grasp the architectural, structural, decorative and formal values that characterize each ancient building, through the reading of the traces that history has imprinted in its material For this reason, the ongoing work is based on the execution of direct investigations of the material consistency of historical architectural artefacts, according to an 'archaeological' approach, with the aim of integrating historical research and achieving a contextual, interdisciplinary and polysemantic interpretation of architectural heritage. The contribution that is presented considers the first developments of the analyses and studies conducted and traces the basis for the necessary project developments
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