Rome Research Articles

Архитектура музейных комплексов в историческом контексте времени

This study, which focuses on the architecture of museum buildings, analyzes the methods of shaping facades, with consideration of its regional setting and geographic location. The authors emphasize that in current conditions the design of museum facilities becomes a key economic factor affecting the tourist attraction, which, in turn, facilitates economic development of the region. The article puts special emphasis on the integration of museum facilities into historical urban development, by giving the example of the cities of Rome, Vatican, New York, Bilbao, Marseille, Giza. It covers in detail the typical features of the architecture of museums that affect their space planning. By analyzing different museum sites, the authors identify both similarities and differences in architectural solutions and examine the impact of these solutions on visitors. The study also emphasizes the importance of the research for understanding the role of architecture in creating a unique and attractive environment of the museum space, as well as for developing strategies for further development of museum infrastructure considering current requirements and visitor expectations. The paper highlights the importance of innovative approaches to facade design, which not only gives museums a unique appearance, but also has a strong role in shaping its positive perception.

ULUS’TA ROMA AKSLARINI YENIDEN TANIMLAMAK

Ankara is one of the oldest settlement in Anatolia for different civilizations. Ulus city center and its surroundings were a significant settlement during the Roman, Seljuk and Ottoman periods as well as today. However, despite the cultural and historical background of the city, historical structures before 20th century are not legible in the urban pattern. Today, Roman structures in Ulus are disconnected from each other due to dense buildings and vehicle roads within the developing urban pattern. The traces of Roman which is a significant historical and cultural value of the city cannot be perceived holistically in today's urban pattern. The starting point of study is necessity of reconsidering the historical environment in today's city in order to contribute to the urban identity and maintain the historical-cultural heritage. In this context, traces of Roman era in Ulus are handled. By using maps, photographs, qualitative observations and literature sources, it is aimed to identify the problems in current situation and to integrate and redefine the historical environment with today's urban fabric. Hence, the two main roads of ancient Roman city; cardo maximus and decumanus maximus that were typical elements of Roman urban planning need to be reemerged and redefined in the modern urban fabric. While redefining them, an uninterrupted circulation of pedestrians between the Roman bath, Agustus Temple, Julien Column and amphi theater is aimed. It is suggested to make a cultural and touristic pedestrian route by connecting the Roman structures and this pedestrian route is suggested as a route that can continue to Ankara Castle after the theater and is followed within the different historical layers of the city. The suggested route is starting from Roman places and it connects other historical places from Turks. Historical urban landscapes and ancient roads are passages and thresholds that connects history and present. Thus, walking on these roads different experiences can be gained both while walking and when making a stop. There is also time, space and culture transitions and experiences, with pauses in the monuments and open areas at certain points on the route.

The Monastery near Kıyıköy in European Turkey

The monastery near today’s Kıyıköy settlement on the Black Sea coast is a very interesting rock-cut complex. It probably inherited an ancient sanctuary near the ancient Thracian and Roman city of Salmydessos, which became an important Christian center in the vicinity of Constantinople. In this text, we briefly review the historical information about the city, then describe the monastery, because there has been only one scientific publication since 1970 and the monastery is very difficult to access. We apply the three plans of the monastery that have been published since the 19th century to trace the change in the condition of the rock and the rooms that have been added. Then we analyze the architectural program and types of decoration of the three-nave basilica and the sacred spring, which have no exact analogue and are comparable both to examples from antiquity and to the best temples in the Byzantine capital. Based on this analysis, we assume three construction periods – ancient, from the time of Justinian and from the end of the iconoclastic period after the destruction of the city by the Bulgarian Khan Krum.

"Road Crash Severity Level in Urban Areas. A Study on Traffic Crashes in the Romanian Cities "

Road traffic in urban areas is highly prone to the occurrence of road crashes, while crash severity level differs at the city level and in relation to the leading cause. In the case of urban sustainable environments, strategic planning and development measures have been implemented for safer mobility by effective traffic management and road user education. Still, in crowded cities, where mobility and transit traffic are major factors, road crashes are the antithesis of road safety and they occur in simple or complex circumstances mostly related to road users and road infrastructure. The aim of this study was to define the severity level of road traffic crashes in the cities of Romania during the reference period 2008 - 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, while highlighting the leading causes of road crashes in urban areas that determine their highest occurrence and severity level. Official crash data records provided by the general Directorate of the Romanian Police were employed. The general severity degree of road crashes was calculated, particularly in relation to the first five leading causes, and cities were ranked accordingly. Results are rendered at the local level, for all 319 cities and towns in Romania, by the five leading causes and by severity level, comparatively for the years 2008 and 2019. Synthetically, we pinpoint the Romanian cities that are most affected by this phenomenon. This could help local and national decision-makers direct their focus towards mitigating the negative effects of the frequent crash triggering factors, decrease road crash severity levels and create customized measures for better traffic management and increased road safety at the local level.

Roman amphorae discovered at Romula in the archaeological campaign of 2018

The article presents a lot of Roman amphorae, discovered at Romula, in the excavations from 2018. All presented amphorae were found in the central area of the former Roman city, so-called Central Fort. The amphorae represent an important number of all Roman pottery vessel discovered in 2018. They were found in all research units, and, in all archaeological levels. Almost all of them are certainly arrived at Romula from other Roman provinces as a part of a commercial exchanges. The study of them indicate an Oriental origins of this kind of vessel. Some of them were used specially for wine transport, other ones were used for more type of goods as olive oil, wine salted fish or fish sauce. The large number of this kind of vessels indicate a wealth category of people that could buy them that were more expensive that those of local origins.

CRAIOVA LA ÎNCEPUTUL SECOLULUI XX - ASPECTE EDILITARE ȘI ECONOMICE

At the beginning of the 20th century, Romanian cities were in the process of development, undergoing a series of profound transformations. Among them was Craiova, one of the country's top three cities by population and economic development. Dubbed the 'city of 1,000 millionaires', Craiova saw considerable progress in terms of urbanistic evolutions. At the turn of the century, a series of official and private buildings were erected, which over time became emblematic of the city. Elements of modernism also appeared in the form of public utility networks, which were absolutely essential for the functioning of a European city. The foundations of a stable and diversified local economy were also laid during this period.

Salt in Late Iron Age Italy. A multidisciplinary approach to the exploration of Italy’s coastal exploitation sites: Piscina Torta (Ostia, Rome) case study

During the Copper Age and onwards, unique archaeological sites emerged throughout Europe. These sites exhibit distinct features such as the absence of typical household pottery, the presence of kilns, and extensive layers composed solely of fragments of reddish-brown jars. Scholars generally interpret these sites as specialized locations for salt production through the technique of boiling saltwater, known as briquetage. In Italy, many of these sites are found along the Tyrrhenian coast and span from the Middle Bronze Age to the Roman era, with a particular concentration during the early Iron Age. However, the archaeological evidence in Italy differs from that of other European sites, suggesting that these Italian sites were not solely dedicated to salt production but also involved other economic activities. To delve deeper into the understanding of these sites and their socio-economic context, the University of Groningen initiated the Salt & Power: Early States, Rome and Resource Control project in 2021. The project aims to comprehensively analyze these sites and shed light on the production of salt within their broader societal and economic framework.In this contribution, we present preliminary findings derived from intensive surveys, coring campaigns, and geophysical investigations conducted at one such site, Piscina Torta. This site is believed to be connected to the city of Rome and dates back to the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. Furthermore, we propose a multidisciplinary workflow for studying specialized sites, incorporating various research methodologies and disciplines.

Roman Lamps Discovered at Romula (I)

"This article presents a batch of lamps discovered, in 2022, in the central area of the Roman city of Romula. Import lamps of the type Loeschcke VIII/Ivanyi VII, Loeschcke X with the marks FORTIS, IANVARI and OCTAVI, respectively Loeschcke VIII/Bailey Type K. They circulated from the second quarter of the 2nd century AD to the middle of the third century, with greater frequency from the second half of the 2nd century to the first third of the 3rd century AD. Lamps of local production are of the type Loeschcke VIII, similar to Ivanyi VII, Loeschke X with the mark FAOR, IANVARI, respectively modelled to Alicu XXI type wheel. They have been discovered in archaeological contexts dated from the second half of the 2nd century to the penultimate decade of the 2nd century AD, one lamp of Loeschcke X type with FAOR mark, another with the same mark being dated to the last decade of the 2nd century AD, and the first third of the 3rd century AD. Loeschcke VIII lamps were dated, similar to Ivanyi VII/Bayley O-Q/Ponsich III B/Deneauve VIIA, Loeschcke X with IANVARI stamp, respectively Alicu XXI type lamps. In conclusion, there are more numerous occurences of imported lamps between the second quarter of the 2nd century AD, and the first third of the 3rd century AD., with a higher frequency in the second half of the 2nd century AD. Lamps of local production begin to circulate in the second half of the 2nd century AD, until the middle of the 2nd century AD, with greater frequency from the last decade of the 2nd century AD, to the middle of the 3rd century AD."

Green and Smart Urban Development: A Comparative Studies Between Cities of Romania, Canada and Denmark

Abstract Due to the fact that the planet’s resources are limited and human exploitation has led to unprecedented environmental pollution, sustainability has become a concept of great importance in recent years, especially in the context of very rapid and large-scale urban development. The green city is a form of sustainable city focused mainly on the creation of green spaces, which helps, among other things, to reduce pollution, to combat climate change and to create a more favorable environment for people. Green infrastructure is the main element that characterizes this type of sustainable city, the dynamics of the use of the term in specialized studies showing an upward trend. Interest in the notion of green city has seen a major increase in the last 8 years, highlighting the need to create a more nature-friendly way of urban development. The country that stands out regarding its contribution in terms of studies carried out on the theme of green city is China, while Romania is one of the countries where this subject is very little researched. A cluster analysis of cities in Romania, Denmark and Canada provides a valuable perspective, namely that Romanian cities are the most polluted and have very few green spaces per capita, suggesting the existence of problems with government policies to transform the cities into ones that respect the environment more.

The people’s budget? How business interests and fiscal constraints shaped the economic policies of the Italian populist government

Between June 2018 and September 2019, Italy was ruled by a coalition government comprising the far-right League and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. The government, which was widely referred to as the first populist executive in a major EU member state, alarmed Italian and European elites. In fact, the coalition built its rhetoric on questioning EU legislation, particularly that concerning immigration and, of interest here, fiscal constraints and austerity policies. The executive’s first programmatic document on economic policy, the budgetary plan for 2019, triggered two months of heated negotiations with the European Commission before being approved. Although critical political economists have investigated how the ‘populist’ government furthered neoliberalism in Italy, an analysis of its organic ties with Italian capital is still missing. Our article addresses this gap by investigating, within a critical Global Political Economy perspective, the competing business interests behind the budgetary plan and how they shaped the formulation of the populist government’s economic policies. The analysis of the executive’s economic policies, together with its organic ties with capital, allows us to explain the rise of the populist government and describe its nature as well as its contradictions which explain its limited transformative potential and its inner fragility. The findings highlight the relevance of a critical Global Political Economy perspective for investigating economic and fiscal policy in the era of authoritarian neoliberalism, in particular in assessing the EU structural constraints on economic and fiscal policy but also the agency of domestic capital shaping it.

Jews in Republican Rome: The literary sources

There is considerable literary evidence that gives us some insight into the Jewish culture in the city of Rome from different perspectives after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Yet, there are few primary accounts of Jews in the city of Rome during the 1st century BCE. In this article it is argued that there was already a significant Jewish population in Rome during the middle of the 1st century BCE and it already had a noted influence on daily life in the capital city. In the wake of the Roman Republic’s imperialistic successes, the city saw an influx of foreign peoples and cultures, including Jews, and they were mentioned in the literature of the time. The little that was written about Jews during this time pertain to those aspects of their culture and religion that appeared peculiar to the Romans, especially in the so-called higher genres of philosophical treatises or history. Yet, we also have texts describing everyday live in Republican Rome – lyric and elegiac poetry. These, too, feature references to Jewish culture. Although Roman poetry is never explicitly interested in Jews or Jewish people, it did paint a picture of Rome at street-level, so to speak, through the eyes of a literate citizen and this picture sometimes included Jews. In this article this type of evidence available to us will be reconsidered to fill in the gap in our historical knowledge.Contribution: This article presents an interpretation of Jews and Jewish practices mentioned during the 1st century BCE in Roman poetry. The poetry of Tibullus, Horace and Ovid, written from a Roman perspective, have been contextualised in their literary traditions and informed by the established philosophical opinions of the time from Cicero, Varro and Lucretius. The result is a useful discussion of how extensive and how reliable these sources are for the understanding of Jewish culture in Rome during the 1st century BCE.

Housing with care: queer geographies and the right to the city of LGBTQ+ urban communities. The Co-housing Queerinale/Agapanto project (Rome)

Feminist geography and epistemologies, since their beginnings, have encouraged us to start again from our bodies as situated geographies, from their experiences and embodied knowledge, to expose the power relations produced by the capitalist heteropatriarchal order and imprinted in the surrounding spaces. The body represents both the privileged dimension from which dynamics of violence, oppression and exploitation are experienced, and the place where new counter-hegemonic practices and forms of embodied knowledge may be produced. Starting with the notion of Wasteocene (2021) – an era marked by the continuous production of cast-off people, communities and places – by the landscape historian Marco Armiero, I will cross some toxic narratives typical of our society, all dear to neoliberal carelessness that inexorably produce waste and marginality. Opposed to these toxic discursive relations and constructions are the commoning practices, as those collective practices that simultaneously generate common goods and communities oriented towards care and inclusion. Along this path, I will present the Queerinale project promoted by the Agapanto Association for the conversion of a disused public building into a collaborative housing for LGBTQ+ elderly in the city of Rome, to re-signify our housing models and suggest new orientations for public policies.

The Rassegna di Arti Figurative di Roma e del Lazio: the purchases by the City of Rome and the Capitoline cultural policy in the 1960s

Despite numerous and continuous criticism for the overabundance of exhibited works and the lack of curatorial logic, six editions of the Rassegna di Arti Figurative di Roma e del Lazio were organised between 1958 and 1968 at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. There are many areas that should be investigated, such as the process of selecting artists and the reasons why some of them withdrew, the reconstruction of the various set-ups and, also, the conflicting coexistence of experimental spaces in the city and outdated institutional exhibitions. This article aims to analyze, for the time being, what the City of Rome purchased during the Rassegna: if, in its first years, the Capitoline collections were populated by works of art still firmly rooted in the concept of figuration, on the other hand the purchases for its latest editions seem to consider the intentions of curators Nello Ponente and Enrico Crispolti, who were sensitive to the most recent novelties in the Roman cultural context.

Aqua Alexandrina and Fragole cistern: characterization of mortars from Roman constructions, Rome (Italy)

Aqua Alexandrina is the last aqueduct built by ancient Romans for the city of Rome. At Giovanni Palatucci Park, the archaeological ruins run close to a pre-existent water system, Fragole cistern. This research aims at characterizing mortar samples from both constructions, to identify the materials used and infer about the technological level and the provenance of materials, using a multi-analytical approach. Combining the information obtained through the petrographic investigation of mortar thin sections at optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction on finely powdered samples and thermogravimetric analysis on the binder fraction, it was possible to attest the presence of both artificial and natural materials with pozzolanic behavior, which conferred hydraulicity to the mortars. The results show that materials are very similar in both constructions, confirming a well-established know-how in the production of hydraulic mortars by the Romans. The volcanic products used as aggregate are identified with two large pyroclastic-flow deposits erupted by the Colli Albani Volcanic District which extensively crop out in the area of Rome: Pozzolane Rosse and Pozzolanelle.

One, Two, Three! Can Everybody Hear Me? Acoustics of Roman Contiones. Case Studies of the Capitoline Hill and the Temple of Bellona in Rome

Abstract Rhetoric was one of the cornerstones of Roman education and public speaking, the essence of being a Roman politician. The speakers attempted to captivate the audience with their style and convince them of their arguments. Studying the audience is therefore just as important as investigating the speakers and their speeches. The aim of this article is to estimate the number of people who could intelligibly hear a speaker delivering a speech from two speaking platforms located in the city of Rome: the podium of the Temple of Bellona in the Campus Martius (in the Late Republican and Late Augustan periods) and the Capitoline Temple. To do this, we built virtual reconstructions of both venues according to the current state of knowledge about them, taking into account the geometry of the space as well as the materials from which they were built. On the models thus prepared, we carried out acoustic simulations for three different levels of background noise (36, 49, and 55 dBA), resulting in Speech Transmission Index maps. The results became the basis upon which we estimated the size of the maximum potential crowds that could hear speech intelligibly, using two methods based on the behaviour of contemporary crowds. We further compared our results with those of previous studies that concern other speaking platforms in Rome.

Annual Comparison of the Atmospheric Urban Heat Island in Rome (Italy): An Assessment in Space and Time

This study examined the atmospheric urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon within the city of Rome (Italy) and its effects on building energy demand. Weather data from 2020 and 2022 collected from six meteorological stations were considered. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to analyze the landscape, correlating the percentage of impermeable surfaces with UHI intensity values in each area. Dynamic simulations were conducted using different climatic data to estimate the heating and cooling energy demands for two representative residential buildings. The findings revealed significant differences in the climatic conditions between urban and rural areas, primarily due to temperature increases. The UHI intensities reached maximum values of 4.67 °C and 3.54 °C in 2020 and 2022. In urban areas, the UHI has positive effects on the heating energy demand but results in a significant increase in energy demand for cooling. Considering a building type constructed between 1900 and 1950, a variation of up to 33.03% in the heating energy demand in urban areas compared to rural areas was calculated, along with a variation of up to 81% for cooling. In contrast, considering a more recent building type constructed between 1991 and 2005, the corresponding values reached up to 36.47% and 75.7%.

Examination of air pollutants and their risk for human health in urban and suburban environments for two Romanian cities: Brasov and Iasi

To detect the spatial differences of atmospheric pollutants in urban and suburban areas is important for observing their aspects on regional air quality, climate, and human health. This study is focused on the evolution of PM2.5, PM10, NOx and SO2, concentrations, and meteorological parameters from 2010 to 2022, at urban and suburban area in the two Romanian city: Brasov and Iasi. The daily patterns of most pollutants in urban and suburban areas, are strongly linked to land-traffic emissions. The seasonal differences were observation of the studied air pollutants displays visible decreasing in warm period and increased concentrations in cold period. Significant higher (25%- Brasov, 28%- Iasi) PM10 were found in urban area concentration probably caused by enhanced vehicular emissions over these areas induced by urban planning and mobility policies. The average relative risk caused by PM10 for all-cause mortality in the urban region was 1.021 (±0.004) in Brasov, and significantly higher in Iasi 1.030 (±0.005). In suburban regions this risk was lower with 33 % 1.014 (±0.006) in Brasov and 30 % 1.021 (±0.003) in Iasi. The main objective of this research was to identify the difference of air pollutants and meteorological parameters in the urban and suburban region of the studied city.

A Methodological Proposal for the Design of Agricultural Parks—The Case of Metropolitan City of Rome

Urbanisation processes have led to the emergence of functional and formal hybrids, blurring and fragmenting the traditional boundaries between urban and rural areas. Agricultural parks have emerged as a planning tool to govern these hybrid areas between ‘countryside’ and the ‘city’, as well as to promote sustainable land use and community development. This paper, analysing the Metropolitan City of Rome (Italy) as a case study, illustrates an innovative pilot methodology for identifying the area of an Agricultural Park and, in particular, the area of the Rome Metropolitan Agricultural Park (MAP), a policy proposal for the metropolitan city. The aim of the article is twofold: to analyse the multifunctionality of farms in the periurban area of Rome to highlight the types of goods and services on which the relationship between farms and the metropolitan population is based and to expose the methodological path on which the MAP policy proposal was developed. A geospatial analysis, using the National Land Consumption Map (LCM) and the CORINE Land Cover (CLC), highlights the main agricultural areas and evaluates their quality. Isochronous curves assess the accessibility, and the GHS population grid (GHS-POP) defines the catchment areas. This approach, building on the 15 min city framework, has analysed the multifunctional farms and the types of goods and services offered to the population. A total of 91,656 hectares were identified as potential geographical areas of the Metropolitan Agricultural Park that could serve nearly 1 million inhabitants between rural and urban areas of Rome. The research highlights its characteristics in terms of the role of multifunctional farms, Alternative Food Networks, and the relationships between consumers and producers.

New technologies applied to the archaeological heritage of the city of Arucci (Aroche, Huelva): The experience of the Casa de Peristilo

The use of new technologies applied to historical heritage has meant a total transformation in the procedures and usual work of the archaeological discipline. To deepen the study of the domestic architecture of the Roman city of Arucci (Aroche, Huelva) a 3D model of what is known as Casa de Peristilo was created. Its use has provided multiple possibilities for recording, preserving, and disseminating, not emerging as a reality alien to traditional systems but as a support and continuous evolution of them in the face of a society that is increasingly demanding new ways of interacting.

Il doppio sguardo sul paesaggio. D’Annunzio tra ecocritica e poesia

The essay aims to relate the term ‘ecocriticism’ to Gabriele d’Annunzio’s literary production in defence of the historical order of the city of Rome. Beginning with his journalistic activity in the 1980s, d’Annunzio denounced the cultural mediocrity of his time, and in his novelVergini delle rocce, d’Annunzio compares the destruction of Roman monuments to the political decadence of contemporary society. The beloved places and spaces in and around the city are charged in theElegie romanewith values and sentiments aspaysage de l’âme.