Architecture as Temporal Rewinding and Spatial Restitching. A Project for the Ancient City of Suessola in the Piana Campana

In the historical territories of the inland countryside, the ‘synchronic rediscovery’ of different types of heritage is an opportunity to outline development prospects that rethink architecture and archaeology, for instance, as inseparable from the multi-dimensional and stratified environment in which they are inserted, in terms of temporal rewinding and spatial restitching.

Among the declinations of the contemporary project for the enhancement of the entire historical and territorial phenomenon, an interesting reflection concerns two innovative aspects in particular: on the one hand, the capacity to incorporate in synthetic configurations the evolving evolution of the different phases of the archaeological discovery, and, on the other hand, the possibility of interconnecting different types of heritage in integrated redevelopment strategies, as demonstrated by the experiments conducted by Toni Gironès, Luigi Franciosini and Carles Enrich, to name but a few architects who constantly measure themselves with these themes.

With these premises, as part of an Agreement for scientific collaboration between the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the metropolitan area of Naples and the Department of Architecture of University Federico II of Naples (Italy) aimed at the knowledge and enhancement of the architectural, archaeological and landscape heritage of the Piana Campana, the Suessola area in Acerra was studied, within the urban park of the ancient Roman city in which the eighteenth-century Casina Spinelli, a historic monumental residence, also falls.

The main innovation of this experience concerns a project implementation that proceeds synchronously with the progress of archaeological excava-tions. In fact, the aim of the work concerned the definition of a strategy of accessibility, narration and usability that looks at the different times and spaces of which the palimpsest is composed, interpreting the progressive phases of discovery and development of the area in unitary and interconnected terms. The system of new architectural devices is addressed to the interpretation and enhancement of the ruins, as well as to the fruition in support of the archaeological excavation site, and at the same time, it stands as a plot of contemporary and reversible signs on the historical, anthropic and natural traces of the entire Piana Campana.