Restauro e Archeologia tra conservazione e interpretazione: studi per la protezione e la valorizzazione della Domus di Tito Macro dei fondi Cossar ad Aquileia = Architectural Conservation and Archeology between preservation and interpretation: studies for the protection and valorisation of the Domus of Tito Macro, fondi Cossar, Aquileia

The article proposes a reflection on the relationship between Architectural Conservation and Archaeology. It analyses significant issues that emerge from the project of musealization and valorisation of the Domus of Tito Macro, a Roman house located in fondi Cossar area in Aquileia. The intervention was concluded in September 2020 and it represents the outcome of a complex process supported by Fondazione Aquileia. The work started with a research project and archaeological excavation conducted by the University of Padua, joined by the design team that won the Competition of Ideas launched by the Foundation in 2010. The article underlines complexity that has characterized a rich path of ‘contamination’ between different disciplines, first of all, Archaeology and Architectural Conservation. The project combines a careful preservation of the archaeological ruins with the installation of a complex shelter system, designed as a solution that alluded to the original shape of the Roman domus. This path describes a conservation building site that could hardly be managed with the common tools of Architectural Restoration but, on the contrary, strategies specifically designed were asked to deal with the archaeological site needs. Flexibility and multidisciplinary approach have been the key to address the relationship between the two disciplines, interpreted as an opportunity to produce an integrated design and stimulus for a cultured collaboration.