La musealizzazione di siti archeologici: il caso di Torino

Four archaeological sites in the city of Turin, three publicly owned and one privately, were analyzed from a point of view of issues relating to urban context, to the context of the archaeological site itself and to the exhibition. Because of its central location in the city and its proximity to the most important archaeological remains of Turin (Porte Palatine and the remains of the Roman wall, the Roman theater, the Roman ruins of the medieval courtyard of Palazzo Madama) the archaeological area of S.Salvatore near the cathedral, where the remains of an early Christian basilica lie, was taken into account. Around these remains operations to enhance the testimonies of urban succession events took place in the last ten years: the reconstruction of part of the ancient city walls in the new Archaeological Park, the Diocesan Museum housed in the lower church of the Cathedral, the glass coverage overlooking the mosaic of S. Salvatore, the entrance to the underground level of the Museum of Antiquities, overlooking the Roman theater, the recovery of Palazzo Madama moat with the reconstruction of the Medieval Garden. The research, starting from this premise, proposes to enhance all the area between Piazza Castello and Piazza della Repubblica. The hypothesised routes are the main paths to visit a great museum, largely in the open, and enhance the connections between the archaeological sites; the open areas, arranged along the main route of access as a sort of large windows, shall consist of the most important finds of the Porta Palatina, of the subterranean museum display of the remains of the Senate and the Roman theater. Premise of this enhancement is the accessibility to the whole area, which must be guaranteed by penetration axes to the area, primarily pedestrian; at the same time the area must rely on service areas and parking for cars and tour buses, and wishes to be better served in terms of the metro network. The museum system suggested in this first phase of the research aims to offer the public a wide range of exhibition situations, from the overlooking on remains that are not accessible to the underground tour, from museum spaces in the strict sense to the monuments which can be visited at ground level.