Paesaggi antichi e interpretazioni moderne: le due identità della necropoli della Banditaccia a Cerveteri

Starting from 1911 a selected part of the Etruscan necropolis of Banditaccia, near the modern city of Cerveteri (RM), was involved in a twenty-five year of systematic and scientific excavation and restoration activities, with the purpose of preserving the remains and reconstruct the lost architectural identity of monuments and funeral landscape. If on one side the philological interventions on the artifacts can be related to the conservation culture of that time – with particular reference to the thought of Camillo Boito and Gustavo Giovannoni -, on the other the reinvention of the necropolis original landscape with the construction of a garden among the ruins is consistent with Giacomo Boni’s theories and with the general rearrangement of the archaeological heritage during the fascist period. Outside the perimeter of this reconstructed area, the semi-abandoned condition of the rest of the necropolis defines a very different and unique historical ad rural landscape, in which architecture and nature coexist in an evocative and spontaneous symbiosis. Today both landscapes – the restored site is the only place equipped for tourist visits – and the surrounding areas, contribute to the consolidated image of this amazing necropolis, which is important to preserve. Therefore, the paper aims to retrace and comment the necropolis transformations that have led to its current layout and to make a comparison between the two identities that also today coexist in this archaeological area.