Restauro e valorizzazione del complesso archeologico di Santa Maria al Monte (Aq)

The paper analyses the case-study of the Cistercian grange of S. Maria del Monte, from the definition of enhancement as a direct activity to improve the knowledge and conservation of cultural and environmental heritage and to increase its enjoyment, to reach an interdisciplinary project, which points to the enhancement and enjoyment of the site. Today only the ruins remain to witness the presence of the ancient settlement: some walls and raised ridges protruding from the ground walls, that allow the reading of the planimetric system. The project arises from the consideration of the location of the building, completely included in an environment of great beauty, and the realization that it is difficult to arrive at a hypothetical reconstruction of the architectural lines of the building. The more believable road therefore appeared to accept the ruin in its merging with the context of vegetation, from the perspective of an archaeological park with appropriate didactic apparatus which directs the use, and at the same time provides the appropriate reintegration to make legible the broad lines of the architectural complex. The contribution does not offer final solutions or models exportable to other contexts, but it tries to return to some classical concepts of the restoration, the value of tools designed to approach the building without distorting it, accepting the duty of interpretation, without which any authentic communication between past and present is not possible.