Il promontorio di Punta Campanella nella Penisola Sorrentina: un palinsesto paesaggistico e architettonico da tutelare

The Punta Campanella promontory, which is the last offshoot of the Sorrento-Amalfi Peninsula, together with the Flegrea area frames the millenary landscape and architectural palimpsest of the Naples bay, by defining scenographically its boundaries. The contemporary presence of a marked naturalistic component, defensive stronghold and ancient paths together with an extraordinary archaeological heritage, contributes to make the area as a piece of the more wide and complex peninsular system, place of ancient myths and stratified architectural permanencies. The promontory, as attested by archaeological surveys, is frequented by the VI century b.C. It was location of an important sanctuary dedicated to Athena as well as of a big terracing roman domus together with two natural docks pointed towards both the Naples and Ieranto bays. In addition, a very ancient road system, the via Minervia, whose last stretch passes through the Massa Lubrense territory, engraves the mountain crest until to reach the Punta Campanella tower, where the ancient roman sanctuary was erected. In spite of the millenary stratifications of communities, cultures and settlements, the strenuous course of conservation of this “cultural landscape”, is at the beginning and it is not yet able to enhance with awareness the extraordinary complex of tangible and intangible values. Because of these considerations, the paper deepens the transformation and conservation dynamics of Punta Campanella area, by recalling the last seventy years interventions and by taking into account the expectations of the 1987 landscape-territorial plan. The attention will be focus on the various restoration proposals of the ancient road infrastructure, by aiming at offering, in an up-to-date vision, a multi-level knowledge picture of the issues and high potentialities of the complex and articulated cultural palimpsest for the whole Neapolitan bay.