Vernacular architecture on archaeological remains. Conservation and enhancement of the “Villa San Limato” in Cellole

The paper aims to analyze a case of vernacular architecture in Cellole (Italy) built on the roman maritime villa of Sofonio Tigellino, prefect under the Emperor Nero. ‘Villa San Limato’, built in the eighteenth century, includes a roman cryptoporticus and some thermal rooms of the original roman villa. The roman walls, the ancient mosaics and the marmoreal rests of San Limato were accidentally found in 1954, during agricultural works. Only in 1971 the roman villa was fully excavated by Werner Johannowsky. The roman villa of ‘San Limato’ is a rare example of suburban roman villa with private baths, included in a much larger archaeological area on the edge of the ancient Roman colony of Sinuessa (296 a.C. – V century). The ruins of Sinuessa are still visible on the seacoast of Mons Massicus and, underwater, off the coast of Mondragone. The ‘Masseria San Limato’ is an interesting case study because it testifies the coexistence between archaeological remains and rural architecture. The rural farm have been developed often re-using the archeological rests, as foundations for the new buildings or employing archaeological materials inside the building. The ‘Masseria San Limato’, which is largerly in a state of disuse and abandonment, is not yet fully known and constitute an important example of local built heritage for the values of construction tradition, materials and techniques that they preserve. The study is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach. It will illustrate the characteristic values of an emblematic vernacular architecture and his state of conservation analyzed with respect to the structural instability and degradation in order to identify guidelines for the conservation, enhancement and the storytelling, at the same time, of the rural and archeological heritage.