Public and private architecture of Brixia. Analysis of the architectural decoration

The project is addressed to analyse the architectural material found in Brescia with the aim to elaborate a history of local architecture from republican Age to Late-Antiquity.

In the context of the urban archaeology in northern Italy, the city of Brescia constitutes one of the luckiest and better investigated case-study, thanks to multiple factors, both historical and topographical, which have allowed to preserve the archaeological heritage: already in 1480 the town ordered to preserve all epigraphs and archaeological findings, setting into wall in order to embellish public buildings. During the 19th century the local Ateneo promoted the first urban excavation, revealing the Capitoline Temple and the roman Forum.

In the latest years the Soprintendenza archeologia della Lombardia has conducted relevant investigations in many parts of the city, mostly of them in the area of the Capitolium, allowing to reconstruct the history of the shrine from the first building dated to the 2nd century BC to the last one rebuild in the second half of the 1st century AD.

The works intends to analyze not only public buildings, such as Forum, temples, Basilica, baths, but also private architecture like domus and funerary monuments. This will make possible to understand the history of local architecture from many points of view. The main goals of the research are:

1. identifying what kind of materials were used to construct public and private building between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD;
2. evaluating the use of marble, coming from Italy and other provinces, and of the local stone to reconstruct also economic dynamics connected to the commerce of stones and building materials;
3. investigating the occurrence of certain specific types of material in certain buildings in order to identify trends and general rulers;
4. studying the evolution and urban changes during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, taking into account that so far the studies have mainly focused on the phases of colonization and Romanization;
5. analysing techniques, traces of working tools, and trying to indentify local workshops of artisans.