Evoluzione recente del paesaggio fisico del litorale romano compreso tra Tor Paterno e Tor San Lorenzo - Recent evolution of the physical landscape of the Roman coast between Tor Paterno and Tor San Lorenzo
Author(s)
Date Issued
2021
Type
article
Volume
108/2021
Start Page
107
End Page
124
Abstract
The historical cartography analysis and the historical- archaeological data integrated into a GIS environment with the morphological, geomorphological, hydrogeological, and geological available data allowed a detailed reconstruction of that sector’s physical features of the Roman coast starting from the archaic Roman period up to recent times. Archaeological data allowed the reconstruction of the systems of lagoons, estuaries, and coastal landings in Roman times, much more internal than the current coastline. The historical analysis started from the map of Eufrosino Della Volpaia of 1547, passing through the georeferencing of the Alexandrine Cadastre of 1660 and the Gregorian Cadastre of 1835 (land registers); it highlighted the existence of a territory with limited wetlands until the end of the 18th century, smaller than the Roman lagoons. Those areas gradually became marshlands and more extensive, making malaria an endemic problem, especially after the zone’s abandonment due to pestilences and famines of 17th and 18th. The analysis of the first maps built with topographical methods produced by the French and Austrian Military Geographical Institute, before the unification of Italy, and later by the Royal Italian Military Geographical Institute, permitted the definition of the first attempts of drainages made by the estates’ owners. Only the thirties’ reclamation works and the installation of 5 dewatering pumps (4 of them still working) solved the malaria problem. The areas interested by the reclamations have been reconstituted by acquiring the original maps made by the “Opera Nazionale Combattenti”, and by those of the Pomezia Municipality about the system funded ex novo with the Royal Decree n. 935 of 3 June 1938. Finally, the acquisition and analysis of aerial photos made for military purposes during the Second World War ensured the documentation of the extraordinary system of coastal dunes, which had almost entirely survived the reclamation works, to be completely destroyed by the insane urbanization of the sixties-seventies. KEY WORDS: Roman coast, historical cartography, Alexandrine Cadastre, Gregorian Cadastre, coastal dunes and lagoons, reclamations
Subjects