Changes and continuity in material and immaterial values: experiences of accidental conservation

Changing the nature of architectural artifacts, perpetuating the uses and the meanings of them are goals that have always characterised human activity. In the years 1540-1543, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger built the Rocca Paolina in Perugia, which was commissioned by Pope Paul III.A part of the Etruscan and medieval town was incorporated into the fortress.In particular, a long stretch of a road and most of the buildings that faced onto one side are maintained; these constructions were used to support some vaults of the fortress, creating an unusual underground city. The approach for Porta Marzia was different; this Etruscan city gate, deemed very important, was dismantled and rebuilt incorporated onto an outer gate of the fortress. The Rocca Paolina was, for centuries, the symbol of papal domain in Perugia,so after the Unity of Italy it was partially destroyed, interred, used as a substructure to build new roads, gardens and a new building. So the fortress was made to disappear from the face of the city; but when the negative value perceived by the inhabitants of Perugia, its meaning of a symbol of oppression eased, its rediscovery started.In the third decade of the last century the removal of the rubble thrown into its rooms began and since the Eighties the Rocca Paolina was crossed by a picturesque underground walking path that allows us to appreciate the complexity of the subterranean spaces and the architectural stratification. In the name of intangible and material values the destinies of buildings change and in all ages it almost always happened at the expense of conservation. Perhaps we should consider the material and immaterial values, not as separate entities but inseparable aspects linked by reciprocity, which feed each other, and that can be the basis on which to build the reasons for a shared preservation.