La riscoperta del paesaggio culturale preromano nei Golfi di Napoli e Salerno: mitografia, realtà archeologica e valorizzazione futura

The knowledge and the preservation of cultural landscapes pass through the interpretation and use of the original sites of history, rediscovering the human geography of the ancient settlements in the Gulf of Naples and Salerno. The proposal aims to contribute to identify and understand these landscapes, following the unexplored fields of observation and new multidisciplinary methods of study. In pre-Roman times, Campania is a frontier region in which coexist indigenous, Etruscans and Greeks. It is a frontier made of cities, as documented the archaeological reality and by ancient writers, which distinguish the region compared to the surrounding territories, characterized on the contrary by forms of not centralized organization. There are the Greek poleis of Cuma, Neapolis, Poseidonia and also the Etruscan foundations in the Agro Picentino and the Campania ground, with Capua, placed by Strabone (V, 3, 3), at the head of twelve cities. Herculaneum and Pompeii (V, 4, 8) are considered Etruscan foundations in the Gulf of Naples, and Marcina in the Gulf of Salerno (V, 4, 13). The way to conceive and represent the urban landscape is the following: urban space is bordered by walls, a physical limit but even more religious and ideological one. Within the walls there are private and productive spaces, public areas and sanctuaries. Sanctuaries also represent the projection of the city on its territory: they mark the sub-urban space, the agricultural areas and the most distant lands. The city is primarily a political and ideological system. It produce ethnographic reflections on ancient Campania, like the traditions about the foundation of Capua, the myths of Heracles in relation to Herculaneum and Pompeii, the tales about the Odysseus’ journey along the coasts of Campania. The result is a “cultural landscape” which, in an enhancement view, can be both mythological and archaeological.