La Fortezza da Basso di Firenze: letture archeologiche ‘leggere’ per un programma interdisciplinare

The Fortezza da Basso is one of the most representative complexes of the city of Florence and a real archive of data about the meanings and founding values of Florentine and European history. It has been the subject of an interdisciplinary survey and study program, directed by the University of Florence for the Municipality, with the aim of producing a corpus of diversified information for the restoration and re-unctionalization project. Among the overall objectives of the project, the archaeological program had the one of elaborating a specific methodological approach ‒ within the procedural framework of “Light Archaeology” and more specifically of Building Archaeology ‒ for the analysis and restoration of structures, as well as contributing to the long-term research conducted by the Chair of Medieval Archaeology on Medieval and Renaissance Florence. Archaeological investigations allowed the acquisition of new and important material data on the monument, helping to articulate information about its construction history and starting the detailed documentation of the specific characters of the original building phases, distinguishing them from invasive historical restorations, through the analysis of the preexisting structures and the identification of specific modi operandi of the great Renaissance building-yard.