La necropoli di Porta Nocera: un percorso di memorie

A place on the edge of the antique inhabited area, located between the city walls to the north and the modern limit of Via Plinio to the south, the Porta Nocera necropolis is an extremely fascinating spot that owes its ‘pleasant’ character to the presence of funerary mausoleums and monumental tombs, as well as the possibility of a contemporaneous elucidation of the gate-forti!cation ensemble. Brought back to light during the excavations conducted by Amadeo Maiuri between the 1930s and the 1950s, the sepulchral monuments of the necropolis are authentic ‘living ruins’ set in a suggestive environment as well as wonderful tools for learning. Conservation of a strati!cation possessing great architectural and landscape values, like that of Porta Nocera, requires careful thinking about the limits and possibilities of its fruition. A series of critical issues and problems pertaining to orography and morphology and at the same time a great many physical and visual ‘barriers’ have caused noteworthy obstacles for visitors. After identifying the problems, we proposed methodological policies to guide the options for improving and amplifying accessibility to the area, without overlooking the necessary respect for the antique material and the fundamental exigency of a compatibility between the additions and the pre-existent, taking care that the integrations, wherever indispensable, should always remain distinguishable from the archaeological palimpsest.