Archaeological Museum of "Ager Aquinas"

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Castrocielo rises 215 m above sea level, in the territory of the region 'Terra di Lavoro ".

Aquinum is located in the center of the Liri valley in a strategic point of convergence of valley links NS, the area between Lazio and Campania, and mountain routes that linked EO contact the Apennine Mountains and the Tyrrhenian coast. This location makes the site, rich in springs and place on a plateau bordered on the east by a depression valliva occupied by a series of small lakes and marshy areas, an ideal stop along the movement of semi-nomadic pastoral people who had to take this area of southern Lazio in pre-Roman times. The first signs insediamentali in the urban area are in fact of nature worship, and related materials represented archaeologically by the presence of two sanctuaries in character emporium (Mefete and the sanctuary of the temple in the next town called capitolium), holy places of convergence and for trade from the seventh century BC between the various groups that transferred seasonally transhumant flocks and herds from mountain areas to the coastal plains.
Around the shrines Aquinati gradually coagulates a settlement anthropogenic stable door at the end of the fourth century BC, the Roman and the contribution due to advanced demic and economic populations from Campania (the Sidicini), the birth of the city according to a planning adjust based on the crossing of axes parallel but not perpendicular forming blocks from the particular shape of a parallelogram. This particular urban scheme stems from the fact that the city was designed from existing generating two axes, the Via Latina perfectly EO and the route of the Via Montana, oriented NW-SE instead.

The territory occupied in ancient dall'Ager of Aquinum was enclosed by the massif of Monte Cairo to N, the chain Aurinci S and was part of the territory Fregellano O, to Casinum E and Interamna Lirenas SE. It is a large area for most flat-rich water resources and large arable land, marked by the course of the Liri S and N from the Via Latina. With the rise of the city states in the northern ager of its first allotment land that reflects the geometric shapes urban organization: N of the Via Latina are plotted in fact, through the alignment of roads parallel the ancient Via Montana, long strips of land (strigas).
At the end of the Republic, during the second triumvirate, for Aquinum was a colony of veterans, and the whole of the previous municipium was centuriated. It is a work of large-scale territorial reorganization that overlaps with the pre-existing harmoniously and divides this large sector of the Liri Valley by a regular grid of perpendicular streets that form a regular square of 18x18 actus (630x630 m). The arrival of the settlers with their agricultural concessions, certainly at the beginning Aquinas original traumatic for the people who had to suffer heavy expropriation, leads to the complete human settlement of the area that is populated by numerous country villas, and implementation of challenging infrastructure projects. Roads and drainage canals form a grid that is still the regular reflect the new road and land of this part of the country lirena.

The Site, the Project. Minimum requirements.

The site for the construction of the Archaeological Museum and the Cultural Centre of Castrocielo is located near the highway A1 Rome-Naples and being located close to the motorway is easily accessible by the visitors; also being within easy reach of many places of interest (5 minutes from the Abbey of Monte Cassino, 50 minutes from Rome, 40 from Naples, 15 minutes from the coast of Latium and 30 minutes from the mountain slopes of Abruzzo and Molise) might fully carry out the function "break is" travel. The area, which extends for about 55000 square meters is divided into two lots adjoining, communal property (which would bring considerable giovamenti both from a purely practical point of view, and economic terms), one pertaining to the Roman city and, for the 'accuracy, including the Roman amphitheater (cut in half by the passage of the axis highway), while the other, just outside the walls of the Roman city and therefore particularly interesting given the position of privilege with respect to the core foundation of Aquinum: you observe it from that site, the remains of the most important public buildings of the Roman period and you have a global view on the modern landscape very pleasing. The minimum requirements are that the project will have to answer as well as environmental and aesthetic landscape character, very practical in nature, that is to offer users a range of services to now completely missing or deficient in some cases: room for the exhibition of archaeological finds already in possession of the Superintendent and filed with the state warehouses; large space to house models, dioramas and reconstructions; a media center where you can see the magazines and material about the area; a slow food restaurant (great alternative to fast food offered in the nearby service area Casilina East) and some points bar for quick refreshments and any work breaks; a large conference room of about 250 seats; a games room where you can play among other activities also testing laboratory of archeology; a bookshop; Toilet and green area, as well as a dormitory for young people with cafeteria and kitchen for the preparation of hot meals, a lounge and recreation area. The goal is to create a local able to achieve, sustain and maintain the entire structure, leveraging and exploiting the local forces and their potential.