Enhancing archaeological finds unearthed at railway construction sites: protocol between MiC and FS Group

Renewed the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Culture (Directorate of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape) and theAssociazione Archeolog ETS, a non-profit organization of the FS Group, established in 2015 consisting of the companies of Polo Infrastrutture RFI, Anas with its subsidiary Quadrilatero Marche Umbria, and Italferr, whose purpose is the management of archaeological findings made during works on roads and railways and, in synergy with the Superintendencies of the Ministry of Culture, to contribute to their restoration and conservation. The aim is to restore, conserve and enhance archaeological sites and finds discovered during the construction and maintenance of rail and road works.

The collaboration testifies to the willingness of the parties to continue on the path of synergy between infrastructural development and cultural heritage protection, transforming archaeological findings from a possible obstacle for the construction and maintenance of public works to an opportunity for the cultural enhancement of our country.

“The renewal of the protocol between the Ministry of Culture and Archeolog ETS makes it possible to continue on the fruitful path taken so far of enhancing the value of the archaeological treasures brought to light on the construction sites of the Italian railway network,” said Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano. “This is a perfect synthesis between the need to modernize the national transportation infrastructure and the duty to protect our cultural heritage, which has already led to remarkable results. In this, too, Italy demonstrates its exceptionality, making its development an opportunity to rediscover its past.”

The path taken includes the possibility of intervening in the most rapid and effective way on the findings that the rail and road works will bring to light. Archaeological assets, as a common heritage, will also have to be enhanced and made accessible to the public in the most appropriate way. The collaboration between Archeolog and the Ministry is aimed at identifying the most appropriate initiatives to improve the enjoyment of sites and finds, such as through exhibitions, forms of patronage and collections. A publication is also planned that will illustrate the most relevant discoveries, with popular fact sheets accompanied by descriptive texts and images.

“As the FS Group we have the burden, and above all the honor, of contributing to the realization of what will be the Italy of the future,” said FS Italian Group CEO Luigi Ferraris. “But at the same time we are aware of the hidden wealth that our territory, rich in history, still has to show us. For years, in fact, the FS Group, thanks to the construction of new rail and road lines, has been the protagonist of many historical-archaeological discoveries through the works carried out by RFI, Italferr and Anas. To deal with the many discoveries FS created the nonprofit Archeolog Association, which aims to preserve, restore and enhance the archaeological heritage found during the construction and upgrading of the infrastructure network. The protocol with the Ministry of Culture reinforces this daily commitment of ours.”

Two are the most recent examples of this collaboration, both in Lazio. The first concerns the Pomezia station where, during maintenance work on a railway overpass, archaeological remains dating back to the 2nd-4th centuries AD were found. This is a road layout that preserves ruts due to the passage of chariots, flanked by wall structures that can be traced back to a rustic villa. Early abandoned villa, as inferred from the later planting of a necropolis with seventeen burials of various types.
The second example, however, concerns a hydraulic safety work on the Rome-Pisa line, at the former Furbara station near Cerveteri. Here the remains of a productive and commercial settlement have emerged, as attested by an Etruscan-language inscription on a wine amphora recovered at the site.

Enhancing archaeological finds unearthed at railway construction sites: protocol between MiC and FS Group

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