Le mura fortificate del Castello Baronale di Acerra. Anamnesi e progetto di restauro

The text offers an in-depth historical/critical reading and an articulate diagnostic/design analysis of the Baronial Castle of Acerra, a city located in the northeastern province of Naples, founded by the Ausonians and infrastructured at the urban level by the Romans in 332 B.C. The fortified complex represents, through its architectural stratifications, about two thousand years of history. Specifically, the Baronial Castle derives its characteristic plan layout, in the shape of a semicircle, from its ancient pre-existence: a theater building with a semicircular cavea. On the primitive layout of Roman times, through architectural subtractions and additions, a complex fortified structure was built, from the Middle Ages until the eighteenth century, a true testimonial palimpsest not only of Acerra's architectural history but also and above all of its social history. As a whole, the Baronial Castle appeared, until the early years of the 21st century, as a suffering monument devastated in its morphological and linguistic features. In the face of such disturbing neglect, a virtuous design path began in 2007 that allowed for a first restoration of the fortified structure of the Baronial Castle of Acerra including the outer walls with the Renaissance portal, the inner walls and, between these two semicircular linear structures, also the restoration of the interstitial garden.