Caput Mundi: Trajan's Forum - underground spaces of the Basilica Ulpia and Aule di Testata

Caput Mundi Next Generation EU for touristic great events (Mission 1, Component 3, Investment 4.3)

Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan increases the number of accessible tourist sites in Rome, creating valid and qualified tourist and cultural alternatives with respect to the crowded central areas, as well as increasing the use of digital technologies, enhance green areas and the sustainability of tourism. The investment envisages six lines of interventions:
1. “Roman Cultural Heritage for EU-Next Generation”, covering the regeneration and restoration of cultural and urban heritage and complexes of high historical-architectural value of the city of Rome;
2. “Jubilee paths” (from pagan to Christian Rome), targeted to the enhancement, safety, anti-seismic consolidation, restoration of places and buildings of historical interest and archaeological pathways;
3. #LaCittàCondivisa, covering the redevelopment of sites in peripheral areas;
4. #Mitingodiverde, covering interventions on parks, historical gardens, villas and fountains;
5. #Roma 4.0, covering the digitalization of cultural services and the development of apps for tourists;
6. #Amanotesa, aimed at increasing the supply of cultural offer to peripheries for social integration.

The investment is financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility by EUR 500 million and includes this project.
Rainwater infiltration has severely degraded the Basilica Ulpia and Latin Library, affecting perimeter walls, roof slabs, and floors with material loss. The project aims to clean up these infiltrations and restore the roof, including comprehensive waterproofing and garden re-arrangement. Additionally, it will restore flooring, integrate a skylight, and upgrade systems to reopen warehouses for public access, providing an enhanced visitor experience. This project is financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility with EUR 1755000.

Here's the text with grammatical corrections:

The survey of the degradation of the Basilica Ulpia and the Aule di Testata highlighted the infiltration of rainwater at specific points of the perimeter walls and on the entire roof slab of the hypogeal rooms built in the 1930s. In particular, in the Basilica Ulpia and in the Latin Library, there are instances of disintegration of the mortar with loss of material and emergence of reinforcing iron. With regard to the horizontal floors, there is a widespread state of deterioration and poor usability in all environments.

All interventions, in addition to a conservative and functional role, must pursue the objective of reinterpreting the cultural, typological, and morphological characteristics of individual places. The main intervention consists of the clean-up of water infiltrations and the restoration of the roof slab. In fact, in addition to a consolidation operation (reinforced screed), the complete reconstruction of the waterproofing layer is also necessary, which to ensure success would involve the laying bare of the structure in the extrados part through removal and restoration of the garden arrangement above.

Interventions on flooring must be distinguished based on the peculiar characteristics of each environment; the common element is the restoration of the fragments of ancient marble still present and the reintegration and reconstruction of a walkable floor plan in the Basilica Ulpia and in the Latin Library. In consideration of the emptying of the slab for its clean-up, further interventions are necessary prior to the reopening of the warehouses to the public: insertion of a skylight, with the dual function of increasing ambient light and air circulation inside the warehouses; anastylosis of the gray granite column shaft currently placed inside the arboreal exedra; renovation of the systems; material handling; new shelving for the conservation and presentation of preserved materials.