Understanding Ancient Design through Survey: Examples from Hadrian’s Villa

Abstract

The Dipartimento di Architettura of the Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is carrying out a series of investigations on the Villa Adriana in Tivoli, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia del Lazio e Dell’Etruria Meridionale, Italian and foreign Universities and higher education institutions and companies in the field of remote sensing, which have digitally acquired several pavilions of this important UNESCO site since 2013. In this paper we present briefly the first outcomes of numerous documentation campaigns aimed at solving some outstanding problems in relation with investigation lines concerning mixtilinear plan design and complex vaulted spaces. The latter, thanks to a complete digital surveying campaign, can be examined with an high level of accuracy that led to more reliable interpretation of vaulted systems conceived during Hadrianic age.