Villa San Marco at Stabia. Dynamics of decay and perspectives for deepening and safeguarding

Abstract The site of Villa San Marco in the archaeological area of Stabiae, offers a wide repertoire of degenerative situations with multiple levels of criticality and complexity and a differentiated stratification. Damage related to the known eruptive events of Vesuvius are the substratum to phenomena of deterioration activated by excavations of the Bourbon period, restoration and protection interventions that were not always adequate and efficient and by widespread abandonment conditions at the end of the excavation. Flora, anthropic environment, water, atmospheric agents, slope instability, seismic phenomena, combine with the technological characteristics of this architectural complex, triggering degenerative processes at different speeds and intensities. A study initiated in collaboration between the University of Florence and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii aims at the knowledge of the degenerative dynamics of the site in order to develop risk management and control systems aimed at safety of use and maintenance. Investigations disseminated in the villa and detailed on specific portions have begun to create a clearer picture of conservation issues. The digital documentation of the structures has been flanked by a phase of on field investigation aimed at an assessment of the degenerative phenomena, at the analytical verification and at the interpretation of the structural instability. The research perspective is to define a multi-scale survey approach that allows to extract data useful for the quantification of the risk, through a systematic understanding of the vulnerabilities of the elements involved (walls, columns, blocks, decorated surfaces, earthen layers, etc).