Resilience of Cultural Heritage in Extreme Weather Conditions: The Case of the UNESCO Villa Romana del Casale Archaeological Site's Response to the Apollo Medicane in October 2021.

The conservation strategies of cultural heritage (whether it is movable or immovable), in response to damage resulting from the natural phenomena of aging and decay but also from the occurrence of disasters (earthquakes, floods, fires, etc.), inevitably require a methodological approach aimed at planned conservation and preparedness for the risk event of the cultural site. In this perspective, between 2007 and 2012, the intervention of recovery and conservation of the archaeological site of Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina (Sicily, Italy), since 1997 inscribed in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site, was planned and realized. The project, directed by the Centro Regionale per la Progettazione e il Restauro, Regione Siciliana, was aimed not only at carrying out the conservative intervention of the monumental site and its decorative apparatus, but also at drawing up a protocol for preventive maintenance. This protocol concerned the new covering system of the archaeological site, its protection and fruition, as well as the hydrogeological asset of the territory on which it rises. Concerning this last aspect, in fact, since the early Middle Ages the fonts document serious floods that interested the area on which the Villa del Casale is located. These floods inevitably interacted with its conservation history, even influencing its existence. The damages caused by the flood of October 1991 are documented, when the archaeological area was already excavated thanks to the archaeological campaign directed by the archaeologist Gino Vinicio Gentili. These excavations were themselves influenced by the flood of 1951 that covered the area still partially explored. This study, considering the previous impact on the UNESCO site of the weather event of October 1991, analyses the occurrence of October 2021 and the construction's positive response to the stress caused by the meteorological phenomenon. The investigation was performed using ground-based and satellite-based measurements, to provide a detailed overview of the extreme event that occurred, to identify the pressures that insisted on the studied site. The analysis highlights the effectiveness of recovery and conservation project carried out on the monumental complex and completed in 2012.