Stratigrafia e paesaggio: riflessioni per una tutela dinamica del patrimonio costiero di Cagliari = Landscape and stratigraphy: towards a dynamic protective management of Cagliari’s coastal heritage

The paper illustrates the first results of a wider research that the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Cagliari is carrying out with the collaboration of the local Superintendency of Cagliari, mainly focused on the protection of Sardinian defence landscapes, and particularly of coastal fortified towns. The case study is Cagliari, a highly stratified military stronghold and, specifically, its waterfront. The research starts with the reconstruction of the origin and evolution of the urban area, as a consequence of its military power and its strategic defensive role in the Mediterranean. The 'face' of the town towards the sea, that is the interesting waterfront of via Roma and the historic dockyards, has completely changed with the decommission of the military stronghold, turning the defence aspect into a cultural and touristic one. The analysis of this peculiar part of the city has highlighted how the stratigraphic approach, already widely experienced in individual areas (geological, archaeological, architectural and urban), can be a guiding principle of the “landscape restoration”. This term is used to outline the conservation of historical matter together with the management of transformations and functional integrations, with particular attention not only to the treatment of the single component unit, but also to the interface solution, understood as the spatial and temporal extent of interaction between history, environment, society. At the same time, the research also gives a contribution to the definition of a specific role of restoration in terms of landscape protection. The complexity of the outcomes belonged from the theoretical speculation concerning architectural restoration can constitute an important methodological heritage for the definition of new tools for the interpretation and the dynamic management of the landscape transformations.