Interventi di tutela, salvaguardia e restauri per la valorizzazione a Paestum: continuità di un progetto tra governo borbonico e "decennio francese"

Through the examination of legislation issued between the mid eighteenth century and the early decades of the nineteenth, as well as archive documents, the authors will attempt to trace the evolution of a heritage protection, restoration and promotion program that was to have enormous consequences in post-unification Italy. As regards Paestum, in particular, this planning trend is evident in Prammatica of 7 November 1777, one of several decrees issued in protection of monuments and artifacts. A few decades later, on 27 May 1795, Ferdinand IV of Bourbon issued a Regia Carta providing for a restoration of the so-called Temple of Ceres aimed at removing all the post-ancient structures leaning against it. This project – which was fully in line with previous actions – was carried out during the French decade under the direction of Felice Nicolas, head of the newly created Soprintendenza. After the return of the Bourbons in 1815, provisions for the safeguarding and management of archaeological heritage not only remained in force, but were strengthened by two decrees issued in 1822. One regulated the protection of historical and artistic monuments. The other one set norms regarding excavation concessions, the conditions for carrying out excavation work, the obligations of concession holders and fortuitous discoverers of archaeological artifacts, and fines for transgressors. These acts issued in the years of Bourbon and French rule laid the foundation for the future heritage protection legislation of the Italian Kingdom, creating the conditions for the rise of a new archaeological science