Time, Memory and Imagination in Early Modern Rome: Some Aspects of Reusing Ancient Materials
Throughout human history, the communities’ concept of identity and collective memory have played
an essential role in how ruins were perceived, leading to behaviours both of destruction and of great
consideration according to the meanings ascribed to ancient materials. In what seems an erratic process,
some key moments revealed the need for protecting and safeguarding antiquities. However, these phases
should not be interpreted as drastic and unexpected turning points, but rather as the peak of a gradual
philosophical and socio-economic elaboration heading to conservation.
This paper wants to take into account some different attitudes towards antiquities and ruins in Early
Modern Rome, trying to outline how the perception of time, memory and imagination permitted the
interpretation and the reshaping of
spolia.
