Paesaggio sacro, pittura di paesaggio, paesaggio costruito. Ricerche in corso sul paesaggio nemorense e il Museo delle Navi romane

The interpretation of the mythological scenarios of Frazer together with the paintings of the landscape of Nemi, rouged between the 19th and the 20th century, have created an imagination that has transfigured real landscapes into sacred places. The iconographic and mythological repertory reveals the intangible power of the place and, over time, has overlapped with the parallel destiny of the Roman ships and the physical ancient traces —as the Diana’s Sanctuary and the Roman road called via Virbia or clivus aricinus— which are now barely visible, fragmented and awaiting further studies. This paper aims both to explore the landscape on Nemi’s lakeshore intangible aspects and built features, and to examine physical and visual relationships which the Museo delle Navi Romane intentionally establishes with the context. The museum was designed by Vittorio Morpurgo in the late 1930s to house the remains of ancient Roman ships recovered from the Lake of Nemi. The building was severely damaged in the 1944 fire, which completely destroyed the rest of the hulls. Since then, the museum has carried out several reorganizations and restorations, some of which have gravely compromised the original design, and even today the museum is still waiting for a renewed exhibition vocation and a direct link with the landscape and the ancient context.