Il contributo della cartografia di epoca veneziana e di XIX secolo alla ricostruzione del paesaggio antico di Montegrotto Terme e del bacino termale euganeo

This research is part of the extensive and structured project “Aquae Patavinae”, which over recent years focused on the Euganean thermal basin. The project uses a multidisciplinary approach that includes archaeological excavations, landscape studies, geo-morphological investigations, aerial photographs and remote-sensing-LIDAR analysis. The research, inserted in this more ample organic frame, is based on cartographic documents, spanning from the XVI to the XIX centuries, that represent, in different scales, various portions of the Euganean territory. The documents have been scrutinized to identify any toponymy and topographic information, often signs of a oldest anthropization, to contribute, throughout a diachronic analysis, to the reconstruction of the historical landscape transformation that invested the overall thermal area and Montegrotto in particular. Written and drawn documents allowed, for example, perceiving the real distribution and concentration of the Montegrotto thermal springs. They were spontaneous, numerous and diffused in the region between Castello mountain, the Prete mountain and the Bortolone hill until to the more southerly belt, near the Terme Neroniane Hotel, where the most monumental roman structures, not only thermal, are preserved. Extensive swamps belonging to the Carrara family occupied the area between the Castello and the Prete mountains, the area of the sacred protohistoric lake, during the XIV century. This swamp area nearly corresponds to a drained land illustrated in the XIX century cadastral map. This operation may date back to the XV century and could probably be Venetian; it appears more recent than the others. All these data seem supported by a 1835 map; the eleven springs indicated in this area characterize it as sunken and hydrological unstable. Finally the GIS acquisition of a portion of Montegrotto Napoleon cadastral map (1810) and data contained in attached records have shown the instructive potentiality of XIX funds; they seem to be the best cartographic base for reconstructing the historical landscape according to a 3D model that is being developed at the CNR of Rome. It started in 2001 with the excavation campaigns in via Neroniana at Montegrotto Terme promoted by the School of Specialization in Archaeology of the University of Padua. Through a diachronic and comparative study of the available cartographic documents and drawings, spanning the late Fifteenth to the Nineteenth century, this research attempts to offer a key to the understanding of the territorial changes occurred within the Euganean thermal basin and to give an answer to those questions - centrals in the history of thermalism - which have not yet been fully answered by official historiography. The cartographic documents that will be considered are mainly drawn annexes to drafts, appraisals and various other activities included in the funds provided by the central government of Venice, which ruled over the region. Therefore, for the complete understanding, these documents can’t be separated neither from the descriptive material they belong to, nor from their primary technical function, which gives a full contextualization. Nevertheless, they are often very accurate cartographic surveys and in some cases of considerable aesthetic distinction. The goal of this research is to gather, organise in an proper database and diachronically compare the available drawn material in order to reconstruct, through the centuries, the evolution of some anthropogenic elements (roads, waterways, settlements) and to analyse their relationship with the natural environment, trying if possible to identify signs of an oldest anthropization, with particular attention to the seven historical thermal springs and to the area currently interested by the archaeological excavations. At the same time, it is hoped the investigation on Venetian funds can return precise historical data about in the relationship between the government of Venice and its mainland colonies for the management and the use of thermal waters. The contribution to the reconstruction of the ancient landscape, through analyses and evaluations to be shared through a comparison with other research disciplines, will also fulfil a goal of methodological order linked to the utilisation modalities of the historical cartographic material for the elaboration of the "Preliminary assessments of the archaeological interest "( in compliance with the requirements of Decree Law 109/2005 and with the Code on Public Contracts, Italian Law nr. 163/2006, articles 95 and 96)

Questa ricerca si inserisce in un ampio ed articolato ambito di studi, il progetto “Aquae Patavinae”, che da alcuni anno si occupa di indagare il bacino termale euganeo attraverso attività di scavo archeologico, studi sul territorio, ricognizioni di superficie, studi geomorfologici, indagini da foto aeree e da remote sensing – LIDAR. In tale organico quadro, si inserisce la presente ricerca che ha utilizzato documenti cartografici prodotti dalla metà del XVI secolo al XIX, che rappresentano a diversa scala porzioni del territorio euganeo – come una ulteriore categoria di materiali funzionali alla comprensione dell’occupazione antropica antica e moderna - con lo scopo di individuare alcuni dei segni e delle informazioni topografiche e toponomastiche, spesso spia di epoche più o meno remote rispetto alla loro stesura, e per contribuire, attraverso un’analisi diacronica, alla ricostruzione delle trasformazioni del paesaggio storico dell’area termale in generale e di Montegrotto Terme in particolare. I documenti scritti e disegnati hanno permesso ad esempio di percepire l’effettiva distribuzione e concentrazione delle fonti termali a Montegrotto, che sgorgavano spontaneamente ed erano molto numerose e diffuse nella fascia di territorio compresa tra il monte Castello, il monte del Prete e il colle Bortolone fino ad arrivare, a sud, presso l’attuale hotel Terme Neroniane, fascia lungo la quale sono concentrati i più monumentali resti di strutture termali e non di epoca romana. L’area tra il monte Castello e il monte del Prete, individuata come l’area del lago sacro protostorico, era occupata nel XIV secolo da estese paludes di proprietà dei signori da Carrara, e, pressappoco nella stessa area, il particellario di XIX secolo ha evidenziato una bonifica, probabilmente di epoca veneziana (XV secolo) più recente di quelle circostanti; dati, questi, confermati da una mappa del 1835 che, nel rappresentare solo in questa zona undici polle, sottolinea la natura depressa e idrologicamente instabile dell’area. La digitalizzazione in ambiente GIS di una porzione della mappa catastale Napoleonica (1810) di Montegrotto e l’inserimento in database collegati dei dati contenuti nei registri allegati hanno evidenziato le potenzialità informative dei fondi fiscali di XIX secolo, facendoli ritenere la base cartografica di partenza più adatta alla ricostruzione del paesaggio storico secondo un modello 3D che è in corso di elaborazione da parte del CNR di Roma