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1930
Italiano
L’interesse per la località Celle si riaccese nel 1939, a distanza
di un poco più di cinquantennio. Le ricerche furono dettate
dall’apertura nel 1930, ad opera dell’Impresa Besenzanica, di un
fronte di estrazione di ghiaia.
La cava, destinata in particolar modo a fornire materiali per la
costruzione della nascente linea tranviaria Roma- Viterbo, era
dotata di un raccordo ferroviario di servizio, che lambiva
pericolosamente, a soli 2,5 m, le strutture templari portate in
luce negli scavi governativi di fine ‘800 (Fig. 3).
Fu proprio questa eccessiva vicinanza a determinare l’intervento
del Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale, come venne rinominato
durante il fascismo il Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione e da
cui dipendeva la tutela dei beni culturali all’epoca.
Si trattò di un estremo tentativo di scongiurare
eventuali danni ai resti antichi e allo stesso tempo un’occasione
per riqualificare l’area, che giaceva ormai in stato di
abbandono.
Le nuove ricerche furono finanziate dall’allora proprietario del
terreno, Luciano De Feo, personaggio di spicco dell’ambito
culturale nazionale e internazionale dell’epoca, Direttore fino al
1928 dell’Istituto Luce e dell’Istituto Internazionale per la
Cinematografia Educativa, sarà tra i fondatori nei primi anni ’30
del Festival Cinematografico di Venezia.
Le indagini nell’area sacra di Celle vennero condotte sul campo
dall’archeologo Goffredo Ricci, al tempo in servizio presso il
Museo di Villa Giulia. In questa occasione, in linea con i
rinvenimenti nel 1886, furono recuperati pochi elementi in
terracotta pertinenti sia alla decorazione architettonica sia alle
offerte dei fedeli.
Inglese
Interest in the site of Celle was rekindled a little over fifty
years later, in 1939. The renewed research was a consequence of
the opening of a gravel extraction pit by the Impresa Besenzanica
company 1930.
The quarry was intended in particular to provide material for the
construction of the new Rome-Viterbo railway line and was equipped
with a service railway connection, which was dangerously close
(only 2.5 m) to the ancient structures that had been brought to
light by the government excavations in the late 1800s (Fig. 3).
It was precisely this extreme proximity that prompted the
intervention of the Ministry of National Education - as the
Ministry of Education was called during the Fascist Period – which
was responsible for the protection of cultural heritage at the
time.
It was a last-ditch attempt to avert any damage to the ancient
remains and at the same time an opportunity to redevelop the area,
which lay in a state of abandonment.
The new research was funded by the owner of the plot of land,
Luciano De Feo, a prominent figure in national and international
cultural circles at the time.
Up until 1928, he was the director of the Luce Institute and of
the International Institute of Educational Cinematography, and he
subsequently became one of the founders of the Venice Film
Festival in the early 1930s.
The investigations carried out in the sacred area of Celle were
overseen in the field by Goffredo Ricci, an archaeologist who
worked at the Villa Giulia Museum at the time.
On this occasion, in line with the finds unearthed in 1886, a
number of terracotta elements relating to both the architectural
decoration of the building and the offerings made by the
worshippers were discovered.