ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE SEA GARDEN
(by Marco Biagini)

The restoration works on the central part of the garden provided the opportunity for an archaeological survey, conducted by ISCUM, along the lines of “garden archaeology”, which is a discipline at the embryonic stage in Italy.

Stratigraphic soundings were conducted in the west portion of the garden, next to the main wall, in that part where sources say was the enormous aviary, in order to verify the existence or otherwise of structures or buildings relative to the first phase of life of the noble complex. In parallel, there was a restoration building-site in the central part of the garden.

Excavation brought to light the rather serious damage from the bombardments of the last war. Along the outer wall was found, just under the present soil level, part of a bed consisting of volcanic stones and the residues of iron working of considerable size, attributable to the nineteenth-century reworking of the garden.

Next to this ran a beaten-earth path, delimited by a row of slate slabs. There was also an irregular oval-shaped tank, which must have been a sort of pool placed in the shade of big trees. Lower than the path have been found remains of the seventeenth-century aviary.

On the eastern boundary was found part of the fencing, with a low socle in which are inserted at regular intervals massive rectangular limestone blocks, with pairs of circular holes, intended to hold the supporting poles of the aviary. To the west of this wall there are some blocks of large size, which have a single circular hole at the centre, also taken to be a hole for poles. These are linked to a flat patch in beaten earth which occupies the whole eastern part of the excavated area.

The netting of the aviary was anchored to the socle, while the blocks must have supported the weight of the arcades which rose above them. In the middle area has been found the imposing entry door to the aviary, with traces of door-hinges to the sides. Inside the structure were dug up trenches full of rubble, very rich in ceramic finds, bones and building materials, attributable to restructuring works of the end of the seventeenth century involving the palace and also the garden.

It seems at present that the aviary continued to survive until at least the beginning of the nineteenth century, with structural alterations which cannot be identified from the archaeological studies, but which can be recovered from the comparable analysis of the reproductions of the aviary over the years.

The buttresses which appear at intervals along the outer wall, rendered necessary by the disturbing inward bulging of the wall, which is still clearly visible today, were probably constructed in the course of the second half of the nineteenth century. The excavation also clearly showed how the area of the sea garden was before the layout of the steep garden, and that the present appearance was achieved by bringing many layers of soil in the course of the seventeenth century.

In the central part of the garden, just under the surface, have been found large stretches of the irrigation piping which fed the fountains and the flower beds. The principal pipe crossed the garden along the east ramp, and then turned at the middle axis of the garden, aiming towards the Fountain of Neptune.

It is made of clay tubes which fit into each other, incorporated into a bricks and mortar structure and then built into masonry structure up to a metre wide, necessary for withstanding the high pressure inside the pipe.

Next to the base of the two ramps were found smaller pipes, made of terracotta tubes set into a bricks and mortar structure, perpendicular to the ramp itself and ending in a vertical mouth-piece, next to the beginning of the old beds which they were designed to water.

These pipes forked towards the centre of the ramp in order to water a bed that was parallel and next to the ramp. Finally, large sections of a complex network in cylindrical marble piping for water distribution was discovered. These tubes evidently served to provide further water to the Fountain of Neptune, thereby guaranteeing a variety of water supplies in the event of the main pipe being interrupted.

The point where the two pipes meet each other was sealed with bricks and mortar, to withstand the pressure of the water at the joint.

The presence of similar tubing in the part of the garden near the sea must have been linked to the supply of water to the private part of the palace by the sea, and could also have served to feed another fountain (whose existence is testified by documentary sources).