Ruinae et Parietinae Pompeianae. Distruzioni e abbandoni a Pompei all’epoca dell’eruzione

The recent collapse of the Schola armaturarum has shown the dramatic problems related to conserving the Vesuvian sites and, in particular, Pompeii. The world’s most famous Roman city is turning into a ruin and only a few buildings can be saved in their entirety. However, the “city of ruins” is not a modern phenomenon; even during the golden age of Pompeii and Herculaneum, alongside newly constructed buildings and lavish houses, there were also buildings destroyed by various disasters (ruinae) or which had been abandoned (parietinae). This paper offers a preliminary examination of this very complex question, which has been the subject of recent interest and relates to our relationship with the ruins and the difficulty of ensuring the ancient monuments’ conservation.