Roman Forum
The whole archeological area of the Imperial Forum on the Palatine Hill is an open air museum integrated into the city’s urban fabric. The complex conservation project featured a new lighting system designed to make the site visible from Capitoline Hill and from the walkway on Via dei Fori Imperiali, and to light up the walkways inside Via Sacra. The lighting project aimed to restore “natural” night lighting to the whole area to allow for a real appreciation of the monuments, their materials, colors and sizes and of the relationships of scale between them. Project constraints were defined as: respect for the integrity of the site and the archeological relics and respect for regulations in matters of historic heritage, safety and environmental legislation. Lighting stations were installed outside of the archeological areas with groups of projector lamps which control optics, form and cast shadows, glare and dispersion of light flux, using sources of outstanding color rendition. These remote fixtures are concealed from view as much as possible, pay special attention to ease of management and maintenance and provide measured luminance values for each and every monument, illuminating them in harmony with their archeological surroundings. The Via Sacra project envisages a new conception of the transenna, which will act as a mounting for the electrical distribution and will have a very small, integrated LED lighting system to illuminate the pedestrian routes with particular attention to the visibility of the ancient walking surface which is irregular and full of holes. The lighting design of Basilica Aemilia envisages a linear LED system, positioned inside the footpath in cement material, with an asymmetric beam, apt for lighting the interior wall of the basilica itself with diffused, homogeneous light, controlled illumination values and without any kind of glare. Particular attention has been paid to management and maintenance costs in accordance with Lazio Regional Committee Resolution n°8/2005 and particularly respects the prescription for average luminance values and for the dispersion of upward luminous flux.