In September, Notre Dame Rome, part of the University of Notre Dame’s global network, signed a three-year agreement with Rome’s Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali (Superintendence of Cultural Heritage). This agreement will allow Notre Dame faculty, undergraduate students and graduate students privileged study and research access to some of the city’s most significant historic buildings and cultural artifacts.

The Superintendence oversees Rome’s archaeological sites and historic monuments, including the entire perimeter of the city walls that represent the various ages of the city’s urban development. Several of these protected sites are also an integral part of the city’s historic infrastructure, including some bridges, fountains and the ancient components of the Roman aqueducts.

The first phase of the collaboration will include access to the newly opened Parco Archeologico del Celio, a park overlooking the Colosseum that preserves significant archaeological artifacts. The park is one block away from via Ostilia, where Notre Dame Rome and the School of Architecture’s Rome Studies campus is located, and hosts the Museo della Forma Urbis. This new museum displays the Forma Urbis Severiana, a marble map of Rome from the third century, as well as numerous epigraphs and other archaeological artifacts. The fragments of the map offer extraordinary insights into the urban landscape of ancient Rome and are superimposed on Giovanni Battista Nolli’s renowned 1748 map of the city.

The collaboration between Notre Dame Rome and the Superintendence allows students the opportunity to visit the museum as part of the foundational course All Roads Lead to Rome, taken by all Notre Dame undergraduate students studying in Rome.

In addition, at the end of August, School of Architecture professors Lorenzo Fei and Paolo Vitti organized a workshop on surveying and digital documentation for students enrolled in the Master of Science in Historic Preservation graduate program. The workshop allowed students a unique opportunity to explore the fragments of the Forma Urbis using advanced digital tools and techniques for investigating historic heritage, provided by the engineering firm Novatest Srl.

“The workshop received highly positive feedback from students,” said Fei. “We are already considering organizing it again in future years and exploring new topics to propose to the Parco and hopefully opening up new research opportunities.”

Silvia Dall’Olio, director of Notre Dame Rome, said, “This partnership with such a premier cultural institution in the city is already making possible synergies that were unimaginable before. Moreover, the physical proximity on the Celio Hill between Notre Dame’s facilities and the Parco Archeologico strengthens and makes our reciprocal commitment to the neighborhood more visible.

“We are very grateful to Dr. Claudio Parisi Presicce, the city of Rome’s superintendent of cultural heritage, for his fundamental support of our collaboration, and to Dr. Caterina Papi, Dr. Francesca de Caprariis and Dr. Francesca Romana Bigi, the archaeologist officials responsible, respectively, for the epigraphic collections, the Forma Urbis and the architectural collections.”

As part of the collaboration, the Sovrintendenza, the Parco del Celio and Notre Dame Rome are also co-organizing a major international conference to take place in 2026 and working to strengthen the exchange of initiatives.

Contact: Carrie Gates, associate director of media relations, 574-993-9220, c.gates@nd.edu