In antiquity, Piazzale delle Corporazione was a forum for merchants and businessmen. It is located behind the theater of Ostia Antica, and is one of the site’s most visited and well-known monumental complexes.
First constructed under the emperor Claudius, it was completely rebuilt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It has a double portico, off of which are 61 rooms with mosaic pavements that give onto a long corridor, also paved with mosaics. The mosaic surfaces currently cover 1000 m2 in a total of 1900 m2 of pavement. Of these, some still rest on original layers; others were detached and re-applied in situ on beds of reinforced concrete during the 1960s and 1970s.
The entire monument is exposed outdoors, and the pavements were especially vulnerable to damage from the growth of algae, lichens and plant roots, salt crystallisation, rusting iron in the underlying beds and foot traffic from the thousands of visitors who come to the archaeological site every year.
The CCA devised a maintenance program for all the surfaces, inserting it into a larger project for applying preventive conservation measures and public outreach.
The educational program involved the opening of the worksite to the public, training course for seven technicians of the Istitute National de Patrimoine de Tunisie, conferences and guided visits.
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