Archaeology and Mediterranean landscapes. The Vesuvian coast from Herculaneum to the Sorrento Peninsula

According to the idea of Fernard Braudel, that Mediterranean is "a thousand things together. It is not one landscape, but several landscapes; it is not one sea, but a complex of seas. It is not one civilization, but a number of civilizations, piled one above the other…", we can say that the word “Mediterranean” does not only express an affinity condition with geography, but, more specifically, recognizes the historical values in the multiplicity of Mediterranean landscapes, which mainly concern the architectures, the different living cultures and the ways of living. Therefore the Mediterranean is seen as a symbolic territory, rich of histories of populations, religions, wet lands, landscapesand a complex geography, with its high peaks, deserts, rivers, level grounds. Here the memories of the places are blended with different readings of the myth, the stories; and then we have the traditions, where there is still the presence of elements and parts that remain over time. For this reason, the coastal territory which lays from Naples to Sorrento, included in the Gulf of Naples with Vesuvius and the Lattari Mountains, can be interpreted as a place of several Mediterranean landscapes, each one consisting of specific and different materials. Among them, the archaeological landscapes, overlooked by the archaeological ruins of theancient Pompeii, Herculaneum and Oplontis, and punctuated by an intermittent system, often discontinuous, of less known episodes, that also define the character of this extraordinary territory. In a diachronic view that increasingly characterizes the archeology landscapes, our contribution examines the specificity of the widespread, and in many cases marginal, archaeological heritage of this coast line, exploring its relations with the geographical and cultural environments. Our aim is to set an interpretative mapping to use as an instrument of knowledge of the ancient and contemporary landscape and as an indispensable tool for their protection and enhancement. Keywords: archeology, Mediterranean landscapes, Vesuvian coast, architecture, geography.