IN SEARCH OF “UNDERGROUND URBAN GEOSITES”. THE CITY OF MODENA “UPSIDE-DOWN”

Abstract

M. Bertacchini, In search of “Underground urban geosites”. The city of Modena “Upside-Down” . (IT ISSN 0394-3356,
2005).
A rich cultural heritage is hidden in the subsoil of many Italian cities. This underground heritage could tell the story and the evolution of the urban environment through the traces of natural and anthropogenetic components which shaped it in space and time and are now interwoven in the physical landscape that surrounds it. Underground urban Geosites are the historical and territorial memory of this evolution since they are the buried traces of urban environment components. The aim of the “Sottosopra” (upside-down) Project is to appraise the cultural heritage buried beneath the city of Modena. There is a network of cultural itineraries following the underground town’s canals, inviting visitors to discover and enjoy all the underground urban Geosites which have stratified in the subsoil of Modena during nearly two thousand years of history.