La Rocca Janula nel Lazio Meridionale, un rilievo di inizio Novecento

The Rocca Janula, in the hinterland of lower Lazio, is a fortress located on the slopes of Montecassino, a defensive hinge between the famous abbey and the surrounding area. Its events follow the main events related to the history of the Benedictine monument. The Rocca presents, as a central defensive element, a pentagonal tower, referable to the Frederick II era. This is made with precise squared ashlars, with the presence of innumerable the stonemasons marks. Over the years it has undergone various changes of ownership. It was affected by collapses, due to earthquakes and partial demolitions. Over the centuries, it has been expanded and restored several times. Since the middle of the seventeenth century it has undergone a process of progressive abandonment. In the state of ruin it is found, when -in the first decade of the last century- the engineer architect Leonardo Paterna Baldizzi is in charge of carrying out the survey and evaluating any consolidation interventions. Paterna Baldizzi, is an interesting character, from an artistic and professional point of view, active in the first half of the twentieth century in the field of monument protection. His survey drawings of the Rocca Janula, give us precise details of the fortress, before its further ruin caused by the bombings of the Second World War. Moreover, his archives -professional and private- deposited by the engineer architect at two important Roman institutions (the Accademia dei Lincei and the Centro Studi per la Storia dell’architettura) allow us to reconstruct, in particular through his 24 “Diaries” (1895-1942) the way an architect of his time works.