Per lo studio delle insulae di Pompei, vent'anni dopo

The relevance of the insula studies contribution to understanding of Roman town seems today out of discussion: in recent decades, from Seventies to the present, for an increasing number/amount of research projects and scientific publications the city block had been the best unit of analysis to investigate urban development and living conditions in Roman towns, as intermediary approach, bridging the gap between large- and small-scale studies. For the insula based projects, the sites buried in AD 79 by Vesuvius, still a cornerstone in classical archaeology, provide a wide range of experiences. Once reviewed the main chapters and episodes of the insula studies history in the Pompeian sample, the paper concludes with the state of the art of the so called “Pompei, Insula del Centenario (IX 8)”, carried out by University of Bologna since 1998. The review of its first two decades enables to highlight its special attention for enhancing the information potential of the older excavations and for the archaeometries, a research line developed under the direction of Sara Santoro.