Pareti dipinte, dal restauratore al pittore. Materialità e filologia dei cantieri

What is the role of materiality in lifecycles of painted walls? Regarding Antiquity, in order to answer this question, the best case study is offered by the Roman world: it is here that wall painting had been most widespread in time and space, becoming a ‘glocal’ phenomenon. This success story is still waiting to be studied from a new perspective, focused on material agency, and based on the systematic review both of available analytical data and tangible evidence. Expected result, a dynamic image of the Roman wall painting economy, in its chronological and geographical variability. After outlining a state-of-the art of studies on material evidence of Roman wall painting and materiality in archaeology, the paper examines a case-study, by means of a backward pathway, from physical remains of the painted artifacts to their material properties and conditions, passing through modern restorations and ancient workshops. Final goals, outlining the economics of a painted context, for the paper, and, for the project, by means of a set of micro-stories carefully investigated, the economy of wall painting in the Roman world in its ‘longue durèe’.