Fondazioni pneumatiche in Italia: sperimentazione e sicurezza in cantiere sulle sponde del Tevere

The contribution addresses the application of pneumatic foundations, between the 1800s and 1900s. The Italian experimentation, still neglected from recent literature, is framed in the history of international engineering. Through the investigation of Italian manuals and archive sources, the study focuses on the evolution of the con- struction processes and on the working conditions and risks on the construction site. The topics are explored through the case study of the foundations of the Tiber walls in Rome. For the construction of the walls (1876-1926), the traditional foundation methods were immediately considered unsuitable for the purpose, in terms of stability of the structure, time and costs: in 1878 the use of compressed air foundations with metal caissons was proposed and, in 1882, the adoption of this technology, still pioneering in Italy, was declared mandatory for the entire section of the walls, completed in the 1920s. The study is based on the documentation of the Archives of the Ufficio Speciale per il Tevere e l’Agro Romano, as part of a research agreement between the Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Science Engineering (DICII) of the University of Rome Tor Vergata and the State Archives of Rom