L'importanza della ricerca d'archivio per un'analisi dello stato di fatto degli edifici storici e delle cause dei fenomeni di degrado: il caso dell'anfiteatro romano di Catania.

The imperial roman amphitheater of Catania nowadays located in the Square Stesicoro, for the most part of its extension is incorporated by buildings constructed during medieval times and after the earthquake of 1693, that destroyed the city. This particular stratification has created a lot of problems related to the static character and the conservation of the monuments needed for a broad multidisciplinary survey overview which includes different fronts of analysis: historical, archaeological, dia-gnostic, plant engineering, urban planning and static. Among the various areas of investigation, with this contribution is pre-sented the study of the archival documentation. This is an important means of study that allows us to expand our knowledge and to add in-formations about the conditions of the amphitheater, the relationship between the amphitheater and the urban and the history of problems that today we must tackle. This study is a piece to add to the research to ensure a solid knowledge base on which any restoration project must be based.