The project is a result of an international competition for the definitive organization of the entire monumental area of the city, after years of debate and various trials, and represents the first significant proposal for the protection and enhancement of Aquileia’s archaeological sites.

The two squares, one stone-paved and the other green, trace the plans of the ancient buildings which originally belonged to the basilica complex: the post-Theodoric quadriporticus and the large Costantinian warehouse.

The new addition to the southern chamber of the baptistery has the same layout as the original construction, and offers the only effective means of protecting the site, preserving and making accessible to the public the remains of important 4th century mosaics that were commissioned by Bishop Chromatius after the Council of Aquileia in 381.

The approach and style adopted are carefully tuned to the surroundings, but constitute an unequivocal expression of the present. The exterior is discrete, due to the simplicity of the rectangular volume constructed using material recovered from excavations at the site, which would otherwise have been discarded (bricks and pieces of Muggia Sandstone); this is in keeping with Aquileia’s age-old practice of self-renewal. The interior is more assertive, thanks in part to the greater strength of the materials employed: powder-coated metal has been used throughout, also in the finishings, so as to concentrate visitors’ attention on the splendid mosaics.